Suomi is bringing it this year! Finland’s national broadcaster YLE revealed today the ten acts competing at the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017. Next to that, we also heard the songs for the first time. The final of UMK 2017 will take place on January 28 and it looks like we’re in for a wild show.
After failing to make it to the final two times in a row, Finland is now ready to get their groove back. YLE made some big changes to their Eurovision selection Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK). Now there will be just one event, the big final. The winner will be chosen by the Finnish public together with international juries. There’s a wide mix of acts on offer, from “WDM” (that’s Wooden Dance Music to y’all), a Swedish international model superstar and the craziest bunch of club kids we’ve seen in a while.
Check out the top competing acts below, along with some quotes from their introductions. Click on the song title to hear each song on the YLE website:
The ten competing acts of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017
1. Zühlke — “Perfect Villain”
“When I heard this song for the first time, I knew this will be the song which will win the contest for the second time for Finland”
2. Emma — “Circle of Light”
“I’ve always wanted to win Eurovision and make Finland proud of me”
3. Günter & D’Sanz — “Love Yourself”
“We are not here just to win the UMK, we are here to win Eurovision for Finland!”
4. My First Band — “Paradise”
5. Alva — “Arrows”
6. Norma John — “Blackbird”
“The song is very dramatic and drama always fits to Eurovision”
7. Lauri Yrjölä — “Helppo elämä”
“It would be great to win Eurovision in Finnish to celebrate Finland’s 100 years of independence”
8. Knucklebone Oscar & The Shangri-La Rubies — “Caveman”
“Now is the time for rock ‘n’ roll to rise again!”
9. Anni Saikku — “Reach Out For The Sun”
“I’ve followed UMK for couple past years and wanted to take part but now I found the right song”
10. Club La Persé — “My Little World”
“We are Eurovision, we are living Eurovision, I love Eurovision!”
The final will be hosted by Krista Siegfrids, who also hosted the contest in 2016. We all know her from representing Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 and competing at the Melodifestivalen 2016. She also just released her new single “Be Real”. It was also confirmed that Norwegian brothers Marcus and Martinus will be performing at the UMK final. We caught up with them in Stockholm earlier this year:
What do you think of the songs? Who should win and do we have a Eurovision winning song here? Let us know in the comments!
As usual, I’m the Johnny-Come-Lately here. Been quite distracted lately. Seven of them, in my opinion, will have trouble qualifying for the Grand Final, especially the obvious joke entries from Knucklebone Oscar and the Shangri-La Rubies, and Club La Persé. If they pick either of these 2, they can kiss the final goodbye for the 3rd-straight year. Period. The three that I think are the most promising: 1. Emma: “Circle Of Light”; reminds me a bit of Greta Salóme’s “Hear Them Calling”, which got thrown under the bus in May. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of stage performance… Read more »
omg. i don’t know which of them is less worse. i think the only that could even reach final are maybe Perfect Villain(my favourite if not considering the Kryptonite part), Paradise(even if the lyrics make me cringe) & Circle Of Light, plus Arrows and Blackbird. but pls, don’t send Love Yourself, Caveman or My Little World because are A W F U L. Top 5(I’m not even considering other acts because they are all awful, just Reach Out For The Sun and that Finnish song are, let’s say, not horrible.) 1° – Zühlke – Perfect Villain 2° – Alka –… Read more »
They’re all horrible. 3rd straight year with no final for Finland.
“Blackbird” is the clear winner here…. It sounds quite special even without having a performance to judge it on.
This could bring their best result since 2006.
UMK means new music competition. Its open to anyone anywhere, so anyone can send their song and hope they get to competition. Idea is very much to give possibility to new artists to get publicity. Finland might not get so good result, but surely Finlands qualification is fun with very good atmosphere. Club La Perse can be persian club or ass club. Perse is ass in finnish. Club la perse is so perfect to eurovision that its impossible to find anything better. So no matter you loved or hated it this song is must also because its represent Finland so… Read more »
Polegend Godgarina
Music videos will be released in the 31st of December.
I definitely preferred last year’s selection much more, but as consolation, maybe Finland can be the meme-iest country in 2017? It’s not even 2017 yet, though. Most of the ‘decent’ songs (I’ll use that word as a synonym for ‘mainstream’, though not necessarily ‘good’) tend to ride the same wave. But really, nothing stands out as a potential winning song; they’re too cookie-cutter for me. Some comments: -‘Circle of Light’, which frankly is one of the best songs out of this crop, has a nice folksy twang to it, but when I listen to it I think ‘Oh really? Hasn’t… Read more »
Anyone knows when the music videos are coming out?
What’s all this hype about “Circle of Light”? Honestly the lyrics are super cheesy.
I need this selection to be 100% televote, I can already see the juries giving maximum points to Blackbird aka the snoozefest of the year. Circle of Light HAS to represent Finland.
Thanks olvresc.I find word interesting .
@xavi
It means something like “replaces that there is no sense of responsibility”.
Seriously? Finland you are surrounded by Melodifestivalen and Eesti Laul and this is your level? Are you kidding?
What does vastuuntunottomuuden korvaa mean?
Circle of Light would be awesome with Northern Lights on the LED screen and then there should be snow in the end or in the beginning and some fire.
Günther? Wow really?
I predict yet another flop for Finland. Most of the songs are what we would have as fillers in the MF. Not strong enough.
I wonder, why don’t Finland have their best singers in the contest? Is it not that prestige?
Not exactly a bold statement but Finland will have a female representative this year.
@Robyn
hit the nail on the head! circle of Light is by far the best of them all, hands down. I hope they have someone really inventive to help with the staging for this. With the right elements, this could be stellar, and easily qualify in Ukraine.
A very low quality level I would say. Of these I like LAURI YRJÖLÄ – “HELPPO ELÄMÄ” though Finnish sounds so weird for me… Knowing the Finnish, the would probably go for CLUB LA PARSÉ…
“What would the X-men do?” This is going to be the lyric of the season, I’m calling it now. Girlfriend better put on some killer cosplay on stage. For heaven’s sake, I couldn’t bring myself to finish half these songs. Might as well save themselves the trouble and the money and internally select Mikael Saari or Opera Skaala, because none of these hot messes are even going to come close to a Grand Final. Circle of Light is the only good one, despite the repetitive and sort of cringey lyrics (tho I guess “sort of cringey” is a good thing… Read more »
Okay, after listening to them a couple more times, I actually do quite like ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Arrows’ and I would be pleased enough if Blackbird won. But not ‘Helppo elämä’. I don’t see anything special in that.
Where are all the best artists of Finland? Like Vesala, Sanni, Eveliina, Nightwish,
Haloo Helsinki, Chisu, Antti Tuisku, Robin, and etc?
Where are they hiding, when it’s UMK?
In my opinion Emma and Lauri are the best:)
1) Circle Of Light – 12 points
2) Reach Out For The Sun – 10 points
3) Helppo Elama – 8 points
4) Love Yourself – 7 points
5) Perfect Villain – 6 points
6) Arrows – 5 points
7) Black Bird – 4 points
8) My Little World – 3 points
9) Paradise – 2 points
10) Caveman – 1 point
Why so many joke acts? So stupid.
For me Reach out for the sun is good but Blackbird creates such a moment, the clear winner out of these songs.
@ #NotTheWinners – I don’t understand why the best Finnish artists (Jenni Vartiainen, Anna Abreu, Anna Puu) pay the Eurovision dust when they could make their country proud. But “Circle of Light” will come thru and slay the lessors.
10. “My Little World” – that tragic accent alone earns it last place in my top. 9. “Blackbird” – I couldn’t think of something more boring than this song. But the ~real music~ lovers will find it a masterpiece, a God-sent anthem, an unmatched work of art. 8. “Reach Out for the Sun” – completely bland and weak. Truly the Finnish Lisa Ajax. 7. “Helppo elämä” – a mashup of Heroes and Heartbeat, two of the most annoying songs in the recent history of the contest. 6. “Perfect Villain” – kinda meh, definitely too weak. 5. “Love Yourself” – I… Read more »
okay wow major spam moment there sorry but honestly I love this selection and <3 all seven of the decent entries so congrats finland!
1. Blackbird Wowwwww! This is my kind of music. While it almost sounds 90’s to me, I really think the staging for this could be fantastic and it calls up a lot of emotions on its own. It has this really dark power like Seis/Heartbeat/Birds. The piano bit is stunning, just a really beautiful song in general. Some may find it boring, but it might be that one ballad that makes it to the final and surprises everyone 2. The one in Finnish Love the house bits like honestly s l a y m e but I kept waiting for… Read more »
Oh my God… I am so dissappointed
Very dissappointed. Circle of Light is the only song that I like, and even that is kind of boring. I know my country is bad at ESC, but this… srsly…
Last time was better. You had Mikael Saari, Saara Aalto and other good ones.
Where are they now? All i can see is a mess.
I really want to see a reaction video by William and Deban to this mess….
“Blackbird” caught my attention as the only one of all this year acts. With a little revamp it would be magical I think. I see this on Eurovision stage with some dramatic staging… my favourite definetly.
I liked only Alva and anni saiku
Why do everyone think that the 2017 selection songs are bad? I think some songs are really strong and could even win ESC (Blackbird, Arrows, Reach Out For The Sun, Paradise, Caveman (it can go home among people at home) and My Little World (the same effect as with Caveman)). UMK 2017 have absolutely better songs than last year. Melodifestivalen next year also needs to have some magnific songs to be better than this!
i will vote 20€/20votes in January. She is only artist who have good song and she is real singer!!
I would like to hear Finnish at Eurovision.
Not so fond of these as last year! Some are even cringeworthy on first listen! Nothing stands out much except for Lauri and My First Band (both radio friendly), and maybe Emma’s song. Knowing the Finns, they’ll choose something unexpected! However, good to hear international juries will be used, like in Melfest! I’ll be watching the final! 😀
I LOVE ‘Circle of Light’ and it’s clearly the best out of all of these and by quite a mile too! What happened to ‘Hear Them Calling’ could easily happen to this, but let’s hold on to hope! Because HTC deserved SO much better!
Calm down, the songs are pretty enjoyable. Except for the weird ones. But Finland probably chooses a weird one, like they most of the time do.
10. zulhlke- perfect villain 9. norma john – blackbird 8. knucklebone oscar & the shangri-la rubies – caveman 7. anni saikku – reach out for the sun 6. club la perse – my little world 5. GUNTHER & D’SANZ – LOVE YOURSELFFF! 4. MY FIRST BAND – PARADISEEE! 3. ALVA – ARRROOWWSS! 2. EMMA – CIRCLE OF LIGHHTTT! 1. LAURI YRJOLA – HELPPO ELAMMAAA! … that’s my ranking of the songs. omg, i’m gagging at the level of quality finland is serving us y’all! i’d be fine with 1-6 representing finland this year. but i’m preparing myself mentally for the… Read more »
What the hell Finland!!! NONE!
OMG, the NF season just began. Endless junk music on the air. LOL
I personally think Blackbird is beautiful.
12. Blackbird
10. Helppo Elama
08. Reach Out For The Sun
07. Circle of Light
06. Arrows
05. Paradise
04. Perfect Villain (the lyrics though… lol)
03. Love Yourself (again.. THE LYRICS LMAO)
02. My Perfect Little World
01. Caveman (a mess)
I only like Lauri (the only song which is not in english) and maybe Emma.
The rest is either nothing special or pretty bad…
Not the strongest selection unfortunately. I was hoping for much better songs…
Top3:
1. Norma John “Blackbird”
2. Emma “Circle of Light”
3. Lauri Yrjola “Helppo Elama”
I also like Paradise and Blackbird, I should add.
Lauri is miles above the rest!! I also like Arrows. Of course, it’s Finland, so Lauri will come around 6th, and ‘Love Yourself’ and ‘My Little World’ will stand as a clear 1st and 2nd I presume. A real shame.
After listening these 10 songs, my ears bled.
The songs are kind of better than last year to be honest, my top so far:
1.Arrows
2. Paradise
3. Helppo elämä
The X-Men aren’t affected by Kryptonite. The song is good, but that makes me grind my teeth. Clumsy pop culture references are AWFUL.