Seili by Jenni Vartiainen

Seili is the second studio album by Finnish pop singer Jenni Vartiainen. It was released by Warner Music Finland digitally on 31 March 2010, with the official physical release following on 14 April. From 31 March to the official physical release date, the album was sold at €19 in conjunction with Ilta-Sanomat. The album was re-released on 14 January 2011, in a limited vinyl edition. The Finnish-language album, incorporating electro and synthpop elements along with melancholic piano ballads, is named after the island Seili (Själö in Swedish), located off the south-west coast of Finland. The album was produced and co-written by Jukka Immonen with Vartiainen writing also two of the songs. The main lyricists were Teemu Brunila and Mariska who contributed to the thematical dualism of the album—Brunila wrote the happier songs about publicity and finding love while Mariska wrote the lyrics for the songs that deal with darker and more serious themes, such as death. Another lyricist was Paula Vesala (from the pop rock duo PMMP). Vartiainen participated more in the production than with her debut album Ihmisten edessä, by playing for example piano and kantele. Critically acclaimed for its vocals and successful combination of ballads and pop, though criticized for lack of peculiarity and a somewhat inconsistent song selection, Seili spent 62 non-consecutive weeks on the Finnish Albums Chart since its release—with 15 weeks atop the chart—and sold over 95,000 copies in 2010, becoming the best-selling album of 2010 in Finland. Altogether, Seili has sold over 150,000 copies since its release and currently ranks 14th in the list of the best-selling albums of all time in Finland. The album received three Emma Awards in February 2011: for Album of the Year, Pop/Rock Album of the Year and Best-Selling Album of the Year. The album included also two Emma-winning songs, the gold-selling singles "En haluu kuolla tänä yönä" and "Missä muruseni on", winning in the categories Song of the Year and Music Video of the Year, respectively. "Nettiin" was released as the third single and the album spawned two promotional singles, "Duran Duran", which sold also gold, and "Eikö kukaan voi meitä pelastaa?". "Missä muruseni on" was the major chart hit, dominating the top-three spots of the Finnish Singles Chart from August 2010 to January 2011 and becoming the third-best-selling single of 2011 in Finland. To promote the album, Vartiainen embarked on a concert tour titled Seili, spanning from April 2010 to August 2011 and consisting of 170 shows.