Eurovision 2008 - Number 57 - Movetron - "Cupido"
Two years post-Lordi and Finland are still going for it. Euroviisut is still a stage where the names of Finland's pop and rock industry want to appear. Take Movetron. They're a big name in Finnish dance and pop. Their heyday was in the mid 1990s when they had a string of top ten singles in the Finnish charts, including a number one hit in the form of Ristinolla (Tic-tac-toe/Naughts and Crosses) and a number one album.
The band consists of three people. Up front is Päivi Lepistö, a lead singer who can belt EDM vocals seemingly without effort. Behind them are the two unassuming synth players and song-writers Jukka Tanttari and Timo Löyvä. Up to the year 2000, they'd been huge, but after their fourth album was issued and the hits started to dry up, they called it a day... ...only to reform in 2007 and get straight back into it with another top ten single.
Cupido is only the second single of their comeback period. It's a sound still straight from the clubs of the mid-1990s, but that's a sound that is not only what Eurovision was associated with in 2008, but it was something there was still a demand for in Finland. Heady days on the dancefloor dancing to a song about being completely loved up and feeling Cupid's wings brush your skin and knowing his arrows will inevitably hit home. It's a sweaty, horny song from a big name.
The format of Euroviisut this year was three heats, a second-chance final and a grand final. The public vote loved Movetron enough to put them straight through to the final, but there they finished outside the top three. It was enough to get the single to number fifteen in the charts though, so mission presumably accomplished.
This is Movetron's only attempt at a national final. With their successful comeback and relaunch, they continued to release music and more importantly play lots and lots of gigs - gigs that increasingly became nostalgic. All the way up to 2020 and the lockdown, when gigs evaporated. Timo and Jukka had also been doing work in music production and song-writing, and continued to do so. Timo tragically died in 2024. Päivi continued singing but has also now trained as a radio journalist.
This is a live(ish) performance from Movetron at their peak in the mid-1990s. One of their big hits Romeo ja Julia. Have a happy summer.
