Rock band The Rasmus are representing Finland in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
Fans were delighted when the group behind 2003 hit “In the Shadows” returned with their song “Jezebel”, which frontman Lauri Ylönen describes as “an homage, a tribute, to the strong women of today, who own their bodies, who are in charge of their sensuality, their sexuality, and who are determined to be an equal”.
He co-wrote the track with Desmond Child, who has several high-profile rock songwriting credits to his name, including Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You”, Aerosmith’s “Angel”, Alice Cooper’s “Poison”, Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ la Vida Loca”, and Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On a Prayer”.
We caught up with Lauri to see how he’s feeling ahead of tonight’s final:
Hi Lauri, how are you?
I’m good! I’m feeling excited, I’m so glad we had this idea [for the song], it was really a way out of misery – the last two years have been so hard. Not being able to play concerts, it’s felt like a big part of me was missing.
How did your song “Jezebel” come about?
I had the idea of doing Eurovision in mind last year, and then I wrote this song, and everything just happened. It feels really wonderful, and I love the fact that we have Italy waiting for us.
Were you inspired by watching Maneskin play last year?
I was pleased! I like their songs, the looks, everything. It felt good. It was like, Lenny Kravitz meets Rage Against the Machine. Before, the concept of Eurovision felt very strange to me, but the last few years it’s been different.
How was the reaction to “Jezebel”
It was nice, it was like… reactivating the past, for us, and for a lot of other people. A lot in the song reminded me of early 2000s.
How did you feel when you were voted through to represent Finland in Eurovision?
Really good. It was a tough competition, some of the other songs were bigger hits than ours, but I felt like, “We have to win this!”
What will you do if you win?
Party! For a whole month.
Follow live updates from the final here.
