The third entry of Finland’s national selection for Eurovision Song Contest 2022 has just been released. The Rasmus is taking part in UMK22 with the song “Jezebel”.
Listen to “Jezebel”
The song is written by the lead singer Lauri Ylönen together with Desmond Child. Desmond has written multiple hits to bands such as Kiss, Bon Jovi and Aerosmith. These include “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” for Kiss, “Livin’ on a Prayer” for Bon Jovi and “Poison” for Alice Cooper.
He has also worked with many Eurovision artists including Sakis Rouvas, Lesley Roy and Bonnie Tyler. In 2013, he was one of the songwriters on Bonnie Tyler’s Eurovision entry “Believe in Me”. The song finished 19th in the grand final of the contest.
Who are The Rasmus?
Anyone who listened to radio in Europe in early 2000s have heard of The Rasmus. Or at least the iconic hook of their 2003 hit “In the Shadows“. The band was formed in 1994 in Helsinki and was first named just as Rasmus. Already their first full-length album Peep, released in 1996, charted in Finland and was certified as a gold record after selling over 21 thousand copies.
The next two albums produced several hits including “Liquid“, “Chill” and “F-F-F-Falling“, that also reached the number one spot on Finnish singles chart and has earned a platinum record for the band. In 2001, before releasing their fourth album Into, they changed their name to The Rasmus. In 2002, they won four awards in the Finnish music gala Emma Gaala, including the Best Band and the Best Song for “F-F-F-Falling”.
In 2003 the group struck gold when they released the song “In the Shadows”. The song charted all over the world and gave the group top 10 hit in many European countries, including Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden and The Netherlands. The song has over 100 million streams on Spotify and has been certified gold in Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland.
The album Dead Letters, that included the hit single “In the Shadows” went on to sell over one million copies worldwide and peaked on the 10th position on the UK album chart, being the only album by Finnish artist to reach the top 10 on the British album charts.
“In the Shadows” was followed some minor hits such as “Guilty“, “No Fear” and “Livin’ in a World Without You“. The group worked with Desmond Child already on their 2008 album Black Roses. On their latest studio album Dark Matters they worked with Eurovision winning production team The Family, consisting of Joy Deb, Linnea Deb and Anton Hård Af Segerstad.
For the first time since 1999, the group’s line-up had some changes just before it was announced they will take part in Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu. One of the founding members of the band, Pauli Rantasalmi announced he will leave the group. The new guitarist Emppu Suhonen has previously been part of girl group Tiktak, who also had major success in Finland in late 1990s and early 2000s.
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2022
The eleventh edition of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu is taking place on February 26th at 20:00 CET. Seven acts will compete and the Finnish public together with international juries will choose Finland’s representative for Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin.
The seven contestants who are taking part are Cyan Kicks, BESS, The Rasmus, Younghearted, Olivera, Tommi Läntinen and Isaac Sene. The next song will be released tomorrow at 23:00 CET.
You can also listen to all the competing entries at this year’s Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu by following our Spotify playlist.
What do you think about the song “Jezebel” by The Rasmus? Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify for the latest music from your favourite Eurovision acts. As well as YouTube to see our reactions to the news in the run up to the 2022 contest in Turin!
