Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Finland will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Finnish broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), will use the national selection Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2021 to decide their representative.

Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Country Finland
National selection
Selection processUuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2021
Selection date(s)20 February 2021
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2020 • 2021

Background
Main article: Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2021 Contest, Finland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-three times since their first entry in 1961.[1] Finland has won the contest once in 2006 with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi. In the 2019 contest, "Look Away" performed by Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman failed to qualify for the final, finishing in 17th (last) place in the first semi-final with 23 points. In 2020, Aksel Kankaanranta was set to represent Finland with the song "Looking Back" before the contest's cancellation.

The Finnish national broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), broadcasts the event within Finland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Yle confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest on 3 June 2019.[2] Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest have been selected through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years. Between 1961 and 2011, a selection show that was often titled Euroviisukarsinta highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision. However, since 2012, the broadcaster has organised the selection show Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), which focuses on showcasing new music with the winning song being selected as the Finnish contest entry for that year.

Before Eurovision

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2021

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2021 will be the tenth edition of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), the music competition that selects Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition will consist of one final on 20 February 2021. The show will be held at the Mediapolis TV studio in Tampere and hosted by Antti Tuisku, commentated on by Mikko Silvennoinen in Finnish, Johan Lindroos and Eva Frantz in Swedish and Levan Tvaltvadze in Russian. The show will also be commentated on in English. The show will be broadcast on Yle TV1 and online at yle.fi/umk as well as via on Yle Radio Suomi and with commentary in Swedish by Eva Frantz and Johan Lindroos on Yle X3M.[3]

Competing entries

A submission period was opened by Yle which lasted between 1 September 2020 and 7 September 2020. At least one of the writers and the lead singer(s) had to hold Finnish citizenship or live in Finland permanently in order for the entry to qualify to compete.[4] A panel of eight experts appointed by Yle selected seven entries for the competition from the 278 received submissions. The panel consisted of Tapio Hakanen (Head of Music at YleX), Anssi Autio (UMK producer), Juha-Matti Valtonen (television director), Samuli Väänänen (Senior Editor at Spotify Finland), Mirva Merimaa (CEO of Tiketti), Katri Norrlin (YleX music editor), Jani Kareinen (YleX music editor), Johan Lindroos (Head of Music at Yle Radio Suomi) and Amie Borgar (Head of Music at Yle X3M).[3] The competing artists were presented on 13 January 2021, while the competing entries will be released between 14 and 22 January 2021.[5]

Final

The final will take place on 20 February 2021 where seven entries will compete. The winner will be selected by a combination of public votes (75%) and eight international jury groups (25%).

Final – 20 February 2021
Draw Artist Song Songwriter(s) Jury Televote Total Place
Aksel "Hurt" Gerard O'Connell, Kalle Lindroth, Joonas Angeria
Blind Channel "Dark Side" Aleksi Kaunisvesi, Joonas Porko, Joel Hokka, Niko Moilanen, Olli Matela
Danny "Sinä päivänä kun kaikki rakastaa mua" Janne Rintala
Ilta "Kelle mä soitan" Ilta Fuchs, Väinö Wallenius, Jouni Aslak, Tuomas Kauhanen
Laura "Play" Karl-Ander Reismann, Reinis Straume, Laura Põldvere
Oskr "Lie" Oskari Ruohonen, Joonas Angeria, David Pramik
Teflon Brothers x Pandora "I Love You" Jaakko Salovaara, Axel Ehnström, Mikko Kuoppala, Heikki Kuula, Jani Tuohimaa, Anneli Magnusson

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. For the 2021 contest, the semi-final allocation draw held for 2020 which was held on 28 January 2020, will be used for 2021 contest. Finland was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 20 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[6]

References
  1. "Finland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  2. Jiandani, Sanjay (3 June 2019). "Finland: YLE confirms participation in Eurovision 2020". esctoday.
  3. "Tässä ovat UMK21-finalistit – "Kaikkien aikojen kovin kattaus"". Yle (in Finnish). 13 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  4. Jumawan, Tim (2 September 2020). "Finland to select their 2021 Eurovision entry on February 20". escXtra. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  5. "Latest news: Finland's Aksel is back for UMK!". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 13 January 2021. Archived from the original on 13 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  6. Groot, Evert (17 November 2020). "2020 Semi-Final line-up to stay for 2021". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
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