Following the announcement of the seven acts competing in Finland’s Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) 2025, Finnish broadcaster Yle is dropping the music videos for each entry one by one. First up is Neea River with “Nightmares.”
The Nurmijärvi-born beauty makes music in English, which she says has posed big challenges in Finland, where the pop music sector is focused on Finnish-language music. Many people, including bigwigs at record labels, said she should switch to Finnish.
“They asked me why I even tried,” she says. “I kept my cool. I get a little pleasure from the fact that now these same people are asking how I got this far.”
River hopes for an international breakthrough. Not only for herself, but also for other Finnish artists aiming for the international market.
“It would be great to be one of those who show that there are pop stars in Finland just like in Sweden. All it takes is successful examples. Sweden has Zara Larsson and Tove Lo. We could be in the same situation if there was a change in attitude in the industry.”
Asked how she would sum up her artistry, Neea said “pop machine.” She’s a fan of Britney Spears, Rihanna and The Weekend, among others.
“I have a kind of pop armor that is full of power. When I have it on, nothing can stop me!”
Neea River — “Nightmares”
Ms. River’s UMK 2025 song discusses overcoming personal trauma. The goal, is to “remind the listener that no difficult situation or phase in life is final. There is a way out of everything.”
“I took a really traumatic life experience and turned it into a song, and I made it a source of strength for myself and hopefully for others as well.”
She is very clear about her goal with the song: to win the Eurovision Song Contest. She wrote it in collaboration with Ilkka Wirtanen and Petri Alango.
“We decided at that moment that we wouldn’t make the song a ballad. We wanted a melody that would make the crowd fall off their chairs,” she says. “I’m going to bring pure pop to the world. The kind that will definitely win the Eurovision Song Contest.”
UMK 2025 song release schedule
The full release schedule is as follows:
- Thursday 9th: Neea River – “Nightmares”
- Friday 10th: Nelli Matula – “Hitaammin hautaan”
- Monday 13th: Costee – “Sekaisin”
- Tuesday 14th: Viivi – “Aina”
- Wednesday 15th: One Morning Left – “Puppy”
- Thursday 16th: Goldielocks – “Made of”
- Friday 17th: Erika Vikman – “Ich komme”
Songs will be released at 00:00 EET each day (22:00 GMT / 23:00 CET the prior evening).
UMK 2025 will take place on Saturday 8 February, starting at 20:00 CET / 21:00 EET. The show will be held inside Nokia Arena in Tampere. Hosts Sanni and Jasmin Beloued will guide viewers through proceedings.
What do you make of “Nightmares”? Do you think Neea River would be a credible entry for Finland? Let us know in the comments below!
It’s a nice beat. But her voice is a bit too childish for my taste.
Childish? She is by far the best vocalist of this year’s UMK and with a valid reason, it’s not very smart to say she shounds childish!
Could imagine Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding doing a track like this!
I like this! It makes me feel so nostalgic.
I cant understand the moaning in these comments this year?! I’m baffled. UMK is THE national selection final of all the Eurovision national finals (for me). They’ve come up with a fantastic formula to build up their artists, before AND after their song reveal, and the music videos look set to be some of the best (based off the snippets). I caught this when this dropped last night and I sat through the whole thing with my headphones on, and I absolutely fell in love. My partner was giving me such dirty looks, so I had to play it to… Read more »
Yeah I’m surprised how negative comments have gotten recently, and every song has to be “just so” to be “acceptable” which is frustrating.
It’s bizarre.
To me, it seems that because UMK is becoming known for quality and for producing great songs (and doing well at Eurovision), so it’s now getting the same treatment by those Euro-fans that love hating on Sweden and the Swedish songs.
You just can’t win with these people.
I don’t get the negative comments either. Like, you can dislike the song but most comments aren’t even hating on the song itself, they’re just done for the sake of hating wtf
Lol. Perhaps it’s the post-christmas January blues?!
Im happy that its boring – I miss the time with less good songs in UMK, dont get me wrong, but I hope the quality will be bad this year. I like bad songs better than good songs.
Interesting take…
Bizarre…
You Finnish? 🙂
I take this back, its a great song!
3 stars of 5.
We need at least one this fansucker dance. Well produced bit over processed voice. Think better than Monsters and We well rave, which was too predictable 90’s. This is more flashback from 2002.
It’s fine. A bit generic and your typical Eurovision song, but it’s not terrible. Unlikely to win the UMK as I expect stronger options to follow
Off topic, but the ESC 2025 hosts will be revealed in a media event by the Swiss broadcaster on January 20 at 15 CET
Isn’t that almost the exact moment Trump will be sworn in again? I’m sure he will hog the global spotlight.
I know which I’d prefer to watch
Same.
RIP Jimmy Carter
Croatian songs are out as well dear wiwibloggs. i really wonder what you guys are doing cuz you are skipping to inform as about many things this year.
They live in the real world, and don’t exist purely to serve us!
Well, I’m sure they know very well why they are here – and that it isn’t purely to serve us. You’re talking as if the blog belongs to some music enthusiasts without any real interest except music enthusiasm.
I’m not sure what you mean. Wiwi is a passion project. That’s all I’m saying. They don’t owe us anything, we don’t pay a subscription fee, so we can’t act entitled to their time and energy.
And there is no money in it – anywhere?
well i love these eurobangers and the chorus is great, but it takes forever to get there…would still be a decent entry and light-years ahead of win95’s attempt
It’s alright, but I hope there will come better songs
I like it, especially the beat, her voice sounds a bit manipulated so I need to hear her perform this live in order to be able to judge the vocals, It’s not unique but good enough to qualify and do well
According snippets she sings good also in live. Remains to be seen.
UMK had phenomenal songs this past few years. It quickly became one of my favorite national finals. This song leaves much to be desired. I hope this is just a one off and the rest of the UMK songs this year are good.
2023 was the pinnacle
Very messy.
Honestly, don’t like it. Bad lyrics. Sentences don’t flow well. There’s a drop in it just for the sake of engagement bait, it really doesn’t serve a purpose in the song.
Pretty great song and a strong start, good luck Neea!
Nice song and a great start to this new edition! I totally get her point about Finland also embracing this type of music, similar to Sweden and Norway. It gave me major Cascada vibes and reminded me of the 2000s EDM scene in the best way. I enjoyed listening to it, but I’m not sure we’ve heard our winner just yet.
Nice song that I could enjoy in Eurovision (if it’s not a vocal crash) but it’s very repetitive.
UMK often starts with a banger to put fans in the mood but the first song is usually not considered as the best of the selection.
Anyway, nice start here 🙂
Had 0 expectations but this is actually really good! Sounds like something that Norway or even Sweden would do at ESC. But I don’t think this is the best song UMK has in pocket.