This yr’s favourite is Finland, and it’s straightforward to see why.
Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen’s “Liekinheitin” (or “Flamethrower”) checks each Eurovision field.
It’s basically a duet between Parkkonen, 36, a Finnish pop star, and Lampenius, 56, a onetime violin prodigy, by which Parkkonen sings about his passionate obsession for a lady who treats him badly and Lampenius responds with forceful melodies on her instrument, a 1781 Gagliano that some reports say is value about $660,000.
At one level she sprints along the stage in heels whereas carrying it.
The competitors doesn’t normally permit stay instrumental performances, however Eurovision organizers have given Lampenius particular permission to play onstage, provided that the violin line is so crucial to the track.
Within the buildup to Saturday’s present, a lot focus has been on Lampenius’s taking part in that some followers might have missed her struggles on the way in which to the Eurovision stage.
After learning violin on the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Lampenius grew to become a crossover violin star within the Nineties when EMI signed her for each classical and pop data. Severe British newspapers put her on their journal covers. So, too, did Playboy (which referred to as her the “Brahms Bombshell”).
Amid that success, Lampenius mentioned in a latest interview, she met Peter Nygardthe Canadian trend mogul, and had such a disturbing expertise with him that she advised a Finnish journalist that different girls needs to be very cautious in his firm. Nygard sued Lampenius for defamation, demanding $10 million.
On the time, Lampenius mentioned, she agreed to settle out of courtroom as a result of couldn’t afford to combat the lawsuit. Nygard “ruined my life,” Lampenius mentioned, together with compelling her to purchase a full-page advert in a number one Finnish newspaper to apologize as a part of the settlement.
After that, Lampenius mentioned, she was taking part in company performances in Russia and Asia to generate much-needed earnings.
That every one modified in 2020, when Nygard was arrested in Canada on sexual assault prices, and once more in 2024 when he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for sexually assaulting 4 girls, considered one of whom was an adolescent on the time of the assault.
After the ruling, Lampenius thought of herself freed from the nondisclosure settlement. The Finnish newspaper by which she positioned the apology advert additionally supplied to reimburse her for the associated fee, according to YLEFinland’s nationwide broadcaster.
Now, she has signed a brand new main label deal and is hoping to win Eurovision with a track that has already topped Finland’s pop charts.
“That is my revenge to him,” Lampenius mentioned.
