Now we’re ready to feel it! National final season is well and truly upon us. Over in Finland, UMK 2020 is getting in on the fun. Complete with a new format, Finnish broadcaster YLE is looking for a song to take them to the grand final. Today, the names of the Finnish hopefuls have been released — and on the list is UMK 2017 runner-up Catharina Zühlke.
The broadcaster confirmed the competing acts and their song titles in a special press conference. And while the names have been revealed, we’ll have to wait a little longer to hear the songs. The songs will be released over the coming day, one per day.
UMK 2020 competing artists
Tika – “I Let My Heart Break”
Release date: Friday 24 January
Tika was the winner of the 2018 series of the X Factor Finland, where she was mentored by Saara Aalto. Her speciality is power ballads and she says her biggest idols are Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. The UMK jury described her song as being “at home in the latest James Bond movie.”
Erika Vikman – “Cicciolina”
Release date: Monday 27 January
Erika’s song is enticingly described as an “energetic Finndisco piece, where no attempts are made to hide sexual freedom.” The jury also thinks it may become a staple of Finnish bachelorette parties. Erika typically sings in Finnish and “Cicciolina” is no exception.
Aksel Kankaanranta – “Looking Back”
Released: Tuesday 28 January
Aksel is a 2017 alum of the Voice of Finland. He says he’s shy, but that won’t stop him performing in front of an audience of one million, saying, “I want to transmit emotions with my singing.” His song is described as a “sensitive song telling about world-weariness, love and the feeling of inadequacy.” The UMK jury compared it to a hit song from an artist like Sam Smith or James Arthur.
F3M – “Bananas”
Release date: Wednesday 29 January
Three-piece girl group F3M are made up of Viv, Baby O and Miara. Their song is described as a “catchy and dance-inspiring pop song performed with an anarchistic touch.” The UMK jury says the song’s production “has ensured that each second is packed with strong pop hooks.”
Sansa – “Lover View”
Release date: Thursday 30 January
Established musician Sansa has an electronic style via an indie-folk background. Her song for UMK is described as a “cool and sensual piece of electropop.” The UMK jury describes the song as” classic Nordic pop at its best” and compared the track to something from Swedish pop icon Robyn.
Catharina Zühlke – “Eternity”
Release date: Friday 31 January
Fans may remember Catharina Zühlke from UMK 2017, where she finished second with “Perfect Villain”. Now performing with her first name as well, her song is described as being about “the power of love”. Zühlke says she “got a strong feeling that [her] song has a greater meaning.” The UMK jury doesn’t hold back, describing the song as a “potential world-beater at the Eurovision Song Contest.”
Finnish national final UMK 2020
The final of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2020 will take place on 7 March in Tampere. Hosted by Mikko Silvennoinen and Eurovision veteran Krista Siegfrids, the winner will be decided by televote and an expert jury.
In the past two years, Finland has internally selected its artist and utilised UMK to select their song. This year, YLE has abandoned the internal selection and UMK will feature six different artists vying for the right to represent Finland in Rotterdam.
The songs will all be revealed in the next two weeks, with one song being released on Saturday 25 January. The remaining songs will follow with one daily release from Tuesday 28 January onwards.
Are you excited about the artists competing at UMK 2020? Are you happy with the change of format? Let us know in the comments below.
Erika Vikman’s song is in Finnish! Don’t let the title fool you.
and i think she is a swedish speaking, Vikman is a surname swedish no?
No no. Erika was born and raised in Finland and speaks Finnish. Perhaps she has Swedish relatives but she’s completely Finnish.
I’m happy that UMK is back to the “normal” format and looking forward to the songs.
Why is everyone here so judgmental oh my god. You haven’t even heard the songs yet, calm down.
I hope Zulkhe brings beautiful lyrics like “I’m feeling wasted when I’m sober” back
Well I bring positivity and think people should not judge until we hear the songs. I won’t say anything until the songs are released! I wish Finland the best!
What would the X men do lady is back yasssss
Why all this hatred towards Finland?
No idea. Seems like people want us out of the competition.
I love Finland. It has all the good colors in its flag.
Because Eurovision fans aren’t satisfied with anything. If you’re a Nordic country, you only do well because Nordic people run Eurovision. If you’re an Eastern European country, you’re corrupt and artificial. If you’re a Western country or in the Big 5, you’re pathetic and not trying hard enough. If you’re anyone else, there’s something else wrong with you that they haven’t thought of yet. Be Italy or be nothing, basically.
But Italy is mostly overrated in televote
So no country is ever good ever and can only do well by virtue of things unrelated to the song. Understood.
no the reason is Italy have a big diaspora in all Europe and Australia too, and for this reason Italy every years are in the top three
Nothing to do with the song, of course. No country ever does well at Eurovision because of the song. Either the system is rigged or they just got lucky.
? lmao
See you in Oulu in 2096
I’ll be there if the guy from Oulu that I know is still cute in 2096.
Why is this comment downvoted? It’s very funny
But sweden is shit in ice hockey
Hello dears. Sorry Finland but you can’t make pop music, you make good saunas. But you haven’t come up with any good since 2014 in my personal opinion.
You need to do like Sweden. bring better established artists, make better pop music that fits in the radio.
I like Finland but you can’t beat us Swedes on Good Music! We have Avicii, Zara Larsson, Tove Lo, Icona Pop, Mabel, Swedish House maffia, Abba & Kygo.
I love you Finland, but no final for me
1. Sweden
2. UK
3. USA
Is my top three Music Industry Countries :))))
We have good pop artists in Finland too. For example Alma and Isac Elliot.
No one wanted your input. You troll.
And how can you say “no final” when you haven’t even heard the songs? That just proves you a troll. Crawl back to your hole where you came from.
Ok but Kygo is Norwegian, thanks very much…
Finland CAN make even a good pop-music beside metal ! They just never end up to represent in ESC thanks to amateurs and idiots among YLE/UMK-organizers, who refuse to resign resulting endless gap between normal Finnish music and Finnish Eurovision.
Also good musicians don’t wan’t to taking part fear of destroying their careers. They are not represent normally what is been listening in Finland. There’s no hatred here, just facts! Just once would like to hear a good Finnish song in ESC normally can be find etc. in Youtube.
WTF as if those artists you mention have ever participated for Sweden in ESC. Yes ABBA but you can hardly call them contemporary.
Thx to this guy who probably isn’t from Sweden -_- get the f*ck out of here if you can’t do something else than hating.
Biased much? I know Finland doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to eurovision, but when people from other countries start to criticise us before even hearing the songs it kind of makes me mad. Every country has something they are known for. For Finland music is not one of those things. So comparing Finland and Sweden in that sense is just not fair. When it comes to eurovision Finland has much smaller production than Sweden. And for what I’ve gathered, melodifestivalen is very popular in Sweden. UMK in Finland not so much. People in Finland generally don’t… Read more »
As an American, I always find it funny how people from other countries that think *we* are xenophobic end up being the most blatantly ethnocentric and nationalist online. Looking at you two especially, Swedes and Nederlanders
@Apple I don’t deny that that is untrue, there is truth in that. But it is a bit delusional (I can’t come up with a better word now, sorry) to think that this specifically applies to Swedes and Dutch people. This type of xenofobia also occurs in the UK, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Russia, etc. It’s just, some countries don’t get as much coverage (in the US), and in some countries it is more common to do it secretly, behind the backs. Dutch people are more open and direct, and show their emotions out in the open while Flemish people usually… Read more »
Oh trust me I know Hungary’s *definitely* like that. But I like their language so I kind of try to ignore the rising fascism eheheh…
Look, Sweden are champs at pop and Eurovision for a reason, but come on. Get out of here with that elitist crap. Remember who’s voting for you every year. (And the Finns were happy to give Benjamin the brush off)
Reading the comments down below I need to send positive vibes to Finland now:
Erika Vikman (the one in the pink dress) looks absolutely gorgeous! First I got “Golden-Twenty”-vibes, then I read “energetic Finndisco” and now I am really looking forward to her entry. Could be very sassy <3
Erika Vikman is also a ”Tango Queen” of Finland, because she won ”Tangomarkkinat”-contest. She has also been in Finnish Idols and Tähdet tähdet (Finnish version of Stjernekamp).
Aksel Kankaanranta sang in Pyhimys’ song ”Jättiläinen” which is one of the most streamed Finnish songs ever.
Aksel Kankaanranta – “Looking Back” and Sansa – “Lover View” are the ones whose descriptions pull a string on me. Let’s see what happens when they are revealed.
I’m going to be positive until I hear otherwise. Still, whoever wrote these descriptions didn’t do the acts any favours with some of these comparisons!
I do like the idea of staggered release dates though. Gives each of the songs a chance to be looked forward to and reflected on.
Indeed. Basically, a ‘potential world-beater at the Eurovision Song Contest’ needs to be better than Euphoria and Fairytale put together. I mean, I sure hope so, but if it’s just talk, they already hung Zühlke out to dry with such a statement. Not even the X-Men could help anymore.
As a Finn I can give a little insight on the competing artists. This year there are actually a few recognizable names for an average Finn which hasn’t been the case (with few exceptions) with earlier editions of the open UMK. As said Tika won the X Factor in 2018 and I know her from that competition but her career hasn’t really started yet as X factor isn’t really a huge brand in Finland and getting airtime on the radio isn’t a given even for the winner. As a child she was adopted to Sweden from Nepal and nowadays lives… Read more »
Looking at the picture, one would think they are competing for who gets to headline the Finnish pride parade. Hopefully, the songs will sound more diverse.
yes hopefully it wont be any annoying gay-songs
(it is okay to be gay tho)
Eurofans sure do love jumping to conclusions, don’t they? I reserve all judgment until I hear the songs. I will always be optimistic until the songs either vindicate it or prove me wrong.
Also: jeez, way to kick a country when they’re down. People bash countries like Sweden or Russia when they do well, but what on earth did Finland ever do to you?
They twice didn’t choose the great Mikael Saari but other than that, nothing. Although I feel like I had to try harder than I should have to get the two Finnish guys that I’ve been with so far.
Keep your best stories to yourself bean
Bananas was taken out of Youtube and presumably from Spotify? It’s still on Vocaroo if you want to listen to it.
https://voca.ro/kUOEi03IBdU
Oh my god it’s beyond bad… The juries so called strong hooks are cheap 2011 hooks, they must be high or somethin’.. Nonetheless wish the rest are better.
I really like it. Early 2010’s pop was the best and I love the way this song takes elements from it. While also sounding very current.
Thanks for sharing. It’s a catchy song and gives me Zena ‘Like it’ vibe and also has a potential for good staging.
I just listen to it on Spotify.
Lol maybe Finland should just leave the contest then. Everyone is hating on us already with just the song names and descriptions out.
Lol , don’t turn into another guy on here
The thing is we do expect diversity from Finland. Maybe it’s possible one of them is a great pop song but that means fans of other genres will have nothing to cheer about in UMK !
Hope I made sense !
I don’t see other countries getting this kind of treatment if they don’t have a certain music genre in their national finals. People tend to be more strict towards Finland just because metal is popular here. People assume we can’t perform other genres of music than metal.
No, people don’t like Finland with just the names and song titles revealed. Haven’t you read the comments? It’s easy to think so anyway based on what’s being said here. Or maybe people should be more careful with what they write or be more specific so that reading between the lines won’t be needed.
Last time Finland almost reached top 10 was with rock entry, just sayin
And said rock entry was awesome, it should have been top 10 imo. Don’t forget their win with a (hard) rock entry!
Hard Rock Hallelujah was by no means a hard rock song. It was a pop song disguised by rock influences and the fact it called itself a rock song.
Please, let “Cicciolina” win the whole contest!
Awww… no Beast in Black 🙁
Was there any hint that they would participate?
Nothing apart from my wishful thinking, sadly.
Tasteless! But hei it’s Finland Eurovison afterall!
You haven’t even heard the songs yet. Get your rude ass out of here.
Acually I have one and just got convinced, unfortunetaly not a positive way.
Well, we didn’t have to listen to alto and darude songs, to know that they will be awful
Actually Darude just got dated already 20 years ago, but ‘ Feel the beat’ was still one of my favourite 2000-dance/trance tracks.
the songs all sound awfully dated from those descriptions…
Haha! Sound’s awfully dated already with descriptions. Refuse to think, how they actaully sound after hearing. xD
F3M’s song “Bananas” has leaked! Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHxObjpEINQ&app=desktop
Sounds like a guilty pleasure, very catchy
It’s blocked now
Well… I have to say that I am a bit disappointed in the diversity. As a known country of rock and metal, there should be at least one of this style in.
Finland is not country of rock and metal. Mainstream music in finland is rap and hip hop. Finland do have some kind of tango culture, maybe finns should send tango next time. Stereotypes are often deeply wrong.
Dude, Finland is a country with the most rock and metal bands per capita in Europe
Dude, it only means that those metal music fans are active or have been active. Finland also advertise it has 3 million saunas but reality is less than 1 million. Rappers are clearly most popular and mainstream music in finland too. Metal music fans are old.
I meannnn…… why do almost all of em have to be pop songs like bitch please.
What would the X-Men do if they came to your rescue ?