December 20: Arja Saijonmaa

This will be short and snappy and in general just a very direct hommage to a performer that entered national finals for Eurovision four times and would have been a worthy winner on three of these.

("2005? Did she deserve to win in 2005?" I hear you cry. Maybe she wasn't the best but considering the hot mess Sweden sent to Kyiv, she would at least have made the event more fun.)

As for Finland 1990, I will insist - until I go blue in the face - that there is nothing really wrong with the chosen entry. It just didn't work, that's all. I still like it.

But imagine Arja Saijonmaa entering that stage in Zagreb, being the last of 22 participants, and just impose her presence onto everyone present. Preferably with a slightly more elegant stage performance than at the national final.

A top five for Finland? Not unthinkable, good people.



Arja Saijonmaa / Gabriela (Finland NF 1990)