Finland return to a national selection and already a fan-favourite is generating a lot of buzz in the Eurovision community. Erika Vikman’s “Cicciolina” is far more than a Scandinavian, schlager song. In this the first of a two-part series we delve further in the singer and inspiration behind the song to understand better what messages they’re really trying to convey at Eurovision. You can read Part 2 at ESCDaily here.
Who is Erika Vikman?
Finnish Idol 2013 runner-up; Erika Vikman (27 years old) has been known prior as the girlfriend of Danny Lipsanen (77 years old) as of 2018. Danny (real name: Ilkka Johannes Lipsanen) is a well-known Finnish singer, entrepreneur and music advisor – having a music career spanning fifty years.
This relationship I can only imagine was considered controversial at the time due to the fifty years-old age gap between the two people – with many considering the relationship fraudulent and Erika a “playboy” or “gold-digger” – despite Finland being an overall, liberal and accepting country of different beliefs. Does the playboy comment ring a bell?
How does this relate to Cicciolina? Let me tell you: this has everything to do with Cicciolina as it’s a subject matter that is addressed by Erika herself amongst other themes within the song’s lyrics. Before we delve further into the song itself I’d like to give a brief summary on who Cicciolina is.
Who is Cicciolina?
Ilona Staller better known as Cicciolina (translates as “little chubby”) is a Hungarian-Italian former porn-star who started starring in adult films in the early 1970s after being founded by pornographer Riccardo Schicchi. She hosted a radio show called “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?” on Radio Luna – based on the original version of Lady Marmalade by Labelle in 1974, it’s on this very show she adopted the infamous name of Cicciolina. She also has the accolade of being the woman to first expose her breasts on Italian Television (on RAI, no doubt).
Staller begun her political career in 1979 as a candidate for the Italy’s first Green party (Lista del Sole) before changing to The Radical Party (Partito Radicale) where she was finally elected to the Italian parliament. She infamously offered to have sex with the Iraqi-leader Saddam Hussein in return for peace to the region. This controversial proposal may have led to her failure for re-election in three years later. Staller alongside friend and fellow porn-star Moana Pozzi started their own party entitled Love Party (Partito dell’Amore). Staller amassed another two years through this new party but it can be seen that Cicciolina did have public support despite her illustrious background beforehand.
THEIR PASTS AND HOW they’re CONNECTED
There is debates around the world of whether Female porn stars can be seen as Feminists. Porn star Samantha Bentley stated “doing porn is one of the most feminist careers a woman can do” and believes her career is “one of the most empowering of all for women”. This seems to resonate with Vikman’s lyrics which include: “Yeah, I’m turned on by attention, I don’t need to hide it. Being free and lewd is beautiful”.
Erika resonates with Cicciolina as an empowering, female figure after watching a documentary on her which spur the inspiration for the entry’s production. Cicciolina who defied social norms and procedures to go from pornography into politics is an aspiring quality to Vikman and that can be heard through the Finnish lyrics alongside it’s overall theme. Whether you agree or not of whether figures like Samantha Bentley and Cicciolina are indeed ‘feminists’ doesn’t matter to Vikman. Cicciolina will remain an empowering figure to her and it’s tribute of female, sexual liberation is wholeheartedly heard in this musical tribute.
What does Cicciolina think of the song?
Ilona Staller posted the song on Twitter (https://twitter.com/cicciolina_uff) for which Erika Vikman replied with a love heart in the comments. It seems Ilona approves! Cicciolina later posted a video of an old, interview she provided in Finland, it’s safe to say she’s enjoying the major resurgence of her name through Erika’s UMK entry.
WILL IT REPRESENT FINLAND at EUROVISION 2020?
- You can view the translated lyrics here.
Want to read more?
Let us know in the comments whether you think this will represent Finland for Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam. I think it’s got a strong chance and I will explain more-so why in the second part of this series over on ESCDaily as I analysis further the music, lyrics and offer some advice on possible, performance elements. You can read more using the following link: here.