Finland has made a decision. The country is chose its entry for Eurovision 2023 through the national selection Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu – UMK. And that act is Käärijä with the song “Cha Cha Cha”.
The seven competing acts have been rehearsing for months, but it all came down to Saturday’s two-hour show at Logomo in Turku.
UMK 2023 results
The outcome of the show was determined by a split vote: 25% from international juries and 75% from televoting.
International jury vote
- Käärijä – 72 points
- Lxandra – 46 points
- KUUMA – 44 points
- Keira – 42 points
- Benjamin – 34 points
- Robin Packalen – 28 points
- Portion Boys – 28 points
Televote
- Käärijä – 467 points
- Portion Boys – 124 points
- Keira – 91 points
- Robin Packalen – 81 points
- KUUMAA – 63 points
- Benjamin – 32 points
- Lxandra – 24 points
Final result
- Käärijä – 539 points
- Portion Boys – 152 points
- Keira – 133 points
- Robin Packalen – 109 points
- KUUMAA – 107 points
- Lxandra – 70 points
- Benjamin – 66 points
Running order
- Robin Packalen – “Girls Like You”
- KUUMAA – “Ylivoimainen”
- Käärijä – “Cha Cha Cha”
- Keira – “No Business On The Dancefloor”
- Benjamin – “Hoida mut”
- Lxandra – “Something To Lose”
- Portion Boys – “Samaa taivasta katsotaan”
What do you make of the show? How do you think Finland will do at Eurovision 2023? Share all your thoughts in the comments below.
The Incredible Hulk called… and wants his jacket back.. but seriously, what an absolute banger. I can hear some techno, some house, some heavy rock, some rap and even a russ music vibe. This song is the absolute most, and the performance is madness. 9/10 for me.
First hard part of the song is pretty cool and fun, love the dancers but the part with his tongue… WTF is that… The other part of the song is too childish for me. Same with the weird dance second part of the song is ridiculous.
Loreen is way better with much more emotions, realness and more professional and much more beautiful like a real piece of art.
Finland is though also a potential winner that I think appreciate to get it.
Not my kind of music, but ideal for a coffee break…
In my opinion, for now the battle is between Spain (jury winner), and Finland (televote winner). Any of these two songs would be a great, original and worthy winner.
Spain? Jury winner? Are you serious?
Here and there has been lately comments how Kaarijainen is in favor in right-wing poltics and how he has distributed Putin supporting propakanda on Instagram. If this is a fact and true then I think Kaariainen should not be on stage in Eurovision Song Contest. Has YLE checked out if Kaarijainen’s back grounds?
Käärijä has followed one IG account of a political party. He is no longer a follower, and he has never commented, shared or liked any of their posts. When he was asked about it by a Finnish magazine Iltalehti, he commented that he is not expressing his opinions on any political issues. And thinks it is pity if someone stalks his followings, because those things don’t mean anything. He follows a lot of different things without profound reason.
By current standards, i’m genuinely thinking that we’re going to have another 2018 situation on our hands.
“Cha cha cha” is the “Toy” of 2023’s contest (thus far). Wild, in your face, quite childlike at times with the infantile simplicity of the chorus/post chorus and with a strong virality.
Meanwhile Loreens “Tattoo” is the “Fuego”. Slick, sensual both visually and musically, with great staging and a popular pretty female singer.
There are still a decent handful of countries yet to throw their hats in the ring, but it’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds
Mark my words, when this wins ESC2023 in Liverpool expect it to become the first Eurovision winner to reach #1 in the UK singles chart…something not done since 1987.
If that happens, Käärijä would also become the first Finnish act and his song would be the first Finnish-language song to top the UK singles chart ever
And perhaps it could be the first smash hit all over Europe in finnish language.
That´s the spirit of ESC !
Good luck, Finland !
Sorry, but this song has no melodi…just screaming…what is the hype? I don’t get it?
With that said, I finally hear something I like at 1.50 min in…but the main part is just screaming. How is this rated so high?
It’s just that we’ve been convinced that our language sounds too unattractive and weird to others. Even I had strong doubts about singing in Finnish and I honestly hated Cha Cha Cha at first, which I’m ashamed to admit, but I’m so glad I gave it another try because the second time really listening to it was all it took and now I’m totally rooting for him and of course voted for him in the UMK finale. And what made a huge difference in my attitude what comes to singing in Finnish was the rest of the world really praising… Read more »
This is definitely top 5 in Liverpool. Its energy and charisma make this stand out so much, these three minute fly by. Excellent.
I don’t know what to think of the comments below. I mean is great to have such diversity in taste, but do you honestly believe that this is the best song this year? I feel that some people think that being different is automatically good. In this case, I don’t even believe that is that creative. Oh well, Toy pulled a victory in 2018 so everything is possible. But usually the hyped songs in this forum flop hard in the finals.
I dont mind the song myself, but im not a fan of it. Its catchy, because of the earworm chorus, and also his flamboyant outfit, but to me it’s still quite an infantile, simplistic song.
I suppose the Eurovision loving masses like things that are in your face, infantile and simplistic. Nothing wrong with that, but its not what I tend to go crazy over myself. But each to their own.
There are still quite a few countries to enter thr ring yet. Let’s see if there’ll be anything to rival the popularity of Cha Cha Cha
Finally someone who has taste
I turned it off after5 seconds…
It’s like 2 completely different songs in 1
That’s what KUUMAA’s singer said when he listened it for the first time ?
Well, it’s different, but…
This is great, I love it ?
But lets take a break and look at the countries in semi-finals.
The first one is definitely gonna be a bloodbath. 13 songs are in top 23 (including big 6) to win according to odds. I mean… Even Norway, Sweden, Czehia and Finland are in it.
As for the second one… 11 songs are in bottom 13 in the odds. (only Poland in top 12) Gonna be great show that one ?
I know odds gonna be changing but still I just feel afraid of my Croatia finishing eleventh again ?
And… there goes Poland hahaha :’)
I hope so
I thought the UMK was great this year: the songs, the performers, and the show in general. Only negative for me (and for really a lot of other Finnish commenters) was the host. I was therefore surprised to see many here praising him – maybe it doesn’t translate well to a non-Finn, but honestly we are not quite that wooden 😀 He was just monotonously reading the teleprompter (and even failed that a few times). Samu Haber may be a successful vocalist and certainly a looker, but I would think the national broadcaster would know that not just anyone can… Read more »
I’m thrilled that we Finns didn’t play it safe this year! Because that’s why we had such a disappointing entry last year: it seems too many thought we must send Rasmus because they were famous 20 yrs ago, and sing in English. Yawn.
People either love or hate Käärijä, and it’s great that it evokes SOMETHING. Lukewarm Eurovision is pointless!
I will support Finland in May and I love your language but I only can count from one to five:
Yksi kaksi kolme neljä viisi… That´s right, isn´t it ?
You did the right choice
Okay…The “Och dear lord” i wrote is meant to be positive! Bring something different to the eurovision stage and you have already won me over…It can’t be that Finland isn’t going to do well!!!
He still can win this with 0 jury point lol, it’s wild af. That’s show Finnish really love him
I love this. As a Spaniard I cannot vote in the first semifinal, but I believe my vote in the final will go for Finland.
Lorena, en el final voy a llamar tanto para Espana como para Finlandia.
See you like the noise from Spain AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. At least Belgium is a song
Belgium is absolutely crap with a cringy performance.
And so are Spain.
Don’t take it personnally but that 0/12 for Belgium seems more like hate against the singer than real taste…
The song is not good, I can agree with that. But it’s far from being the worst here. Well I guess it’s all a matter of personnal taste.
What´s the worst so far in your opinion ?
Romania, Ireland and San Marino for sure. I’d say Croatia too but at least it’s different. Tbh Belgium is 12th in my top for the moment.
I like the entry from Ireland but you can now complete the list with Poland.
Hey….S W E D E N!!! L O R E E N baby 😉
Perkele!
Finland doesn’t come to play this year. They come to WIN!
Hyvää Suomi! Love the song and vibe. The performance was a bit exaggerated but yes, with this song, what can one expect! I feel its going to either be the fun entry of the night and get massive televotes or completely flop.
By the way, what a nice show UMK 2023! And all songs were good.
Portion boys did well, loved their performance and energy and party feeling. That would do well.
I also loved Kuumaa performance and graphics. Definitely a video to watch quite a few times.
Good luck Finland!
UMK23 delivered, it is truly the best national selection for a second year in a row! Stage, host, interval acts, participating artists & their songs: all amazing!
I’m quite sure we can expect this to do well in Liverpool, top-5 for sure! And it will be well deserved, good luck!
We have found our EV2023 bonkers moment.
He is going to win the public vote, but i doubt juries will vote for him in the final. I think that Finland will be in the top5 but will not win the whole contest.
Juries voted for Netta and Toy. Or Eleni. So anything can happen.
Fans did doubt about Chanel or Maneskin with juries as well. We never know. Hopefully some juries will feel give some love to Finland
I hope you are right and Cha Cha Cha is miles better than the songs you mentioned.
What a smashing margin for a very strong field.
Yes that struck me. Without doing the maths I was expecting perhaps 150 points, but not 467!
And if Poland sends Jann and Serbia Luke Black, with Kaarija they would be a great trio!
Considering Loreen and promising interval acts like Noa Kirel and IRU, Eurovision 2023 could be saved.
Internal acts* my bad
Luke Black >>>>>>>>>> Cha Cha Cha and Gladiator put together
I would love to have all those 3 in ESC, if Luke Black manages to give a live performance worthy of the song
No disrespect whatsoever to the artist, but as someone who loves Jann and Luke Black and Hatari, I just don’t get this. Y’all are saying this will win, can someone please tell me what I’m missing?
I loved matahari But this isn’t Matahari…
Now that this is the Finnish entry I just got to urge, badly wanted Jann to be the Polish representative. I wanted to see them both smashing the ESC stage.
The Best national selection i love every song
The Best seowcti9n ofrece the year, i l9ve every songs
I’m soooo angry at finnish people
How could you Finland, put Benjamin in last place
The performance was so great
It’s probably because of the vocals
I thought he was going to do a lot better too. But while his performance was great, his totally failed the singing part and when we talk about a SINGING contest, that obviusly matters. I saw some Finn saying that Benjamin is notoriously bad at singing in live shows. I did not know that in advance but clearly that was the case in the finals at least. I feel bad for him especially seeing him in the finals thinking he was going to score over 300 (kolmesataa) but got only 30 (kolmekymmentä). 🙁
The magic of Käärijä’s stagings is its aggressive nature. Once the chaos and madness are released, any staging of other different kinds will get overshadowed.
Sooooooooooo
Whether this is a good song or whether I like this for the song alone is something i’m having a hard time deciding. HOWEVER, I need to admit that this was entertaining to sit through and I didn’t get bored and I don’t think I will forget this. I cannot say the same about most entires we’ve seen so far.
I think he will do just fine.
*entries. Just correcting my typo lol
They REALLLY need to fix that staging because it seemed a little comical in the last part and quite frankly very underwhelming just the way they staged it.
Staging is what made this – manic, unpredictable and entertaining. Only changes needed are tighter camera angles and better coordination/reveal of the dancer train-ride and a more pronounced lighting shift from the first half of song to the second half.
He is the winner of Eurovision 2023 so far
Indeed Keira proved she was a force to be reckoned with and I’m sure she’ll represent Finland some day!
As for Kuumaa, I’m glad to see that they’re already an established act anyways but seeing them placing so low made me sad, but the contest was great nevertheless! 😀
Oh wow. This is so going to lift the roof in Liverpool. Was enthralled by this staging> Were those dancers teeth for real. Such good fun
In love with Cha Cha Cha… but more in love with all the UMK selection, is growing as one of my favorite selections
I am not sure if I “like” It, i certainly dont “dislike” It But i think this Will win Eurovision 2023.
However now I realize that the “catchiest”/ strongest part of the song IS pre-recorded chorus. I Hope It does not win.
He usually performs with two backing vocalists, they were in the music video. But since they weren’t on the UMK stage, obviously their parts were pre-recorded.
There are certain moments every season when the eurofandom hive mind really goes full swing, based on these reactions they’d want to make you believe that Cha Cha Cha is now the greatest thing that’s ever happened to ESC, maybe even to music itself in general…
and my 12 points will go to Finland.
As a Katina I hope you understand how BRILLIANT it was to include “tough/angry” Cha Cha ballroom dancers. What a spin! I love the staging and I love the song. It’s going to kill it on the Eurovision stage.
My favourite win on Finland. TOP 7 in ESC (TOP 3 with televoite, butnjuries will kill chance for victory, result with juries like Serbia or Moldova last year).
My TOP 5 of 20
1.Finland
2.Italy
3.Spain
4.Norway
5.Croatia
…
16.Lithuania
17.Romania
18.Latvia
19.Ireland
20.Belgium
So you put Belgium last? Sorry to disagree but there are much worse songs than Belgium. And I don’t even like that one!
Belgium is on my last place too.
It’s still my second to last place, only before Ireland. I’ve been told a lot that I’ll “get used to Belgium’s song” but yeah, no, I still can’t get into it.
Don’t get it. A mess….mimicat wins the night
Sorry, this means you may need to watch re-runs of the 90’s ESC.
This is a wonderful hot mess. Im?? it.
Didn’t expect something crazier than Let3 to come up
Love this! certain qualifier, but I think it will struggle with juries in the final
Another NQ. Horrible.
Horrible yes! But unfortunately a very likely qualifier imo
It will qualify 100%, and rightfully so
My playlist says no… I’m not going to download it, I downloaded Maneskin , Arcade and Spaceman immediately after the first listening.
Top 5 for sure at the Final. Excellent chance of victory of ESC2023. People want to vote for a fun song and this is it.
OMFG!!! What did I just watch?
UMK, I hope.