Darude and Sebastian are representing Finland (Picture: Eurovision)

Pretty much every Eurovision Song Contest, there’s an established act that competes, whether that’s Guy Sebastian or Bonnie Tyler.

And this year, that honour goes to Darude.

The legendary DJ, best known for his 1999 dance anthem Sandstorm, is representing Finland at Eurovision 2019 alongside singer Sebastian Rejman with their track Look Away.

And while some may be nervous about competing in a contest with 41 entrants, Darude is cool as a cucumber and doesn’t see the others as competition – in the nicest way possible.


Speaking to Metro.co.uk, the 43-year-old, real name Ville Virtanen, said: ‘I don’t consider anybody competition. We’ve done our job, and we stand 101% behind our song, and it’s up to the people voting.



‘With us, what you see is what you get. We’re being ourselves and having fun. If that doesn’t take us to a win, well… career continues after May.’

However, they do see some standouts in the contest, with Sebastian, 41, saying: ‘Music is a matter of opinion. How it goes is how it goes. But I have to say that Sweden, they have something in their drinking water, they know their s***. So I like that one.’

Many dance fans may have been surprised to hear that EDM icon Darude had signed up for Eurovision, but Look Away is pureDarude, just cut down to three minutes. And while writing it, and the two other options Darude penned for the national selection, he was keen not to just write a ‘Eurovision’ song.

‘We’re both very happy with Look Away being selected – it has a message, but it’s still very much a dance music song. We tried to inject a bit of pop culture as well.

‘[When writing, I thought] let’s not do a “Eurovision song”, let’s just write music and see how it goes. We wanted to come with a good song that sounds like me and him. I don’t think there was pressure in creating a Eurovision song, but for me as a producer, creating a song that is three minutes long with a cool vocal, it was a challenge for me.’

And the stage show in Tel Aviv will be what you expect from the superstar DJ.

Darude is already well known in the dance world thanks to his global smash Sandstorm (Picture: Gonzales Photo/Jarle H. Moe/PYMCA/Avalon/UIG via Getty Images).

Darude teased: ‘We had a really, really cool stage show at the national finals, so our main goal is to make it bigger and better for Tel Aviv. We’ll have slightly different geometric staging in Tel Aviv.’

Sebastian added: ‘There’s LED floors, a diamond shape on stage we didn’t have before. Mother Earth is centre stage in the Tel Aviv show.’

Darude and Sebastian will have to compete in the semi-finals along with everyone else (bar the Big Five, including UK entrant Michael Rice) but the DJ doesn’t feel any extra pressure when it comes to his established place in the music business.

He said: ‘I don’t know if somebody else feels pressure because of that, but I don’t. Both media and my friends have asked, but I haven’t thought of it like that. We made the songs and our competition win was basically 75% done then, we made the three songs of which Look Away was selected, then the stage show is obviously a big part of it.



‘But I think both us are thinking of it from that angle – the song is there, then we’ll do the best on the stage. Otherwise, I don’t feel too much pressure in the contest. Music is music, and we’re in this to have fun. We don’t mind winning, but it’s still good fun.’

‘And I have a big plan of bribing all the other countries,’ Sebastian quipped. ‘I just took out a small bank loan.’

Finland will compete in the first Eurovision semi-final in Tel Aviv on 14 May.

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