Saaristo first entered the Finnish Eurovision selection in 1978 with the song "Sinun kanssasi, sinua ilman", which finished fourth. A second attempt in 1984 with "Sä liian paljon vaadit" ended in third place. Saaristo finally got her chance in 1989, when "La dolce vita" was chosen as the Finnish entry for the 34th Eurovision Song Contest, held in Lausanne, Switzerland on 6 May. A song with a distinctly Mediterranean sound and arrangement, "La dolce vita" finished in seventh place of 22 entries, representing Finland's best Eurovision placing for 14 years and making it at the time the country's joint second-highest placement. There was some degree of wry amusement in Finland that this had been achieved with such an un-Finnish sounding song.