[LMBTO] Artist Two and Three for Eurovision 2018 - Saara and AISEL...

If you are going to have promo pictures done, it looks as though Ruslan Nabiyev knows what he is doing!  The very visually pleasing Aysel Mammadova became artist number three for Lisbon 2018 today (Wednesday 8th November), representing Azerbaijan - 24 hours after Finland had totally wrong footed everyone, including sections of the UK tabloid press, by presenting their artist too, crushing the hopes of about 300 other singers who had provided Eurovision submissions for the NF that has traditionally been UMK.  A whirlwind of a couple of days for announcements, given that Belgium's Laura Groeseneken has been the one and only visitor to Lisbon for 41 days now!  Two more female soloists, two vastly different levels of Eurovision visibility - what are their stories?


Finland - Saara Aalto
Didn't YLE throw us all a curveball on Tuesday (7th November)?  There were all the Eurovision fans thinking that the very exuberant Krista Siegfrids in her luminous pink outfit and her co-host Mikko Silvennoinen were up for telling them during the press conference about how UMK 2018 would be staged this year - perhaps how many acts would be playing, how many submissions there had been, how the voting would be organised, all the mundane normal stuff.  What we actually got was a total surprise, in Finnish and English:


There was The Sun newspaper, claiming to know that Saara Aalto was being lined up to sing at Eurovision but for the UK - I suppose that they got at least part of the story right!  Whether the reporter got the wrong end of the stick or Saara used a little white lie to deflect from what was the REAL STORY may never really be known but when Krista started talking about UMK effectively being an artist internal selection and a NF for the song being sung, and then Saara's name was shouted out by her and Mikko, the Eurovision world went into meltdown.  Saara Aalto will be Finland's representative in Lisbon and their first ever internal selection - no more chances for those 300 other submissions, at least not for this nation (perhaps San Marino and other NF processes might suddenly see more Finnish songwriters spring up).  It seems as though Saara was chosen for her international exposure:


From looking through the Q&A section of the UMK18 site, it also appears that the standard of submission as far as artists were concerned was not at the level that YLE wanted.  That cemented the decision to discuss Finland's Eurovision selection process with Saara.

Fourth time lucky for Ms Aalto then - missing out on the online wild card round win in 2010, finishing second to Paradise Oscar in 2011 and then of course finishing runner-up to Sandja in 2016 with what many now consider to be her 'anthem':



At least there is no way for Saara to finish second this time, at least not in UMK 2018!  She IS Finland's representative in Lisbon - what the Finnish public will get to vote on at UMK 2018 on March 3rd next year is which of three songs she will be singing.

Composed specifically for her, we could be looking at any genre for the songs although the songwriters employed will have plenty of material to look at from her yet again runner-up spots on The Voice Finland and the X Factor UK.  She has already joked with eurovision.tv that:


Saara has also committed herself for every song that is presented to her to have "every detail thoroughly thought out and delivered to the maximum".  Seeing that UMK 2017 had ten performances to show, Saara and her team should be able to stage each song superbly well in the same time - perhaps her attitude of trying to win Eurovision is well founded.  She can definitely put on a disco performance:



Will being runner-up on X Factor in the UK lead to some good points from Western Europe?  It has been a while since that 2016 series and memories are sometimes short when it comes to pop music - here's hoping that at least one of those three songs suit her perfectly and that leads to Finland's primary goal in 2018, that being a place in Saturday's Final.  If that or better happens, I suspect that Saara and Finland will be pleased - finishing in her traditional runners-up spot would send her ecstatic,,,


Azerbaijan - AISEL



2017 saw Azeri experimental electro pop and amazing theatrics, 2018 a straight jazz performance on a piano?  Not being an aficionado of Azerbaijani music, I had no idea before today that this lady existed (despite her apparently being a veteran of international jazz festivals) but now, after watching and listening to her back catalogue, I have to say that after hovering around Final mid-table for the last few years, this nation could make the jump back into the top ten.  The above show demonstrates her jazz leanings and improvisation for that genre - how many years is it since we saw a piano on stage in the hands of someone who could actually play it?

@sophie_couture_baku ❤️

A post shared by Acid Piano 🎹💫 (@aisel.live) on Aug 23, 2017 at 11:51am PDT

Okay, I know that there are restrictions on live instrument play at the Contest but this lady is a skilled musician, growing up with parents in the business too and playing this style throughout her life.  There is also the strong possibility that she might compose her own entry, despite her nation's love for all things Swedish as far as song writing goes over the last few years - do Swedes do jazz though?

The clip above does not show off Aysel Mammadova's vocal talents that well but this video does, perhaps shot in the knowledge that this might have been an audition for singing for Azerbaijan at Eurovision:



Sublime and it all seemed so easy, so fluid and flawless.  It doesn't appear as though she'll have any issues with singing live or with performing on stage - the main question will be what song she will be singing.  Will it be jazz?  It is hard to tell, as AISEL does also sing low key lounge gigs in her homeland and some of her instrumental work on YouTube and Soundcloud could best be described as progressive and experimental:



Will we be seeing a swathe of ballads and low tempo musical genres in Portugal after Salvador's triumph in Kyiv?  Could Azerbaijan be viewed as trying to mimic the mood with their selection of AISEL?  I have to say that I for one am not complaining - I appreciate superb vocals of any style and to have them coming from someone who is so self assured with their performing skills is always a plus.  I am looking forward to seeing more of this lady and the song that is eventually selected for her to sing.  Azerbaijan have always qualified for the Final at Eurovision - I will nail my colours to the mast and say that Lisbon will be no different for this nation!


So we now have three artists selected for Lisbon - all female soloists, all from different geographical and cultural areas, all with superb live voices and who appear to be happy, confident and charismatic on stage.