Three days ago we asked you to vote for your favourites to win Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) 2016 — Finland’s Eurovision 2016 selection. In that short space of time y’all managed to drop more than 1,900 votes and have called this one a two-horse race between emotional male balladry and female Bollywood realness! But in the end it’s emotion that wins the day as Mikael Saari has pipped Saara Aalto by just 11 votes! This one is just too close to call!
“On It Goes” singer Mikael received 528 votes, or around 27.63% of all those cast. He is returning to Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu after placing second behind Krista Siegfrids in 2013. He was the first name to be announced as a finalist from the second semifinal of the contest and slowly but surely Mikael has emerged as the favourite — of both Eurovision fans and the bookies — to represent Finland at Eurovision 2016.
If you’ve ever dreamed of getting into hottie Mikael’s bed, then tonight is the night! Starting at 20:00 CET, Mikael will live stream from his hotel room on his Facebook page. Yes, he will take us into his bed and have his final rehearsal before tomorrow’s final. Let’s do this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_gTaDgx1f0
Runner-up Saara Aalto is trying her luck as a solo artist for a second time as well (She has served as a backing vocalist in the contest three times already). Saara earned 27.05% of all the votes and together with Mikael received over half of all votes cast.
In third place is the only duo in the final, Annica Milán & Kimmo Blom. During our semi-final poll, they were almost tied with Mikael, but have fallen behind since then. They still earned 10.2% of the votes — or 195 of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvx4PW_EJwc
Finnish disco queen Eini finished fourth in the poll with “Draamaa”. It’s the only song sung in Finnish in the final. Will this be to Eini’s benefit? She earned 9.11% of the votes and is standing strong in fourth place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhI0NKW27mA
Two ladies from the third semifinal occupy places five and six, with only six votes separating them. Tuuli Okkonen got 6.59% of the vote with “Don’t Wake Me Up”, leaving Sandhja with “Sing It Away” behind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck3a3L36jkU
Who do you think will win? How will the running order and the juries change the result? Tell us in the comments!
Who should win UMK 2016 in Finland? (Poll Results)
1. Mikael Saari with “On It Goes” 27.63% (528 votes)
2. Saara Aalto with “No Fear” 27.05% (517 votes)
3. Annica Milán & Kimmo Blom with “Good Enough” 10.2% (195 votes)
4. Eini with “Draamaa” 9.11% (174 votes)
5. Tuuli Okkonen with “Don’t Wake Me Up” 6.59% (126 votes)
6. Sandhja with “Sing It Away” 6.28% (120 votes)
7. Barbe-Q-Barbies with “Let Me Out” 4.97% (95 votes)
8. Cristal Snow with “Love Is Blind” 4.19% (80 votes)
9. Stella Christine with “Ain’t Got Time for Boys” 3.98% (76 votes)
Total Votes: 1,911
I actually had very high hopes for Saara Aalto before I heard the song, because I know she can sing. Somehow everything seemed to go wrong in the semifinal. It sounded horrible, can’t get around it. Personally I love Barbe-Q-Barbies, but I can’t see them going too far in Sweden…Tuuli Okkonen has a song that sounds like a eurovision song. It might be a good thing or it might be the reason it fails. I like her song and she has a good voice. Mikael Saari has a good voice, it’s a good song, very beautiful and it would easy… Read more »
So what did Mikael Saari do/say in his live stream last night? Did anyone watch it? Thanks.
Mikael Saari’s song goes all over the place and has lyrics with a vocabulary that doesn’t match the level of elegance of the instrumentals. On top of that, it’s really hard to tell what he’s saying sometimes because he’s not enunciating his syllables. “No Fear” is better than I expected and I can definitely get behind this entry. It’s novel, it keeps you on your toes wondering what will come next, and it’s well sung. 🙂 The male vocalist in “Good Enough” doesn’t have the same vocal quality as the female singer… :/ Eini’s live vocals were pretty unimpressive. Not… Read more »
Amerivision
It isn’t. I love Eini’s song. I know that she won’t go to Eurovision, but Draamaa is a good chanson.
Mikael Saari have no chance to qualify, if he goes to Eurovision. His song is a lullaby.
I honestly can’t believe people here think No fear is good. It’s dreadful. It won’t even pass the semi. Mikael Saari is a better choice, but it won’t get a good result in Stockholm. Qualify yes, but probably in the bottom in the final. I hope Finland one day realize that they should send pop to Eurovision, songs like No Fear and On It Goes won’t go nowhere in this contest.
Is it bad that I have Eini’s song on repeat? I know it’s not going to win but it might steal votes for being the only song in Finnish. Plus it’s catchy!
If it’s Mikael, Tuuli, or Saara, I’m going to have mix feelings about it. Mikael is too West End/Broadway, Saara sounds like a hot mess live, and Tuuli’s song seems to tick all the boxes but it’s been done before with others.
Mikael’s song is so difficult to get through.
Saara, Sandhja or Eini please. Mikael is soooo boring
Eini is fantastic!!! Routing for her!! Amazing song, in Finish (!!EXCITING!!) and sang very well live!!! Go for it Eini!!!
Likely to be a neck-and-neck race between Saara and Mikael, but I prefer Tuuli to be totally honest. Just don’t like Mikael’s music genre, and Saara’s is not as good live as studio. Well, at least with either of them they will have much better chance of reaching final in Stockholm!! 😀
I think Mikael will win and Saara will be second. They both have large fan groups, but many people also seem to think Saara is quite annoying and this could mean more votes for Mikael. Then again this could just be wishful thinking on my part. 😀
@Mar – Except Denmark, I believe? But largely, yes you’re correct. 🙂
So far all the favourites have won their national selections and there haven’t been any unpleasant surprises, unlike last year, so I do believe Mikael will win.
His song is like a Broadway’s Musical. And as far as I know, United States cannot vote.
WHAT??? Is this even a song?? If Finland send this, they will be out of the final again
LOL!
He is not my favorite.
Before 3 heat of semifinal, my favorite was Saara Aalto. But , I m not fan after I saw semifinal performance, in one part of song , song is afull in part when sang female back vocals sang uuuuuu, and Saara Aalto did n have good hair style in semifinal. After 3 hear of semifinal my favorites are Tuuli Okkonen and Annica Milán & Kimmo Blom. My TOP 5 1.Tuuli Okkonen 2.Annica Milán & Kimmo Blom 3.Saara Aalto 4.Barbe-Q-Barbies 5.Mikael Saari then Eini and last Stella Christine But I think fight for win wili be between Mikael Saari and Saara… Read more »
I like his vibe. It would definitely be a breath of fresh air.
So sad that one of Europe’s best selections is coming down to this.
It is going to be another Denmark situation where a great song is going to remain unselected!
I really really hope that Sandhja wins!!! She is having big support and her song is best and she is best singer. Look how best she is singing depeche mode song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOBxMApVr3s
Saari’s artistic musical theatre song to win UMK… If he wasn’t such a good singer and actor, this would never happen. But he is by far and away the best performer, so it’s likely he will win. I don’t think all if Europe will understand the song though – it might not even be a qualifier at ESC.
My favourite UMK entry this year is Saara Alto, but I like all the other songs in different ways; if I were in Finland I’d be very happy with these 10 finalists. 🙂
Mikael Saari for the win! Finland would be my absolute first with him! Still, Saara, Kimmo & Annica, Tuuli and Cristal would bring Finland in my top 5. I think the reason why On It Goes and No Fear are so well accepted is not only the songs are great, but they build-up throughout until the very end. Both have memorable melody which grows and evolves. Not many songs can do that so well. For instance, Malta’s song is nice enough, but it builds-up till the first chorus and then stays on the same route, which makes it easily forgettable.… Read more »
Mikael Saari is more West End than Eurovision, but I think the international juries will be very kind to him, as the guy can obviously sing and the song has a very unusual structure. This also means that it’s not really a pop song, but I don’t think anyone says that it should be.
I wouldn’t mind seeing either Saara Aalto or Mikael Saari fly the flag to Stockholm. Personally, I would like to see Tuuli Okkonen take it. On first listen to all the entries, Tuuli and Saara stood out to me. It took me a while to appreciate Mikael’s entry. Any of those three, I would be happy with. Anyone else, well…. yeah….. no.
Saara would flop so hard in Stockholm. Her song is not good at all, Saari is a great performer and his song can conquer both the audience and the jury, he only needs to change the staging, but by far, he is the best option for Finland this year.
Saari is definitely my favourite to win, I honestly don’t see how anyone else could have it over him, so much talent!!
I’m afraid Mikael Saaris song is all too difficult for the European audience. There’s no construction for the melody and the song is not entertaining at all. Maybe we can describe this as an artistic song but I think the ESC is a wrong venue for music like this. As a Finn, I would think that with Saara Aalto or Annica&Kimmo we could hear those magical words “Finally Finland 12 points” again on the final night.