Earlier this year, Blind Channel swept to victory in Finland’s national final UMK. Now Finnish broadcaster Yle is looking for Finland‘s next Eurovision star. The broadcaster has confirmed UMK will return in 2022 and has revealed song submission details.
Yle confirmed that the song submission period for Yle 2022 will take place from 1 to 6 September. That gives interested artists and songwriters three months to get an entry ready to submit.
After UMK 2021 was held without a live audience, UMK producer Anssi Autio says that it is intended for the 2022 addition to return to having a live audience, if possible.
The broadcaster has also released the song submission rules for UMK 2022. It notes that while songwriters are able to enter multiple songs, lead singers can only enter up to three songs — and only one will be eligible for selection.
Being Finland’s national final, the rules also require that at least one performer and one songwriter is a Finnish citizen or permanent resident.
Will Blind Channel inspire more rock acts to enter UMK?
Finland is still recovering from Blind Channel’s bombastic performance in Rotterdam. The “violent pop” group was a hit with their song “Dark Side”.
It placed sixth overall, giving Finland its second-best Eurovision result ever — and the last top-ten finish for Finland since Lordi’s 2006 win.
“Dark Side” was also a hit with viewers — the song placed fourth in the televote. It is currently sitting at No.5 in Spotify’s Viral 50 – Global chart and has appeared in the Viral 50 charts of many European countries.
UMK has never been short of rock acts, with alternative rock group Softengine and punk band Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät making it to Eurovision in recent years. However, with Blind Channel’s Eurovision popularity, it may inspire more Finnish bands to throw their hat in the ring next year.
What do you think? Should Finland send another rock act to Eurovision? Who would you like to see in UMK 2022? Tell us your thoughts below!
I LOOOOVED Blind Channel and I was so happy with their result, but I’d love for Finland to send something different next year. Scandinavian countries have such fascinating cultures and languages, please give us something in Finnish! I would be happy with a song with a sprinkle of national lore like Norway lowkey did with Keiino, but I’d rather have something in their own language.
Finland, send Nightwish, please.
This has been THE dream for many of us for years now, but we’ve mostly decided it’s not happening ever since they got snubbed in one of our early 2000’s national finals.
Also the lead vocalist not being Tarja Turunen anymore as well kinda makes me think it more likely that if there’s any country Nightwish will represent, it’d probably be Netherlands cause that’s Floor Jansens home. But who can tell, I’d love to personally see Nightwish as the representative of either country in the future.
I’m afraid that next year that will be a lot of rock / indie / grunge entries…
be afraid then. it will be epic
I’m looking forward to it
Internally…. Select… Haloo Helsinki…
I loved some of their songs, but their singer can’t sing live xd
I don’t really want Finland to send rock again. I enjoy experiments and don’t want the country to become conservative. There are different genres existing, not just rock or pop. Bring them.
I just hope the production and format will be somewhat similar to Melodifestivalen’s final:
-held in a big venue (Hartwall Arena or Turku’s Gatorade Center)
-10 or 12 songs in the final
-slick production and staging
-staging should be similar enough to what will be brought to Eurovision
-50-50 voting (not 75-25 as it was earlier this year)
.
P.S. do it as if you hosted Eurovision.
I think the smaller amount of songs in UMK has been a good thing, with the 2020 and 2021 editions of the selection being among the best. I’d rather have a smaller group of songs that were good and were actually put in to have a realistic chance of going to Italy rather than having a padded out selection with obvious joke entries and non starters.
2020 and 2021 were among the best editions, but isn’t a small amount of participants a bit risky (I am looking at you Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2021)?
Hope Romania does a national selection too and doesn’t select internally again
#Hurraa!
You guys are so good and advanced with these genres of music. I would recommend choosing another song like this. I don’t think there will be other entries besides Ballads and pop so if you decide to choose another rock – metal song… I think you could rank high! Maybe even win the competition for the second time! Can’t wait for ESC 2022!
Really hope Erika Vikman returns! Would love them to send a song in Finnish.
Just send them again IMO.
really hope that more and more countries will choose the method of national finals
agree, especially the rest of big five plus their neighbours (Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland)
ESC 2021 is barely over and yet we have countries already planning for 2022! Really an all-year job::)
Can’t wait to see what our neighbours will come up with after Blind Side, heja Finland!
i was just thinking about it and then this article came up lmao
So happy that there are already news about ESC2022, btw Serbia announced that they’ll do Beovizija again next year (But ngl, Hurricane are too good to leave 🙁 )
Looking forward a lot to see what UMK brings next year!
Imo umk wasn’t that great in terms of songs, except blind channel’s ofc. The organisation was lit though and it was Great that they also had English commentary. Its levelled up in comparison to previous editions but they should focus on artists that write songs for themselves or singers that have active role in the writing process, that’s not a guarantee for success but could lead a way to a soulful entry. Hoping the best all the way for them, they deserve it ? ? ?
Ilta, Aksel and Oskr were all great and would probs all finish above 20th place which is great for Finland!
Every single act in the UMK final of 2021 was iconic except for Danny, sorry, he was the definition of boring
That’s really exciting! UMK was really strong in 2020 and 2021 and is slowly but surely becoming one of my favorite national selections. Can’t wait to see what they’ll have in store for us!
PS : Off topic, but the french delegation also confirmed that C’est vous qui décidez will be back. 🙂
I’d like Softengine to return but little is known about them at the moment. Are they still together? It seems that they haven’t released new music since 2016.
If you liked them, then you should listen to some of their singles such as “The Sirens” and “Free Rider”.
You beat me to it. More rock, please! Something like Softengine’s 2014 entry (almost as loud) would be nice. Have they got any more up-and-coming bands with little or no rep outside Finland?
I don’t know about the Finnish rock scene but… Try the group Inhaler. I discovered them months ago. The vocalist is the son of Bono (from U2). They aren’t completely unknown tbh but they aren’t that famous either. “My Honest Face”, “When It Breaks” and “Ice Cream Sundae” are my favourites songs. One of my dream would be seeing them representing Ireland but that won’t happen I guess. If you feel a bit more edgier then you should listen to King No-One. They are a rather unknown British alternative rock band. “Not Willing to Sacrifice My Life”, “Systematic” or “Constellations”… Read more »
I can think of Cyan Kicks atm, but it’s more like EDM-esque rock/metal
Cyan Kicks has applied earlier, I think. They are Finland’s best bet in my opinion for 2022
In fact they did in 2020, but their entry was rejected.
I hope they apply again, because I agree with you, they’re (if not the best) a great bet: something that follows BC’s steps and at the same time something different
For what I found, they disbanded either in late 2017 or early 2018, and Topi Latukka (their lead singer) has gone solo since.
Sad to hear that. I still think Topi should make a come back. His voice was so special.
P.E.D. (Post Eurovision Depression) already hit massively yesterday and now we are starting to talk about 2022?! Let’s gooo
Belarus will face ongoing sanctions from the European Union, whether or not that includes the EBU we don’t know yet. I doubt we’ll see Belarus compete under the Lukashenko flag next year.
I think following the renewed sanctions Belarus will be out of ESC for some time…
I don’t think Belarus is returning any time soon after recent events. They are facing an EU flight ban and heavy sanctions.
I really doubt they’ll come back while Lukashenko is in power. But it’d be nice to see either VAL or Molchat Doma representing them when they come back.
also i hope the UMK trophy is different next year. i really dont like the current one, like at all
i’m gonna be so sad to not have blind channel as the finnish representatives next year 🙁 they are epic. i want finland to send a rock song in finnish, that would be honestly so awesome
they did in 2008, it ended up 23h or so..
ok and? i’d like to see them do it again.
Because that 23 place probably is the reason they havent sent it again
But actually for next year, I hope we send something else than rock, like we tried to replicate the success of Lordi with rock entries in 2007 and 2008.
I think Finland has sent a lot of great rock songs in the past, and I hope that will continue, And 2 of the 3 bestscoring entries ever for Finland were rock songs. Rock music certainly adds to the musical diversity of the contest. Which will give the contest a broder appeal
You’re right, but sending too many entries of the same (or similar) genre consecutively might affect their chances in the long term…
There is a new wave of big ticket national finals that have developed in the last couple of years and UMK is now one of them along with Lithuania – excited to see what they come up with!
Can’t see Azerbaijan implementing a national final tbh.
Both Finland and Lithuania are less populated than Azerbaijan, it’s possible.
I hope Lithuania puts out a high quality national final next year. I’d love to see Lithuania break through the top five if they pick the right artist and song.
I can see big names returning to PIN after The Roop’s success.
I would scream if GJan took part and Evgenya Redko and Monique took part again. PIN 2020 was so incredibly strong, I hope Lithuania can repeat that success (and the success they almost certainly would have had with on fire)
I hope their third top ten placing encourages more artists to produce their best songs to the contest. One day, the Baltic block will be completed.
Indeed! I’d love to see Moniqué and Gebrasy come back to PIN
Pabandom Is Naujo 2020 was a bloodbath, but Pabandom Is Naujo 2021 was average.
For some countries, a 6th place wouldn’t be a big deal. But for us Finns, it is HUGE. I still can’t believe it. It is our best ever result apart from Lordi’s victory. Yle has improved UMK so much for the past two years, and I hope the momentum keeps on going!
UMK was literally one of my fave nf this year… full of quality, imagine how good it will be next year with Blind Channels success.
I think Robin Packalen or maybe even Behm might enter!
Oh, I’m Spanish. I know what you mean.
Very true! Great name, by the way!
The road to Italy (exactly where TBD) has started! Also it was a no brainer that UMK would return after Finland did so well this year.