One of the Finnish stereotypes is heavy music. I mean it is kind of true. We have heavy metal bands more towards person than anywhere in the world. We won Eurovision with hard music and Lordi. It’s normal to see people in band shirts and men with long hair.

Even if the stereotype is kind of true Finnish music is a lot more. Not everyone likes metal, rock or even music at all. Currently rap has taken over Finland and a sad music is always fitting to listen in our dark country. We have many kind of music here and today I am going to introduce some genres for you with sample songs!

Let’s sing melancholichally and cry together girls

This used to be one of Finland’s biggest music genres but rap has taken over. Don’t get me wrong we still have many beautiful sad songs singed by desperate women but now we have at least as many rapping strong females.

The example is older song from well-known Finnish artist Jenni Vartiainen. The song literally tells about her ex putting their sex tapes to the internet. Sometimes Finnish hit songs have quite special lyrics but it doesn’t mean it can’t be a sad and melancholic. Vartiainen is perfect example for this music genre.

The strong independent girls

Don’t let the tender female voices lead you on because in Finland we have some power ladies. And I say some I mean a whole lot of amazing powerful singers/rappers. The video I recommend you to watch is from Sini Sabotage and presents perfectly the powerful women of Finland.

Just as extra mention this is the song I listen when feeling home sick. When I am trying to sleep on the other side of the world this definitely makes me feel better. This is from far the songs you would except from Finland put this was a huge when it was released. Rhythmic and strong.

Rapping about money, girls and odd hairstyles (???)

Rap has always been on Finland but recently rap artists are grown one of our biggest celebrities. When I was young one of the popular artists was rapper Pikku G (nowadays disappeared, probably somewhere not so luxurious…) and teen were totally in love with him. There is list of current rappers: JVG, Nikke Ankara, Prinssi Jusuf and Elastinen.

The one I am going to put as example is Cheek. He is the most popular rapper (and maybe person) in Finland. Our first artist to have Olympia stadium concert and loved by everyone. This video (even if Cheek’s) has other important and famous Finnish artists.

The old Idols stars

Our music scene is quite small so same artistes come and go. We had idols contests in years 2003-2013 and many singers have gotten known by it. The music video is from Antti Tuisku, who came to third in our first ever Idols, was forgotten for a long time. Last year he made huge comeback with different style and has charmed out whole gray land with the happy go go songs.

The “I don’t even know what our children listen” genre

This first band above is called Hevisaurus (means something like heavy metal dinosaur) and has been quite popular for sometime. Yes our children listen heavy too. Do you have problems with it?

The second children’s song is from Titinalle. This bear has been known for forever. I can sing sll the older songs (I know because I just singed along while trying to find the video to show you). The video looks old because it is old (like it was once VHS old…) This used to be my favorite song so don’t even think of dissing it! (Who can guess about what this song is?)

The third children’s artists I want to mention are called Ella and Aleksi (in Finnish Ella ja Aleksi). This duo has song called Kakkaa Lumella (meaning poo on the snow) and the song tells just about the thing its name is about…Ella and Aleksi is older music and is something I listened when I was child.

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There would be a lot more music genres to explain and introduce but I’m fearing all these videos will slow my blog down. Tell me if you want to get more Finnish music recommendations! If someone wants I will come up way of linking the videos without slowing my blog. (Google please help me…)

I hope you learned something new today about Finnish music and maybe even enjoyed some of the songs (???). I’m sorry you can’t understand the lyrics but to tell you the truth many of our songs have the most absurd lyrics.

For those who have followed me after my last Surviving Finland post. Firstly thank you for reading my blog! I would have never guessed so many people decide to read what I have to say and where I am traveling. Secondly this post is part of my series telling about my home country Finland. Don’t take anything too seriously!

More Surviving Finland posts you can find from HERE.

With pride for her home,

Viivi Severina