Darude, the Finnish representative of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, did not qualify for the grand finale on Tuesday night in Tel Aviv, Israel.
While performing “Look Away,” the electronic dance music artist hammered a semi-melancholic melody at the keyboards while Sebastian Rejman, with a spiky haircut and wearing a leather jacket, looked deep into the lens and belted out: “Is it in my head? Am I the only one?”
In the background, a dancer in performed modern dance moves in unison with the song, which slowly picked up the tempo and morphed into more cheerful. Toward the end of the tune, a video of a woman swimming under the water in a dark evening dress started playing on the gigantic screen in the background. There were big waves. A storm at the sea of some sort.
Then the sun came out, a view above the clouds.
Look away, look away
Look away, look away
Look away, look away
The song continued.
“In Finnish, the official word would start with a ‘v’,” Darude said to the media after the performance while pondering on the question: “How do you feel?”
He was referring to the famous curse word, vituttaa. (There’s really no good English equivalent for this expression. We will have to settle for “I am pissed.”)
“Since the beginning, we have said that we will do our best and we will see where it will take us. This time it was not enough,” Rejman said.
The following ten countries have qualified for the grand final on Saturday, May 18.
Greece – Katerine Duska with “Better Love”
Belarus – ZENA with “Like It”
Serbia – Nevene Božović with “Kruna”
Cyprus – Tamta with “Replay”
Estonia – Victor Crone with “Storm”
Czech Republic – Lake Malawi with “Friend Of A Friend”
Australia – Kate Miller-Heidke with “Zero Gravity”
Iceland – Hatari with “Hatrið mun sigra”
San Marino – Serhat with “Say Na Na Na”
Slovenia – Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl with “Sebi”
