🇫🇮 ESC Reaction to Finland: Windows95man - No Rules!

Wanna hang with me outside?

0:00 Intro
3:33 Song
6:30 Discussion

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Intro Excerpt from Husavik by Atli Örvarsson

[norax]

I actually thought at the beginning that this is not deep and just a joke song. Now I actually see the message in the song. “Is there something wrong with the way I look?
Is there something wrong with who I am?
If I'm not alright, tell me why do I
Feel so beautiful tonight?” It’s an anthem of being yourself, being true to yourself and not care about what others think. Being happy. Don’t care about the haters 🎉❤ Call me what you may, see if I care, see me slay! This is probably what world needs now.

[alloverdplace]

I love the song! Once again Finland is doing Finland🤍🩵🇫🇮

[artoturpeinen]

Clearly, this show divides opinion. To those who love it and those who hate it. Those who love humor and nostalgia, to those who don't understand it because they haven't lived in the era described in the song. The song also has an important message for all of us: Be yourself. Don't follow the crowd, but build your own life.

[ladyfreyj]

Windows95Man is actually an experienced DJ playing all kind of music. During gigs, he's wearing a Windows 95-shirt, a similar cap and very short denim shorts.. That was inspired by trendy festival goers, as means to draw attention, shock value. This has been his DJ image for ten years already, same shorts ever since. Sometimes he does have Clippy on stage dancing. The singer and co-producer is Henri Piispanen, who is a professional singer in many indie bands, and also a Finnish voice actor for 25 years. 🙂Both are very sweet, friendly and smart guys.

Concept of this song is to free yourself. No rules! Don't live by others' rules or expectations, don't let others judge you, have fun in your life. It's not a joke, anti-ESC song. The denim egg: this is after our national epic "Kalevala." In that book it is believed, that the world was born from an egg of a goldeneye. Yeah! So, the singer Henri is like the bird with the egg. W95M is hatching from the egg pantless, and in the end he gets his shorts which descend from heaven 😄💥 This stage show was totally different compared to the others acts at the UMK 2024 (ESC tryouts). With humor, quirkyness and energy they won crushing by televotes.

[KarolineKreft]

Finland is my second favourite this year so far. It's the music of my childhood, weird, kitschy and sooo fun. I love it XD

[_Nova__]

Love this! Have watched this so many times. Love the song and Henri sounds great! So much fun to listen to and watch. Good luck Finland, I’ll be voting for you ❤

[mantailuaa]

Denim Dan aka Henri Piispanen is a voice actor and singer. He’s been voice acting basicly his whole life, started at age 4 in the cartoons. He has appeared in over 200 cartoons, movies and series. So very serious artist with his voice.

[patrikiosvatemanopoulos]

It was so nice watching the final live. They were last in the international juries and then BOOM! 300 points from the pubic

[xwillex]

I disagree with man. I think Piispanen has a great voice and the song is catchy 90's eurodance.

[ristoravela]

Windows95Man was the only artist that nailed his performance on the night of the vote, that's why they deserved to be in Malmö :)

And yeah, this range of reactions was always to be expected 😂

[youngThrashbarg]

Honestly, go and listen to Käärijä's singing in the Eurovision final and then come back to listen to Henri's voice.

[dk]

Eurotrash music nostalgia is in, and boy am I glad about it. Clearly this is just a fun entry that exists to have fun. And boy they are having the most fun, and that's infectious. This is sailing into the final, getting jury points from Iceland and Australia only and then getting 150+ from the televote.

[Leena]

I love this song, and the live performance, but I'm based, because I'm Finnish. This song was a surprise winner because it wasn't a big favourite before the live show, and once people saw the energy these guys had, it won the public vote.

I don't know y'all's names, but I think the person in red sweater got what's up with this song 100%. That was my first reaction, too. The funny thing is, I hated this kind of music in the 90s. But I love No rules!

Oh, and always end up picking songs we love, regardless of whether we think it's gonna win. Last year, I just really wanted people to see Käärijä. Same this year with Windows95man. This is so perfectly Finnish, a bit odd, very funny, and a little cringe.

[maksoinvelat]

The World: Finland, please don't send a funny act this year 🙏
Finland: Hold my beer..

[blobfish]

It's funny how some people find Henri's vocals amazing and some say he can't sing at all. To me he is struggling a bit with a couple of the highest notes but other than that he sounds just great.

And the song is catchy, dansable, singable, nice melody, good message and Win95man shouting here and there is an interesting addition.

[tanjanikola]

Nothing to do with Käärijä, BTW. It was an amazing show on the night. Cha Cha Cha was a one-off, but this is getting a lot of positive attention.

[kvuf]

Before seeing your reaction, I would say you are the bunch who could appreciate the artistic and the funny part of it.

They're artists and they said that they purposefully made a piece of art - it can be seen as humor, but it is always for the viewer to decide. But they're not doing their art as a joke. If it was, it wouldn't have won in Finland, they said.

I think we Finns have a particular sense of humor and like to troll a bit.
Last year we totally earned the win, which we then didn't get. So here - have fun with this one. :D We 100% are not trying to do the same thing again, never occurred to me it was a similar "fun entry" when I was voting for it. Before seeing them, I was sure to vote for Sara who sung a ballad and then came in 2nd, but this performance just stole my vote.

Also, the singer, Henri Piispanen, wasn't supposed to perform in this. He was supposed to be a producer of the song, and he ended up singing in the demo. And then they decided, that they wouldn't/couldn't find anyone else better, so he needs to perform before Finnish audience. When we Finnish audience found out about this, and saw their performance - we then just troll voted him to sing in front of ~200M international audience. :D No really, we also liked his vocals which honestly and surprisingly were the best of the night of UMK (he has a lovely chest and mix voice, not always on point in this live performance, you should check the official music video), and the 90's parody vibe of the song and their performance. I think it's a brilliant celebration of the 90's pop song culture and the computer culture. Spreading the message of pure joy and authenticity, have space for artistic expression, not needing to be always perfect and polished <3

I can't wait for their interviews in May in Malmö, they are so nice and going the make me feel so proud :D <33

[annemaria]

Finland should have won last year❤️🇫🇮, but the jury😔 ...now let's just have fun🤗 with Windows 95man🥰❤️❤️

[jaupau]

Hey come on, the singer from Windows95Man sings the song for Paw Patrol in Finnish version. He surely can sing.

[ntiadicted]

Vocal quality is trash? 😅 I'm sorry, but anyone who claims that Henri's vocals were trash, well.... then you clearly don't have any ear for music. Don't mean to sound rude, but I know that I sound rude saying this but then again, it's also a fact 😀 If the song is trash, if the staging is trash then that is perfectly fine, because that is your own individual opinion and taste. But it's a fact that Henri's vocals are really good. So, sorry but you are wrong! 😄