National finals revisited: From Erika Vikman to Elvana Gjata [Part 1]

The national final season is officially over. With a final Super Saturday and the results of San Marino’s two way battle, we finished with a bang last week. However, we all know that some songs have been left in the fields of the season… We’ve had to leave them behind to instead move on with songs other people liked best.

So, we take a trip down a short memory lane. It’s only been a few months, but we want to highlight some of our favourites. In the next four weeks, we’ll revisit the Eurovision national finals, with each of our partaking editors sharing one of their favourites.

Today, we’ll see Matt Baker, Tom Ryan, Wivian Renee Kristiansen, Nathan Picot and Nick van Lith sharing their favourites… Check it out below and click through to the next pages to see them all!

Nick van Lith:
Erika Vikman – Cicciolina (Finland)

When Finland decided to return to an open national final, I expected them to come up with diversity and a very interesting line-up. I was not wrong. Finland managed to deliver: There was something in there for everyone. For me, it was that one song: Cicciolina by Erika Vikman. Sure, the topic is rather interesting – an adult actress from the twentieth century. But this is everything countries dread to be: Upbeat, fun, taking themselves a little less seriously for a while. The Finnish public got behind this, as did the fandom… Sadly, the juries did not. And now we won’t have Erika Vikman in Rotterdam…

Nevertheless, this is wrong on so many levels. And that is exactly what makes it so right. Bring it on, Cicciolina! Well done, Erika Vikman, for bringing fun and pleasure back.

Click through to the next page, below the emojis, to see what Matt Baker has chosen!