The Voice of Finland (season 1) was the first season of the Finnish reality singing competition based on the international The Voice format. The season premiered on Nelonen on December 30, 2011, and concluded on April 20, 2012.
The coaches were legendary singer Paula Koivuniemi, glam rock singer Michael Monroe, former Lauri Tähkä & Elonkerjuu frontman Lauri Tähkä, and rapper Elastinen. Axl Smith hosted the program, with Kristiina Komulainen serving as the backstage and social networking correspondent.
The winner of the first season was Mikko Sipola, mentored by Elastinen. The runner-up was Saara Aalto.
Overview The series consists of three phases: a blind audition, a battle phase, and live performance shows. Four judges/coaches, all noteworthy recording artists, choose teams of contestants through a blind audition process where the coaches cannot see, but only hear the auditioner. Each judge has the length of the auditioner's performance (about one minute) to decide if they want that singer on their team; if two or more judges want the same singer (as happens frequently), the singer has the final choice of coach.
At the end of the blind auditions only Lauri Tähkä had full team of twelve singers. In the following additional auditions broadcast on Radio Aalto, all coaches added one more singer to their teams, leaving Tähkä with one extra.
Each team of contestants is mentored and developed by its respective coach. In the second stage, called the battle phase, coaches have two of their team members battle against each other directly by singing the same song together, with the coach choosing which team member to advance from each of four individual "battles" into the first live round. At this stage the coaches were assisted by songwriter and producer Jukka Immonen (Elastinen), the vocalist of Reckless Love Olli Herman (Tähkä), singer-songwriter and producer Lasse Kurki (Koivuniemi), and producer Riku Mattila (Monroe).
In the final phase, the remaining contestants (Final 24) compete against each other in live broadcasts. Within the first live round, the surviving six acts from each team again compete head-to-head, with public votes determining one of two acts from each team that will advance to the final eight, while the coach chooses which of the remaining acts comprises the other performer remaining on the team. The television audience and the coaches have equal say 50/50 in deciding who moves on to the semi-final. In the semi-final the results are based on a mix of public vote, Spotify listening of the previous week's performances, and voting of coaches. Each carries equal weight of 100 points for a total of 300 points. With one team member remaining for each coach, the (final 4) contestants compete against each other in the finale with the outcome decided by Spotify vote and public vote, both with equal weight of 100 points for a total of 200 points.
All four finalists released a single and the winner received a record deal with Universal.
Episodes
The Blind Auditions Key
Episode 1: December 30, 2011 OrderContestantSongCoaches' and Contestants' ChoicesElastinenLauri TähkäPaula KoivuniemiMichael Monroe 1Mia Tuuli"Tuo tumma nainen" — — — — 2Lauri Mikkola"Ain't No Sunshine" — — — 3Riina Heikkinen"Firework" — — — — 4Karoliina Kallio"Alone" — — 5Ilmo Ylinärä"It's a Man's Man's World" — — — — 6Toni Eurasto"Hallelujah" 7Fatou Haidara"Empire State of Mind" — — — — 8Selja Felin"Smile" 9Krista Siegfrids"You Shook Me All Night Long" 10Mikko Herranen"Easy" —
Episode 2: January 6, 2012 OrderContestantSongCoaches' and Contestants' ChoicesElastinenLauri TähkäPaula KoivuniemiMichael Monroe 1Henrika Ignatius"On the Radio" 2Lotta Svartsjö"Can't Take My Eyes off You" — — — — 3Nelli Petro"Rolling in the Deep" — — 4Ville Pyykönen"Silta yli synkän virran" — — — — 5Sanni Säntti"Pettävällä jäällä" — — — 6Weera Suonmaa"Fool" — — — — 7Toni Hiltunen"You've Got a Friend" — — 8Niklas Grönholm"Your Song" — — — — 9Sari Hurme"The Best" — — — — 10Mia Renwall"Someone Like You" — — 11Mikko Sipola"Don't Want to be"
Episode 3: January 13, 2012 OrderContestantSongCoaches' and Contestants' ChoicesElastinenLauri TähkäPaula KoivuniemiMichael Monroe 1Bettina Hammarsten"Rolling in the Deep" — — — 2Isabella Hammarsten"Mercy" — — 3Tero Heikari"Puhu hiljaa rakkaudesta" — — — — 4Anfisa Proskuryakova"Natural Woman" — 5Krista Honkonen"We Don't Need Another Hero" — — — — 6Tony Romeo"Silta yli synkän virran" — — — 7Sofia Holmberg"You Know My Name" — — — — 8Oskari Salovaara"The Best" — — — 9Amanda Löfman"Indian" — — — 10Lotta Lené"Taking Chances" — — — 11Minna Eskola"Smile"
Episode 4: January 20, 2012 OrderContestantSongCoaches' and Contestants' ChoicesElastinenLauri TähkäPaula KoivuniemiMichael Monroe 1Siiri Nojonen"Keihäänkärki" — 2Osku Bom"You Know My Name" — — — — 3Sam Mouden"It's a Man's Man's World" — — — — 4Ina Möller"I Got Trouble" — — — — 5Valerie Nyholm"Mercy — — — 6Jesse Kaikuranta"The Edge of Glory" — — 7Minna Lasanen"Natural Woman" — — — 8Maria Marsch"You Know I'm No Good" — — — — 9Kimmo Härma"Can't Help Falling In Love" 10Juho Raisänen"Easy" — — 11Taru Ratilainen"Georgia on My Mind" —
Episode 5: January 27, 2012 OrderContestantSongCoaches' and Contestants' ChoicesElastinenLauri TähkäPaula KoivuniemiMichael Monroe 1Rami Hentilä"Angels" — — — — 2Jani Partinen"It's My Life" — — — — 3Johanna Mäkelä"Kesällä kerran" — — 4Heini Särmäkari"Alone" — — — 5Jari Uutela"Voi kuinka me sinua kaivataan" — — — — 6Sophie Aittola"Someone Like You" — — — — 7Markku Kirves"Matkustaja" — — — 8Ella Tukia"Ain't No Sunshine" — — — 9Mya Rydman"Firework" — — 10Erkki Korhonen"I Surrender" — — — — 11Jelena Knef"Piste" — 12Eveliina Tammenlaakso"It's a Man's Man's Man's World" — — — 13J-P Salo"I Don't Want To Be" —
Episode 6: February 6, 2012 OrderContestantSongCoaches' and Contestants' ChoicesElastinenLauri TähkäPaula KoivuniemiMichael Monroe 1Anna Inginmaa "You Raise Me Up" — — — 2Mari Rautanen "Ain't No Sunshine" — — — 3Aki Louhela "Straight from the Heart" — 4Robertta Simonen"Edge of Glory" — — — — 5Pihla Knaapila"As" — — — — 6Johanna Mäkelä"Good Luck" — 7Nelli Järvelä "Your Song" — — 8Hanna Silander "Missä muruseni on" — — — 9Tanja Vähäsarja "Jos menet pois" — — — 10Laura Malmberg "Sweet Child O' Mine" — 11Saara Aalto"Taking Chances" 12Antti Matikainen"Grenade"
The Wildcards OrderContestantSongCoaches' and Contestants' ChoicesElastinenLauri TähkäPaula KoivuniemiMichael Monroe 1Victoria Björndahl "Firework" — — — — 2Ilmo Ylinärä "Whole Lotta Love" 3Ina Forsman TBA — — — — 4Jenni Haapakorva TBA — — — — 5Sophie Aittola "Whataya Want from Me" — — — 6Pihla Knaapila "We Don't Need Another Hero" — — — 7Kim Koskinen "Whataya Want from Me" —
The Battle Rounds
Aired from February 10 to March 2, 2012.
– Battle Winner
Week/Order Coach Contestant Contestant Song 1.1 Lauri Tähkä Nelli Järvelä Selja Felin "Sun särkyä anna mä en" 1.2 Michael Monroe Ilmo Ylinärä Kimmo Härmä "Hard to Handle" 1.3 Elastinen Lauri Mikkola Henrika Ignatius "Moves Like Jagger" 1.4 Paula Koivuniemi Tanja Vähäsarja Johanna Mäkelä "Hölmö Rakkaus" 1.5 Lauri Tähkä Heidi Akselin Valerie Nyholm "Only Girl (In the World)" 1.6 Elastinen Bettina Hammarsten Isabella Hammarsten "Lady Marmalade" 2.1 Elastinen Mikko Sipola Laura Malmberg "Wonderwall" 2.2 Michael Monroe Tony Romeo Mikko Herranen "The Flame" 2.3 Lauri Tähkä Jelena Knief Sanna Säntti "Katujen Kuningatar" 2.4 Paula Koivuniemi Nelli Petro Minna Eskola "Crazy" 2.5 Michael Monroe Anna Inginmaa Saara Aalto "True Colors" 2.6 Paula Koivuniemi Jesse Kaikuranta Juho Räisänen "Minä ja Hän" 3.1 Lauri Tähkä Antti Matikainen Markku Kirves "Hetki Lyö" 3.2 Elastinen Pihla Knaapila Eveliina Tammenlaakso "Set Fire to the Rain" 3.3 Michael Monroe Krista Siegfrids Mya Rydman "Because the Night" 3.4 Paula Koivuniemi Sophie Aittola Mia Renwall "Rakkauden Haudalla" 3.5 Lauri Tähkä Minna Lasanen Amanda Löfman "Stop!" 3.6 Elastinen Taru Ratilainen Siiri Nojonen "Just the Way You Are" 4.1 Michael Monroe Toni Hiltunen Toni Eurasto "Feel" 4.2 Paula Koivuniemi Anfisa Proskuryakova Hanna Silander "Hiljaisuus" 4.4 Michael Monroe J-P Salo Heini Särmäkari "Run to You" 4.5 Paula Koivuniemi Aki Louhela Oskari Salovaara "Maybe I'm Amazed" 4.6 Elastinen Lotta Lené Karoliina Kallio "The Power of Love"
Week/Order Coach Contestant Contestant Contestant Song 4.3 Lauri Tähkä Mari Rautanen Ella Tukia Kim Koskinen "Wicked Game"
The Live Rounds
Episode 1: March 9, 2012 Performance Order Coach Contestant Song Result 1 Michael Monroe Kimmo Härmä "Beautiful Day" Michael Monroe's vote 2 Lauri Tähkä Sanna Säntti "Musta aurinko nousee" Lauri Tähkä's vote 3 Michael Monroe J-P Salo "Wishing Well" Eliminated 4 Lauri Tähkä Antti Matikainen "Olkinainen" Lauri Tähkä's vote 5 Michael Monroe Krista Siegfrids "Piece of My Heart" Eliminated 6 Lauri Tähkä Selja Felin "All My Loving" Eliminated 7 Michael Monroe Toni Hiltunen "Boys of Summer" Michael Monroe's vote 8 Lauri Tähkä Kim Koskinen "18 and Life" Public vote 9 Michael Monroe Mikko Herranen "Time Is Running Out" Public vote 10 Lauri Tähkä Valerie Nyholm "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)" Eliminated 11 Michael Monroe Saara Aalto "What Hurts the Most" Public vote 12 Lauri Tähkä Amanda Löfman "The Show Must Go On" Public vote
Episode 2: March 16, 2012 Performance Order Coach Contestant Song Result 1 Paula Koivuniemi Aki Louhela "I Won't Let You Go" Public vote 2 Elastinen Karoliina Kallio "If I Had You" Eliminated 3 Paula Koivuniemi Anfisa Proskuryakova "Nobody's Perfect" Eliminated 4 Elastinen Mikko Sipola "Use Somebody" Public vote 5 Paula Koivuniemi Tanja Vähäsarja "Vanha sydän" Public vote 6 Elastinen Lauri Mikkola "Open Your Eyes" Elastinen's vote 7 Paula Koivuniemi Nelli Petro "C'est la vie" Paula Koivuniemi's vote 8 Elastinen Taru Ratilainen "Fallin'" Elastinen's vote 9 Paula Koivuniemi Jesse Kaikuranta "Piiloon" Paula Koivuniemi's vote 10 Elastinen Eveliina Tammenlaakso "Respect" Public vote 11 Paula Koivuniemi Sophie Aittola "I Don't Believe You" Eliminated 12 Elastinen Isabella Hammarsten "Rude Boy" Eliminated
Episode 3: March 23, 2012 Performance Order Coach Contestant Song Result 1 Lauri Tähkä Antti Matikainen "Ohikiitävää" Lauri Tähkä's vote 2 Michael Monroe Saara Aalto "Barracuda" Michael Monroe's vote 3 Lauri Tähkä Kim Koskinen "Bed of Roses" Public vote 4 Michael Monroe Mikko Herranen "The Kill" Public vote 5 Lauri Tähkä Amanda Löfman "Like a Prayer" Lauri Tähkä's vote 6 Michael Monroe Toni Hiltunen "Somebody to Love" Eliminated 7 Lauri Tähkä Sanna Säntti "Kuunnellaan vaan taivasta" Eliminated 8 Michael Monroe Kimmo Härmä "Hopeinen Kuu" Michael Monroe's vote
Episode 4: March 30, 2012 Performance Order Coach Contestant Song Result 1 Elastinen Taru Ratilainen "If I Were a Boy" Eliminated 2 Paula Koivuniemi Nelli Petro "Whataya Want From Me" Eliminated 3 Elastinen Eveliina Tammenlaakso "Titanium" Elastinen's vote 4 Paula Koivuniemi Jesse Kaikuranta "Veden alla" Public vote 5 Elastinen Mikko Sipola "Stay" Public Vote 6 Paula Koivuniemi Aki Louhela "Heard It Through The Grapevine" Paula Koivuniemi's vote 7 Elastinen Lauri Mikkola "Bad" Elastinen's vote 8 Paula Koivuniemi Tanja Vähäsarja "Vapaa" Paula Koivuniemi's vote
Episode 5: April 6, 2012