"Cicciolina" is a song recorded by Finnish singer

Erika Vikman Erika Susanna Vikman (; born 20 February 1993) is a Finnish singer and songwriter. Beginning her career as a Finnish tango singer, Vikman first received recognition after winning Tangomarkkinat in 2016. She later received further nationwide atten ...

, and written by Vikman, Janne Rintala, Mika Laakkonen, and Saskia Vanhalakka, with production handled by Laakkonen. The song was released through

Warner Music Finland Warner Music Group (WMG) owns, has a joint share, or is associated with the record labels listed here. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records *Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Music Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * A ...

and Mökkitie Records on 27 January 2020, as the lead single from Vikman's self-titled debut album, after having been announced as one of the competing entries in Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2020, the Finnish national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. This w ...

. Vikman performed the song during the final of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu on 7 March 2020, where it finished as the runner-up. Lyrically inspired by the Hungarian-Italian pornographic actress-turned-politician

Ilona Staller Ilona Anna Staller (born 26 November 1951), known by her stage name Cicciolina, is a Hungarian-Italian former porn star, politician, and singer. Staller gained fame in the early 1970s through her radio show ''Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?'' a ...

, also known by her stage name Cicciolina, critics described the song as a Finnish

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

track, influenced by Finnish singers such as

Kikka Sirén Kirsi Hannele Sirén (née Viilonen; 26 October 1964 – 3 December 2005), better known by her stage name Kikka, was a Finland, Finnish pop/schlager singer. She was known for her sexpot image and suggestive, double entendre-filled songs. Kikk ...

and Frederik. Following Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, "Cicciolina" went on to peak at number-5 on

The Official Finnish Charts The Official Finnish Charts (; ) are national record charts in Finland compiled and published by Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. The name ''Suomen virallinen lista/Finlands officiella lista'' (lit. "the Official Finnish Chart"), which is ...

, becoming Vikman's first top ten hit.

Background and composition

The song was composed by Vikman, Janne Rintala, Mika Laakkonen, and Saskia Vanhalakka, while production was handled by Laakkonen. The song's production had been influenced by the late Finnish singer

, whom Vikman had intended the song to be a tribute to. Vikman had been inspired to write the song after seeing a documentary on the life of Hungarian-Italian pornographic actress-turned-politician

, also known by her stage name Cicciolina. After informing Rintala and Laakkonen, they were also intrigued by Staller and wished to write a song about her. The song's Finnish lyrics do not speak of the life of Staller directly, but instead allude to brave women in general. According to Vikman, the song's lyrics convey a feminist message advocating for women to live their lives boldly, and encouraging people to live freely without caring what others think of them. One of the lyrics' main points is to address that

femininity Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...

and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

are not mutually exclusive.

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

journalist Anni Gullichsen described the song as "a brisk Finnish disco where sexual freedom is not hidden", while also acknowledging the influence from Sirén. Mari Pudas of ''

Iltalehti ''Iltalehti'' (literally "Evening newspaper") is a tabloid newspaper published in Helsinki, Finland. History and profile ''Iltalehti'' was established in 1980 as the afternoon edition of the newspaper '' Uusi Suomi''. The Helsinki-based Alma ...

'' also compared the song to the music of Sirén and other Finnish disco music of the past, while Anton Vanha-Majamaa of Yle compared the song to Sirén and Finnish singer Frederik.

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2020

"Cicciolina" was announced as one of the six competing entries in Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2020 on 26 January 2020.

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (; abbreviated UMK; ; ) is an annual music contest organised by the Finnish public broadcaster Yle. It made its debut in 2012 as the format for the Eurovision Song Contest, replacing the previous Finnish Eurovision selection which had been he ...

serves as the Finnish national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

, with the winner of the 2020 edition receiving the right to represent Finland at the

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. The final of the competition was held on 7 March 2020 at Mediapolis in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

, and aired live on

Yle TV1 Yle TV1 (, ) is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Finnish public broadcaster Yle. It is the second-oldest television channel in Finland, after TES-TV, and is the oldest currently existing television channel in the country. More ...

. Vikman was drawn to perform the song second during the broadcast, following Catharina Zühlke with the song "Eternity" and preceding

Aksel Kankaanranta Aksel Kankaanranta (born 28 January 1998) is a Finnish singer. He was due to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam with the song " Looking Back", before the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2017, he ...

with the song " Looking Back". During the voting sequence, "Cicciolina" received the most votes from the Finnish public, receiving 99 points, but placed third with the professional music juries, receiving 58 points; this led to a total of 157 points, placing the song second behind Kankaanranta and "Looking Back", which had scored 170 points. The 2020 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest was later canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and Kankaanranta was not invited back to the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade (song), Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was se ...

Track listing

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 songs 2020 singles Songs in Finnish Songs with feminist themes Cultural depictions of Ilona Staller Songs about actors Erika Vikman songs