Ding dong! The host of Finland’s national final Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) 2017 has been announced and again the job has gone to Krista Siegfrids. She announced her new job with a very presidential speech.
This will be Krista’s second year hosting UMK. Last year she co-hosted with Roope Salminen, but was absent for one show when she had to perform at Melodifestivalen in neighbouring Sweden. Krista is the sole host for UMK 2017, so we can assume she won’t be making a return to Melfest 2017.
Announcing her hosting gig, Krista served a President Hillary Clinton fantasy, with a unique Finnish spin on proceedings. Krista was carried into the press conference on a giant inflatable swan and delivered her speech with a cockatoo on her shoulder.
President Krista delivered a speech promising to “make Finland fab again”:
“People of Finland, it is time to face facts.
I will not promise you new roads or jobs. I will not promise you tax breaks or medical services. I can only promise you a UMK.
We need glitter, confetti, WTF moments, costume changes, and performers singing with modulation.
One Saturday night, I will have you permission to have a crazy party. Let’s make Finland fab again!”
In recent years Finland’s performance at Eurovision has been not-so-fab. After Softengine’s impressive 11th place in 2014, Finnish acts since have not fared as well. Both Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät and Sandhja failed to qualify for the final.
Earlier in the week, broadcaster YLE also confirmed that the 10 finalists for UMK 2017 would be announced on 23 November from 12:00 CET (13:00 Finnish time). They’ll be announced on the UMK website, Facebook and YouTube.
UMK 2017 will be held on Saturday 28 January, at Metro Arena, just outside of Helsinki. In a change from recent years, UMK will now only consist of one grand final of 10 acts. In the past two years, UMK has used three semi-finals of six acts each, with three songs from each semi progressing to the nine-act grand final.
UMK 2017 will also include an international jury to help select the winner. In past years, UMK has used a combination of televote and juries made up of various professional and cultural groups, including taxi drivers, YouTubers and asphalt constructors.
Are you excited about Krista returning to host UMK? Can Finland get their Eurovision groove back? Share your thoughts below!
Ya just can’t keep America out of Eurovision, can you. 😛
Yaaay, love her! <3
By the way, when you say "the 10 finalists will be announced on 23 November" you mean the songs or just the artists?
Lmaoooo =) Love you, President Krista !
I wish Mikael Saari will return at this UMK 2017 =) Or Tuuli Okkonen =)