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Eurovision 2021 Finland
Yle, the Finnish broadcaster announced more details about next year’s edition of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK 2021). From 278 submissions, seven will compete in the national final on February 20. An official announcement of the artists will commence on January 19. With the eventual winner becoming Finland’s representative for Eurovision 2021 to be held in Rotterdam.
The final will take place on February 20th. The show is set to take place in the Mediapolis Studios in Tampere for the second year in a row, but whether there will be an audience or not will depend on what restrictions are in place at the time. The broadcaster hopes that an audience will be present, but they are ready for Plan B regardless.
Once more Finland will select their Eurovision entrant through the national final format, Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu. Now Yle has revealed more details of their 2021 ambitions and what we can expect from the competition. A professional jury headed by Tapio Hakanen whittled down 278 submissions to just seven. With the public announcement of who these seven are due on January 19th. After which each song will published on consecutive weekdays.
“The level of the songs and artists was incredibly strong and I am confident that we have coming in the spring of 2021, the most competitive UMK of all time. I’m really happy and grateful to each musician and every song that was sent to Yle,” said Tapio Hakanen.
2021 will be the tenth edition of UMK. For next year’s edition, Aksel (the intened 2020 Finnish representative) doesn’t have a safe spot in the national final. Therefore, he will have to send a song and be selected to make it to the national final. Aksel has said that he wants to compete again to represent Finland in Rotterdam.
Earlier this year Aksel won the 2020 edition of UMK with the song ‘Looking Back’. The entry written by Joonas Angeria, Whitney Phillips, Connor McDonough, Riley McDonough, and Toby McDonough, was set to participate in the second half of the second semi-final. However in March the EBU had to announce the unfortunate news that Eurovision 2020 would be cancelled.
So far no names have been revealed or rumoured. However Tapio has given hints to the potential calibre of artists we can expect to see next year. Several former Eurovision entrants applied. As well as winners of Finland’s prestigious Emma Awards. Tapio also hinted that a diverse range of genres are in consideration for the final seven. Which shows that rising stars, and established acts see this as a great opportunity.
Finland first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, they debuted alongside Spain and Yugoslavia. Finland has finished last in the contest on 10 occasions and has received ‘nul points’ three times. It wasn’t until 2006 that Finland won the Eurovision Song Contest. Lordi represented the country in Athens with the song “Hard Rock Hallelujah” scoring 292 points, a record total at the time.