Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Remember when Meiju Suvas came out a bit outraged telling everyone she had been sacked from UMK2020 final line up? If not, have a read here . Later we of course found out Erika Vikman was in with Cicciolina , and two schlager bangers would have been just a bit too much for the line up, right? Anyways, the song's now been out awhile already - also in Finnish - and she has even made a very no filter and gay friendly video for it aiming to take Erika's crown as the reigning fag hag but no worries, there's plenty of room for both of them! Ay ay ay!

Finland joins Sweden and Estonia confirming they will have a new national final in 2021 and this year's winner has no direct access to Eurovision 2021. Where as Estonia offers Uku Suviste a spot in the semi-final line up Finland joins Sweden stating "Aksel can always send in a song and professional jury will pick up the finalists".  Ops! A bit harsh... The process will be in 2021 like it was in 2020. The song submission opens on September 1, 2020 and a certain number of songs will be chosen for the final. The 2020 season was both viewing and rating success and obviously Yle wishes to continue the good trend creating a state-of-the-art music show.  This year's big favorite and runner up in the end, Erika, does not rule out a possible return, nor does her record company Mökkitie Records. "We keep on eye on UMK and we are very Eurovision friendly. We couldn't have had a better kick off for Erika's new career path" they say. A few days ago A...

UMK2020 finished with a somewhat surprise win to 22-year-old Aksel Kankaanranta and the media and social media has been busy trying to analyze what happened and why?  He was himself one of those most surprised and confessed he was a bit shocked and could do nothing but mumble "thank you, thank you" after his win, something very visible also in the television. He literally came out of nowhere as all the media attention was focused on Erika Vikman, and somewhat in Catharina Zuhlke and he didn't look for attention in anyways. he just came, sung and won.  Fans have been critizing his song is "yet another boring male ballad" but Aksel isn't taking pressure and thinks one just can't please everyone, and he doesn't even want to.  Aksel is said to have "the most beautiful voice" in Finland at the moment and he also thinks his voice might be one of the main reasons, with the simple sober performance, that won't be changed for Rotterda...

Last night in Finland was all about the question: Will Erika win with Cicciolina ? She didn't as I expected. She's in front page of most every magazine this week and has brokén all UMK records what comes to streaming, chart positions, Youtube views and clearly The One in media attention this year. Somehow the audience was divided already beforehand those pro-Erika and anti-Erika with Aksel as the alternative and in the end it is exactly what happened. The most quiet performer, there has been literally zero media attention to him before UMK, convinced the juries enough to beat her in the end and Erika didn't manage to get enough televoters support to beat him. The fandom is in outrage of course, pointing fingers at the Swedish and Estonian juries mostly. This blogger was #teamErika but ... here comes the Big But. As I feared YLE managed once again to ruin the entries on stage, not only Erika's but also Tika's with lousy camerawork and ideas that didn't ...

After two unsuccesful attemps of semi internal choices YLE decided to dust off multiartist open call for songs UMK again. Out of 426 entries they picked six (only) for the final to be held in Tampere. The six artists are all rather unknown to the average viewer (except Erika Vikman, but even she isn't known for her music) but having still experience in the music business (except F3M) but the standard of production is very good, and the songs are all good in their own way, and would have been winner candidates in any other UMK in the past. In short this is the best UMK final ever. But there's one hic up now: Cicciolina . The song has broken most every possible UMK record so far: reaching n.o 6 in the official singles chart (a record for any UMK song) and so far four weeks in top-20. Nearly 1,2 million Youtube views so far. That's about the double all the other five put together! The real Cicciolina approves and is interested to be involved in the performance in Ro...

We may be having the biggest hit evrer to come out from UMK in Finland. Still a month to go to the final Erika Vikman's Cicciolina first stormed the Spotify daily charts day after day, and now it has made it to the Official Finnish Single Charts debuting at number six. The video has over 617.000 views on Youtube. If we look back the Finnish entries - or national final songs - aren't usually bothering much the official charts. They appear if lucky in the download charts and radio play charts but not in the official one. Last year Darude didn't bother any of them and the year before Saara Aalto's Monsters , so far the biggest hit from UMK reached number 13. Then we have to go back to pre-UMK days when Paradise Oskar charted at number 6, Waldo's People at number 1, Teräsbetoni at number 2 and Lordi obviously at number 1. Of course the chart composure was also different back then. If we look at the download charts Norma John peaked at number 10, Sandja at num...

    Sansa aka Sannaliisa Ilkka (b.1980) may not ring a bell but she's been around for many years. She has opened for Bryan Adams in Hartwall Arena, worked with EDM artist Kaskade and her idols are Sia and Robyn. Three albums so far under her belt she has also written songs to other artists and has taken part in Tangomarkkinat new tango song writing contest. She also collaborated in Paradise Oskar's debut album back in 2011. It's been a bit quiet the past years but you can hear her vocals here , or here . Or here . And yes, she's an Eurovision fan.

  A shy giant Aksel Kankaanranta (22) came second in Voice of Finland 2017 and after that was featured in #1 hit Jättiläinen by Pyhimys, the most streamed song of 2018 and also The Song of the Year winner in Emma Gaala (Finnish Grammy). Otherwise he has no releases yet and has been working on his solo material since Voice. Now it's time to kick start his career in #UMK20 with Looking back . And that's all there is to know so far really.   

    Erika Vikman (26) got noticed when she won the tango singing contest in 2016. Before being crowned the Tango Queen she participated in the contest in 2015 without success and also Idols in 2013 and won a junior tango contest in 2008. In between some television series acting, musicals, other talent shows. She has released a few singles between 2015-2017, but mainly she's been a household name for being Danny's girlfriend. Danny, the Finnish music legend is 77 and slowly Erika has started to look more and more his previous singing partner Armi Aavikko. Kinda creepy if you ask me. Lately she has done also various music programmes. Erika's career hasn't really kicked off yet, even if everybody seems to know her and agree she can sing . She clearly is wanting to get rid of the tango label but the competition in female pop field is very strong. Lately she seems to be aiming for the Finnish humor schlager field aimed for those "juntti" or yokels. The ...

Yle has today announced they have received 426 songs and a jury of ten persons has cut the songs down to six for the March 7 final in Tampere's Mediapolis studios. The artists and songs will be revealed Janaury 21 in a live stream on Yle Areena. "The music industry's response to the return to open competition was really positive. The participating songs featured with some of Finland's best songwriters, composers and producers. The finalist songs were selected by a jury of ten, featuring music experts from inside and outside of YLE. The final level is really high and the songs are versatile in terms of both style and artist. I hope that as many Finns as possible find an artist and song that they think  is perfect for representing Finland in Eurovision", says Tapio Hakanen, Head of Music at YleX and head of UMK's expert jury. Now we can only wait and see if any of those who didn't make it come forward with their entries in Youtube and social medias......

The submission window for UMK2020 entries is now opened in Finland and will close on November 8 midnight. Read more here .  The chosen ones will be informed by November 30, but the public get to know them only on January 21 when also the jury who picked them up will be made public in a press conference that will be also streamed live on Yle Areena. The UMK2020 final will be in Mediapolis TV- studios in Tampere with a limited audience (one can apply later on) and will be broadcasted live on Yle1 and Yle Areena on March 7 - the same date we already have both Swedish and Danish finals.... UMK returns to open contest after two internal choices. Hopefully songwriters have forgotten and forgiven this disaster though ....

After two years of internal choices in search of "a jackpot" in vain Yle and UMK are returning to an open call. The song submission window is from November 1 to 8, 2019 and Yle is hoping to get a variety of entries from various genres and various artist categories from newcomers to veterans, stars of the moment and has-been in search for a comeback because "each and everyone can have a boost to their career with the participation, not only the winner". They also expect the entries being chosen already the next week.  Their hopes seem to be high despite the fact some are still suspicious and not so trusting this will all go smoothly after their sudden change of plans three years ago when they just threw all the submissions to the rubbish bin and decided to go for Saara Aalto instead.  The fact that they haven't published clear rules and information yet but only "we expect and wish to choose 4-10 entries for the one off final depending on the quality o...

Mikko is back with yet another inspirational melodic song. Well done. He deserves a major hit and exposure - even if he already has a very devoted fan base - so what about UMK2020? Everyone in Finland seems to be waiting for her several times postboned debut album (she's been too busy writing song to likes of Miley Cyrus) but here's another great track from it. Quite awesome video for the title track of her debut album. Another one waiting for The Break, and UMK2020 could just be it.... A real earworm from radio waves this summer from the rapping pop legend. 

23 points and last in its semi-final, third to last or 39th/41 overal if you count all the songs. That's a big slap in face to YLE and UMK who propably hoped they were 11th in their semi. Most remarkable is Finland got only 23 points when the second to last in its semi, Montenegro, got the double: 46. Finlang got points from the juries: Greece 4, Spain 2, Australia 2 and Poland 1.  And from televoters: 12 Estonia (and we all know these are mainly from Finns staying in Estonia), and 2 from Iceland. Not really worth celebrating, is it? How Finns voted? No surprise the televoters 12 went to Iceland, followed by 10 to Norway ( Monsters scandal well forgotten then, or was it because the past few days it was told everywhere and even several times during the broadcast that a Finn Henrik Tala is in it?), Estonia 8, Sweden 7, Australia 6, the Netherlands 5, Russia 4, Italy 3, Switzerland 2 and Slovenia 1 (!!!). Finns have no right to complain and talk about neighbouring voting. Th...