The Rasmus win competition to represent Finland at Eurovision Song Contest

NME

The Rasmus are set to represent Finland at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest after winning a televised competition over the weekend (February 26).

The band won in a landslide victory with their song ‘Jezebel’, which was co-written and produced by previous collaborator Desmond Child (KISS, Aerosmith). It was announced last month that the band were hoping to represent their country at the ceremony.

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Speaking after winning Finland’s selection process event – Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) – on Saturday night, vocalist Lauri Ylönen said: “We did it! We are so happy. It was a super tough competition, all the other songs were very good.

“We were preparing so hard for this for six months. We are really taken and honoured and we will be working like pigs to represent Finland in the best way in Turin.”

Watch the band perform ‘Jezebel’ at the contest below.

Elsewhere, Russia has been banned from competing in this year’s Eurovision following backlash to an earlier statement from organisers saying the country would be allowed to compete despite launching a military assault on Ukraine.

Ukraine has officially severed diplomatic ties with Russia, and declared martial law, after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an attack on the neighbouring nation on Thursday (February 24).

Ukraine’s entrant, Alina Pash, will also no longer represent her home country at this year’s event, the competition has announced. Ukraine’s national broadcaster UA:PBC has reversed its decision for Pash to be the country’s representative following an investigation into a 2015 trip she made to Crimea, an area Russia seized control of in 2014.

Speaking about the conflict, The Rasmus bassist Eero Heinonen said: “This is an important issue and we are constantly thinking about it. It’s really shocking and distressing, and it has been really emotional.”

Ylönen added: “What is happening feels very wrong. I watched the news on TV in my hotel room and cried. It felt twisted and wrong to go to the UMK rehearsals after that. It was like being on an emotional rollercoaster.”

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