Single Review: Saara Aalto – Queens

Did Saara Aalto leave the best for last with ‘Queens’?
Finnish pop star Saara Aalto has big plans for 2018. The lady with the big voice who made a career out of becoming the runner up in every competition she takes part in, is ready for more. After finishing 2nd in the Finnish version of The Voice and the Finnish Eurovision national final twice, she tried her luck in the UK participating in X Factor, again reaching number 2. Aalto gained international recognition for this and became an icon in her home country. She is now selected to (finally) represent Finland in Eurovision and in the past weeks she presented potential entries ‘Monsters’ and ‘Domino’. This week she released the third and last track ‘Queens’. Did miss Aalto save the best for last?

Usually with selections like this, the artist saves their personal favourite for last, but in Finland’s selection, the voters at home will have the final say after seeing the live performances on the 3rd of March. Both ‘Domino‘ and ‘Monsters‘ received generally positive feedback from Eurovision fans and the Finnish people, with ‘Monsters’ leading in terms of streams. So what does ‘Queens’ sound like? It is a bonkers disco inspired uptempo belter! There is big notes, dramatic strings and powerful lyrics about this generation of ‘Queens’ taking over the nation. It all is a bit extra and that is exactly what we need at Eurovision! The chorus is easy on the ear, which of course is important in the contest as well. You only get one chance to settle in the viewer’s mind and ‘Queens’ is memorable enough to do that.

Finland is going to have a tough choice here. All three songs are better than about 90 percent of the songs selected for Eurovision 2018 so far if you ask me. If I had to choose now, I would go with ‘Monsters’, but I do realize I had the most time to let that song settle in my mind. Whatever song ends up being the one, Finland deserves a great result this year!

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