Following the grand reveal of the seven acts competing in Finland’s Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) 2024, Finnish broadcaster Yle is dropping the lyrics videos for each entry one by one. Next up are Mikael Gabriel and nublu with the song “Vox populi”.
Mikael Gabriel and Estonian rapper nublu are among the most successful rap artists in their respective countries. Released in 2010, Mikael Gabriel’s debut album Pohjosen poika was well received, and the singles on his 2015 album Versus broke streaming records even before the album was officially released.
Nublu rose to become Estonia’s biggest artist and rap phenomenon when he was voted Hip-Hop/Rap/R&B Artist of the Year in 2020. A collaboration by Gabriel and nublu, Universum, was released that same year, quickly rising to become the most listened-to single in both countries on Spotify.
Gabriel and nublu found each other through social media. Gabriel had heard about nublu, but did not know anything about Estonian rap music. Gabriel admits that he had certain preconceptions, but hearing nublu’s material turned them right around.
Mikael Gabriel x nublu – Vox populi
Mikael Gabriel x nublu’s UMK entry is called Vox Populi. The song talks about how it is sometimes hard to know what’s true and what isn’t in such polarised public forums. According to the artists, the song is extremely topical in today’s world, which is filled with populism and people droning on endlessly about their own truths.
“The song deals with political and cultural divides, saying that even though we’re all entitled to our own opinions, it doesn’t necessarily make them true. Everyone should use their voice, but at the same time you should also keep in mind that you will be judged no matter what,” says Gabriel.
UMK24 jury: “Mikael Gabriel and nublu are two of the most well-known and popular artists in Finland and Estonia, and they are entering UMK as a duo with a song that will surely be a surprise for many. Their previous collaborations were rap-driven, but this time around the song is a truly unique combination of dance sounds, punky rock and contemporary hyperpop. The crowning touch is an inescapably catchy chorus, which will grab you the first time you listen to it”.
I Like this Melody Because It Has Românian Flag In It!
Imagine a Montenegro 2014 astronaut rappers staging for these guys!
i will get this year no offer.
last year i got käärijä and also lxandra.
2022 olivera and the younghearted.
2021 ilta
2020 cicciolina (song)
this years seven songs are all not my cup of tea.i like cyano kicks most of them but i think vox populi will win UMK 2024.
Estonia and Finland made it to space!
windows95man all the way for me, that bop and baby lasagna in malmo would make it such an epic contest tbh, and Ollie for Estonia, and Germany with the daughter of ”verdammt ich lieb dich” legende Matthias Reim, Marie Reim pls
and also Joost for die Niederlande, more about the freakshows pls and less about the song, yasss
Song with fun catchy melody and serious topic in the lyrics? I like it! a lot actually. Here’s my final top 7 (I must say it was quite hard to put together – this year is strong):
Last year I liked all the songs of UMK. This year only 2 or 3. Sara or Cyan Kicks are my favourite.
The song is a joke…
The song’s okay, but it didn’t do much for me. I liked Universum more
1. Sini Sabotage
2. Cyan Kicks
3. Jesse
4. Sara
5. Mikael and Nublu
6. Windows95man
7. Sexmane
1) Sexmane
2) Sini Sabotage*
3) Sara
4) Jesse
5) Mikael et Nublu**
6) Cyan Kicks
7) Windows95man
* Moves up a place since last night
** Still processing the meaning of this song
5) has been disqualified from this list, Cyan Kicks and Windows95man now move up a place
This modern cultural spin is cleverly crafted with a “back to basics” approach to guitar-driven electro rock. “Vox populi” literally means “the opinions or beliefs of the majority” and is based on an old Latin proverb, which says that the people’s voice is the “voice of the gods.” So it’s quite satisfying to hear those basic guitar chords symbolise the majority, and therefore perfectly symbolise both its appeal and its worthlessness at the same time. (Though those chords have worked well for Green Day over the years.) On the positive side, I don’t usually like untuned rap in a song… Read more »
Meaning… “independent thought is to be advised” or “I am always right, why even bother listening to others”?
Putin tattoos do not give much faith in this man’s wisdom.
“All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall.” – Pink Floyd’s take on education and thought control, well before social media happened. 🙂
Here’s my two cents:
ad “independent thought…”: reminds me those who call people who disagree with them “mindless sheep” and saying that only by repeating what they themselves (the speaker) say they are “independently thinking”
ad “I am always right…”: people closed in their own eccho chambers because they are so convinced they are right that they only look for information/groups that have the same opinion as them and everything that would call their opinions into question is “lies” or just simply “wrong”.
ad tattoo: …what
he’s a covid denier, antivaxxer, transphobe, probably also homophobe and elon musk fan
That’s disgusting! I did not know that before I made my top 7 and after doing quick search on him I hope he won’t get selected.
They’re going straight to my number one now!
You’re free to choose favourites however you like.
Nice
I don’t understand what you mean by this
Well my final list before the live show:
1) Sexmane
2) Sara
3)Windows 95man
4)Mikael/Nublu
5,6,7 (in whatever order) Jesse, Sara, Cyan Kicks
I prefer watching the video than listening to the song. And wasn’t the newsreader one of Kaarija backing dancers? Mmm too many repeats of the title of song. Sara Siipola or Sini for me. I want to like Cyan Kicks but feel something is missing. I’ll see after the live performances if my choices change
Matti.
yes, Matti, he’s one of the UMK producers
Ok cool song, upbeat, cool message, but still not impressed by UMK 2024 sorry, I was waiting for the best UMK ever as announced but it’s not for me comparing with the songs we had from Finland 2 years in a row. Now they will maybe make a fire show with interstellar stagings and it will be the best UMK ever and I will change my mind, maybe. Now based only on the studio tracks, I will go with Cyan Kicks or Mikael Gabriel & Nublu. Let’s see the lives and the stagings, but I’m less excited than the last… Read more »
the message is full of hypocrisy when you learn what kind of person Mikael Gabriel is
I like this a lot, not sure if it’s for UMK or Eurovision but I really like it
I feel it’s heavily geared and calculated for Eurovision – and that’s the other reason why I don’t like it. (The other, for me, being the overproduction + lack of a memorable song.)
Calculations never work, see e.g. Rasmus, Darude, Saara Aalto, etc etc. UMK is at its best when there’s just good songs that stand on their own, that’s where the interesting stuff happens.
This track not only is trying to get the Estonian votes (with the Estonian feat.), it’s also taking all the cues from Käärijä, but not in that unexpected, catchy and cool way.
Oh well, my wonderings went into the moderation queue. I suppose I need to know if this guy is a moron or not.
At least we know if you are!
I like it . I think. Depends what the listener projects onto the lyrics, I guess. A conservative libertarian bemoaning the lefty “woke”, or a progressive lib bemoaning the MAGA LePen nationalism cult?
A call for independent thinking, perhaps? Who knows.
Mikael Gabriel is a conservative libertarian talking about “woke”, “sheeples”, antivaxxer, covid denier, transphobe.
Disappointing. F him, so.
Then he’s not a fool, good for him
This makes me like the song even more.
‘Cult’ lol haha.
I hate it and im maybe from Finland.
Goes straight to 7th place in ranking.
Maybe…
How can you be “maybe” from Finland?
Easily, I’m maybe from Finland too ?
Pretty great, goes quite fast and is probably one of the favourites for the win. It’s a tight race this year, but we’ll see, as live performances come up! Nice bunch and quite rap influenced this year.
The best of the bunch
I find the potential meaning of this song the most interesting part about it. My second place but I’m wonder if they could revamp it live to make it hit harder on the last chorus?
Perfect split of 3 songs in English, 3 songs in Finnish (and one partially in Estonian), and one with both. We can push for 5 Non-English songs next year surely.
Sara Siipola is easily my favourite, and judging by the reactions, it is the favourite ampng Finnish fans too. The competition is very close though. I wouldn’t mind Cyan Kicks, but we’ve already sent so many rock song so a ballad in Finnish would be something different. We’re definitely not winning this year (either) but at least with Sara we can extend our qualification streak I think.
Cyan Kicks can as well but I fear this isn’t the right song and that they wasted their potential not going to Eurovision with the catchy hook of Hurricane.
I never understood this view where it’s a Eurovision winner or nothing, there are other places than 1st. A top-5 placement is very possible, as stage show can elevate a song a lot.
Netherlands 2014, Spain 2022 and UK 2009 come in mind straight away, where a song wasn’t seen as a front runner, but became one after live performance.
Netherlands 2014 and Spain 2022 indeed performed spectacularly but I think UK 2009 only placed high because juries felt obliged to give points to the name and presence of ALW. The song was so bland.
Just like I assumed, they served the fun and energy! It’s not giving potential winner like Cha Cha Cha let me be clear, but this song definitely got very catchy beat and makes me smile. It’s gonna be between Cyan Kicks and Mikael&Nublu I guess.
OK.. Finland for sure are not the winner of ESC 2024
That’s not bad per se, it doesn’t have to be the aim every year and their songs are competitive anyways
It’s not a problem. Mostly I don’t even like the winning songs so much. My favorites are often in The top10 but rarely winning.
The Matador Olex3 made me laugh hard. It’s good, catchy and fun.
After hearing all of them I think my Top is definitely
1/2- Cyan Kicks/Sara
3- Mikael and Nublu
4- Sini
5- Windows95
6- Sexmane
7- Jesse
Love the beat and the instrumentation. It feels different yet the chorus is very catchy.
It’s between this and Windows95 Man for me. Cyan Kicks would be third. You
Same top 2 🙂
I like it. But no, all opinions are not equally wrong. Still, this to me is the best Finland has to offer and I hope it gets picked. I’m relieved I have something to root because of it weren’t for this last catchy tune, I would have skipped UMK altogether.
root for
Please be good, this Finland’s last hope. There is Sara Siipola but I find her song only okay. In hindsight, they should have saved some songs from the really good UMKs of 2023 and 2021 for this year.
Maybe it’s only great in uneven years.
UMK 22 was awesome. The best so far this decade
They’re so handsome
Hmm.. no.. not at all
This is gonna be such a banger and I’m here for it!
No, no, and definitely no! I don’t care about the song itself. He openly supports the senior party (Finnish equivalent of the Tories) of the government that tries to destroy the Finnish welfare state, and then he has the nerve to go to the UMK and hypocritically performs a song about forgetting the political differences and coming together. It’s like a positive affirmation “there’s nothing to see here”. The division is bad for all of us yes, but sorry, I feel that he’s not the right person to talk about it. He used to have P*tin tattooed on him (removing… Read more »
Why would he get such a tattoo? I thought pretty much the entire Finland would be afraid of Put in.
It’s actually true that he had a Putin tattoo, he took it in 2016, saying that he resepects him for achieving more than anyone else. He removed it in 2019 with the Finnish lion.
yes, I googled and saw a picture to verify it, it just baffles me that anyone and especially a Finn would get such a tattoo. But okay, it’s his skin.
What an idiot, hard to take his lyrics seriously after learning this. Still, maybe he speaks from experience and has hopefully learned his lesson.
his twitter shows he didn’t
Finnish Igranka vibes Yassssssssssss with those astronaut costumes