Comment: UMK has a competitor who definitely wants to make up for the narrow loss from years ago

Finland In recent years, there have been some recurring phenomena in the Eurovision Song Contest, i.e. UMK. Pop metal songs and party songs have often fought for the win, and serious ballads have been overshadowed by them.

Except last year when Sara Siipola put up a lot of resistance with his dramatic accounting piece Windows95Manin for the denim egg show.

The ballroom song suffered the bitterest loss in 2020, when Aksel Kankaanranta YOU Looking Back – narrowly won with his ballad by Erika Vikman in front of the nose.

The irony is that Kankaanranta didn’t make it to the Eurovision final because of the global corona pandemic, and Looking Back was forgotten by the general public. Vikman’s Cicciolinasta became a hit.

This year, Erika Vikman has returned to UMK, and it’s hard not to consider her an early favorite. Vikman has stayed afloat and stuck to his mildly provocative style. His competition song this year has done Christel and Jori Roosbergwhich were previously known Chisuna and PMMP’s hit composer Jori Sjöroosina.

This lineup isn’t just hanging out at UMK.

Any Danny’s this Tommi Läntinen old conker like that is not included now, but for example Nellie Matula, Delay and Costee have gained a solid foothold in domestic pop. There are hits that have collected millions of Spotify listens and Emma nominations, Viiv even won one award.

The metal act of the year is performed by One Morning Left, who may be unfamiliar to the middle-of-the-road audience, but the band has been gigging for twenty years, and in recent years more and more abroad, all the way to the United States and Japan.

The band has also performed on the tours of Blind Channel and the German Electric Callboy. The latter is known in Finland not only for his concerts, but also for the fact that Wrapper Cha Cha Chata was considered an Electric Callboy inspired song.

The newest arrivals are Neea River and Goldielocks eli No, Jokinen and Ella Mäntynen. Of course, they have already shown their talent in the music world. Neea River has been making songs in the USA and Finland for years. He has been making, among other things, Portion Boys ABC of life and White Rodeota. He started performing his own songs only two years ago.

Goldielocks can be considered UMK’s dark horse based on their previous productions, who stand out from the crowd with hard-to-categorize electronic pop and especially with their unique singing voice. Like Neea River, Goldielocks has been a song writer for many Finnish artists. Last summer he was already seen performing in Provinssi, Ilosaarirock and Flow.

Windows95Manin There is no such show character in the group this time. It is also a recurring phenomenon that the success or failure of Finland’s representative song in the finals determines the following year’s UMK selection.

Yle has remembered to rightfully emphasize that UMK is not only a Eurovision qualifier, but also an important upward path for new domestic artists. At least the last few years are proof of that Evening, Bess and in 2023, Kuumaa, which rose from fifth place in the final to quadruple platinum sales and ice rink gigs.