Today Yle presented the second Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu entry: “Cicciolina” by Erika Vikman. And what an amazing banger it is! The style can be described as energetic Finndisco, schlager disco or retro disco, with humorous tongue-in-cheek lyrics. For a Eurovision fan, it’s a real camp song, following in the footsteps of Finnish singer Kikka, famous for her erotic disco songs in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
“Cicciolina” has probably the catchiest intro we ever have heard in UMK. It even has some classical influences and a resemblance to ABBA’s “Lay all your love on me”! The anthemic melody rises up, like lifting the Cicciolina character onto the stage. “It is fun to write songs for Erika as we can include rich harmonies and melody samples”, says Janne Rintala, one of the songwriters. This song goes against the minimalistic trend in current music by including a big number of elements and instruments.
Music: Janne Rintala, Mika Laakkonen
Text: Janne Rintala, Erika Vikman, Saskia Vanhalakka
Arrangement: Mika Laakkonen, Janne Rintala
A song about femimine power and the right to be yourself
Erika was crowned a “tango queen” in 2016 and she participated in Finnish Idols in 2013. She has recorded some uptempo pop songs in recent years and now she has revealed the story behind “Cicciolina” in several interviews.
Erika’s song is an homage to the Italian porn star and politician Ilona Staller, nicknamed Cicciolina and being influential since the 70’s. “I got so excited when watching a documentary about her”, says Erika. “The world needs this type of colourful persons, brave women who are conflicting personalities and who do things on their own terms. Cicciolina made herself an object and I find that very inspiring. Cicciolina is a character full of positivity and joy and she’s not too serious”, Erika ponders and adds that a teddybear might appear on stage with her. We can’t wait to see how that turns out to be!
The song is written by Janne Rintala, Mika Laakkonen, Saskia Vanhalakka and Erika herself and was completed last spring. Janne is also behind Eini‘s UMK song “Draamaa” from 2016, and you can hear the similarities between the two songs. It’s true songwriting talent and almost poetry to make Argentina and Cicciolina rhyme and completely make sense!
Erika’s songwriting team felt that “Cicciolina” could be a suitable song for Eurovision. “I stand very strongly behind the message of my song, so I feel it’s fantastic I can finally share it on a big stage”. Erika says that finally she is brave enough to be herself. “I’m a feminist who loves men”, she reveals.
It has been Erika’s dream to participate in the ESC for as long as she can remember. “It would be absurd! We would fly Cicciolina herself to the green room and offer her champagne”. Erika names two of her favourite Eurovision songs: “Ne partez pas sans moi” by Celine Dion (Switzerland 1988) and “Dancing lasha tumbai” by Verka Serduscka (Ukraine 2007). Her artistic idols have been strong women like Madonna and Cher.
“Cicciolina” will only be sung in Finnish… or will it?
Erika has the only Finnish-language song in UMK this year. She is proud of singing in Finnish and is planning to do so in Rotterdam if she is chosen to represent her country.
Some foreign fans already love the song so much that they asked Erika if she considers recording an English-language version one day. “If people love it, we’ll think twice!” she replied. Interestingly, Erika revealed that Italian lyrics for the song are worked on, which will be sent to Cicciolina herself!
Translation of the lyrics
There is already a fan-made rough translation of the lyrics for the fans all over Europe.
Listen to a piano version of the melody starting from 0:44 in the song’s story:
