This week our international fan of the week is Sami from Finland aka @ssami_ on Twitter.
Read his full Q&A with us below:
What is your name and where are you from? My name is Sami and I’m from Finland. What do you do or tell us something interesting about you? I’m currently studying journalism and I write for ESCXTRA. I also enjoy superhero movies a lot.
Great stuff, we love ESCXTRA - Aussievision
When did you first get into Eurovision? I remember watching parts of the contest in 2006, but I don’t think I stayed up to see the results. I followed the Finnish national selection closely every year until 2010, when I also listened to some chosen songs before the contest. In 2011 I watched almost all of the national selections and have been doing it ever since. Once you start down that national final hole, there's no coming back!
Which is your favourite Eurovision year and why? My favourite Eurovision years are 2013 and 2016. 2013 is very important for me as it was the first time I went to see the contest live. 2016 was just amazing overall, from the songs to the show itself. Sweden really knows how to put on a great show. 2015 had the best songs, but I didn’t enjoy the production at all.
The first live contest you go to is always special. 2016 was a cracking year, and agree... 2015 had amazing songs... but had a few problems during the show. Which Eurovision song:
Is the best? It’s not maybe the best song, but my favourite entry ever is “Popular” by Eric Saade. I love Eric, I love the performance and the song is just a great pop song (with extremely bad lyrics, I know that).
Is overrated? “Fuego”.
This is coming up quite regularly, we guess there has been a lot of hype for the song.
Was robbed? There are so many, but if I must choose only one, it’s “Inje” by Vanja Radovanović.
Had the best live performance? “You Are the Only One” by Sergey Lazarev.
Definitely! No surprise it won the televote...
Did you last play? I have been listening to lots of songs from this year’s national selections, but from the actual Eurovision entries it was Samra’s “Miracle”.
GREAT song! Though the live didn't really live up to the recorded...
Is your guilty pleasure? I guess you can count “Cheesecake” by Teo as one. Any other interesting honourable mentions? Željko Joksimović should have won the contest both times he took part. Which countries do you tend to support in Eurovision? Lately I have really enjoyed the songs from Denmark, Norway and Germany. How do you think your home country of Finland is doing? Not very well. I was really proud of Saara and I love the song, but sadly the performance wasn’t that good. I am happy we still made it to the final. I have high hopes for 2019 though, as I believe we have many artists, who have potential on doing well.
We hope so too, we're a fan of Finnish entries over the last few decades. Passionate nation that we hope continues to make the final. What national finals are you most looking forward to? Melodifestivalen, as always. This year’s line-up sounds very good too.
Let's hope it lives up to expectations! Any prediction of what we might see in Tel Aviv this year? I think we will have a lot of female artists and up-tempo songs. Hopefully Netta inspired some countries to take risks and bring something new to the contest.
That's a really good point, Netta and 'Toy' was super risky and even though we may get a few Eleni types, that risk factor of Netta (and Salvador in a different way the year before) could start to change entries... What do you think of Australia being in Eurovision? I am very happy to have Australia in the contest, I don’t see a problem with it. Especially after knowing the long history the country has with the contest.
Thank you! I think the long history is something a lot of people aren't totally across (We've been watching the contest on TV since the 80s) Any favourite acts in Australia Decides? I’m looking forward for the song by Sheppard, but I hope there are some even more exciting artists to be announced. And finally... Tonight Again, Sound of Silence, Don’t Come Easy or We Got Love? “Tonight Again” by far. I don’t really enjoy any of the other songs. “Tonight Again” is a great pop song with a good performance and totally deserved to do well in 2015.
Thank you for your time Sami!