Darude has revealed to Ilta-Sanomat that he originally turned down YLE’s offer to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Darude who was revealed yesterday as the Finnish entrant for Eurovision 2019, has revealed to Ilta-Sanomat that he originally declined YLE’s offer to take part. Speaking to the paper he explained that he had a phone call with the broadcaster and originally said no because;

I said that mainly because of my own plans. Another reason is that I didn’t know if I could make a Eurovision Song Contest song.

Darude was won round when Anssi Autio the Producer behind UMK explained that he would have full control over the song for Eurovision. Since then Darude has worked on between 10 to 15 demo tracks, plus a further 10-15 tracks from producers before selecting the three that he will present to the Finnish public in the final of UMK 2019 in March.

Due to instrumentals not being allowed at Eurovision Darude opted to invite friend Sebastian Rejman to perform the songs. He explained that;

Sebastian is golden and an A-class guy.

Darude explained that he is looking forward to the next few months and bringing his fans along for the journey. He will be actively sharing his preparations for the contest via social media.

Who is Darude?

Darude is best known for ‘Sandstorm’ and is a multi-platinum, award-winning Producer/DJ, who has released four albums to date.

This is a huge challenge for me in many ways, when I was asked to represent Finland I felt a bit scared at first, but there was no way I could say no to my country! It is an honour to be part of this incredible experience and I only have positive expectations!

Darude will be performing three songs in UMK 2019 with featured artist Sebastian Rejman, the Finnish public and an international jury will be the song that he will perform in Israel.

Source: Ilta-Sanomat

Darude in the Eurovision Song Contest Finland first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, they debuted alongside Spain and Yugoslavia. Finland has finished last in the contest on 10 occasions and has received ‘nul points’ three times. It wasn’t until 2006 that Finland won the Eurovision Song Contest, Lordi represented the country in Athens with the song “Hard Rock Hallelujah” scoring 292 points a record total at the time.