Matkataan tulevaisuuteen

So: the "legend" that is Antti Tuisku, the boy who finished third on the first season of Finnish Idol and has a fan base large enough to send his latest two albums, released on the same day, to #1 and #2 on the chart--why you should care about him, despite the fact that he tends to evoke Jesse McCartney-esque reactions (or maybe it would be better to say...Anthony Callea-esque reactions) in people (not that he sounds anything like them), in 5 easy steps

1.) He released one of last year's best albums. No one outside of Finland noticed, but that doesn't make the fact that he beat Danny to the "Idol goes dance and releases fantastic album" punch any less true (though Antti's album is a little more...house, maybe? More dance? Less pop-dance than Danny's).

2.) He cites Madonna as his idol (and, on New York, you could finally hear that).

3.) He was once bottled off stage.

4.) He recently released a song called "Hyppää Kyytiin" which, if Wikipedia can be believed, is the "YleX Kesäkumi ('Summer Condom') Campaign Song," part of "an annual Finnish health education education campaign aimed at prevention of young people's sex diseases." Would Justin Timberlake release a song to try to stop the spread of STDs? No, he would not--if anything, he's helping spread them.

5.) He cares about the environment.

No, really! Or so they tell me. He makes fact-finding trips to Malawi

(notice the glasses--you can tell he's being serious)

and released a calendar for the WWF (ex-World Wildlife Fund)


Although that picture makes me think more of Swamp Thing than animals that are victims of oil spills, but it's the thought that counts, right? Right?

So, with all that in mind, let's look at the "Sekaisin" video, just to remind ourselves of his dance anthem from last year first.



I'll never understand why he's seen as such a swoon-worthy popstar by so many people, but his music is definitely something worth getting excited about--at least or especially when, as others have put it, he goes "dance diva."

I managed to hear all of latest single "Ei Aikaa," but, since it's been a while since I've written about him and I'd bet a lot of people haven't heard of him before, I'm going to post another song that I think is a better introduction. I do really love "Ei Aikaa," though, although, as I said yesterday, I don't think it'll expand his fan base at all (which I think New York did, to some extent)--it really is like his cutesy older sound mixed with a little dance or electronic influence. Supposedly, you can watch the video for it here, though it won't play for me. I think it's the lead single for his upcoming greatest hits (titled Greatest Hits Vol. I, which is a bit like McFly calling theirs Best Hits...So Far, no?), due out October 31.

Tulevaisuus--as far as I know, this was never a single, though it's easily of the quality that it could have been. Taken from New York, the dance music album that he released the same day as the pop-oriented Rovaniemi, "Tulevaisuus" isn't quite as swooshy as lead single "Sekaisin" nor does it have an intro quite as fantastic as "Levoton"'s, but it's just as hard-hitting as either of those songs. Like those songs, though, it's got a pretty great punch the air/hands-in-the-air sort of feeling to it. I had trouble describing the difference between Antti and Danny's version of dance (hmmm...maybe it has to do with differences in how the vocal melody is done?), but it's pretty easy to hear (not that one version is better than the other--just different).

Finnish music drives me crazy because I can never figure out where to buy it--and I don't just mean digital music stores; I've yet to find a Finnish CD store that ships to the U.S., so I don't know anywhere where you can buy a physical copy of Antti Tuisku's album New York besides hoping for one to pop up on eBay. You can get a digital copy here, though.

Next up: maybe an American group. But probably I'll just stick with Finnish Idols and write about Anna Abreu again.