Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  Erika Vikman returns and is The One to Beat this year. Fandom and public has waited for her return since Cicciolina didn't win in 2020 and she's been present in UMK multiple times in a way or another  since: Opening act with Antti Tuisku in 2021 and 2024 interval act with Käärijä. Eerika started her career in tango circuit, a very popular music genre in Finland, by winning Tangojunior in 2008. More talent shows followed and she also acted in tv drama series 2009-10. The year after she starred in a musical and in 2013 tried her luck in Idols placing seventh (ahead of her UMK veteran Zuhlke and international pop star Alma btw). Her big breakthrough came however in 2016 when she won Tangomarkkinat and was crowned the Tango Queen. The year after she starred in reality  tv-series Iholla. In 2020 she dropped her tango singer image and launched the raunchy slutty pop diva with usually double sensed lyrics and humor with Cicciolina winning the televote in UMK but the juries...

Logomo in Turku will be the chosen venue for Uuden musiikin kilpailu aka UMK 2023 final on February 25, 2023. The procedure is pretty much the same as past years: Yle promises the biggest show ever, there will be seven acts competing and huge opening and interval act shows.  The chosen artists will be announced on January 11 and their entries showcased one per day as usual starting at midnight. Among the artists aree, as usual, well knows acts and up and coming new names and the genres include the best dance entry in UMK's history with a new killer vocalist, an entry full of sexual tension by a very well known artist, a show stopping ballad by one of the most significant export artists, the strongest rap banger in UMK's history (we start to repeat ourselves here) and up and coming and very popular bands..... We'll see. The UMK final also includes on spot in Turku a pre- and after party and sico, and tickets are selling already fast. Last year it was sold out. UMK has also m...

Erika Vikman scored the biggest hit out of UMK ever with runner up Cicciolina , and managed to score even bigger hit with Syntisten pöytä and gaining support from critics as well. Now finally her debut album is out and set to hit hard the Finnish charts. A perfect retro pop with somewhat naughty lyrics and lyrics filled with funny double meanings. One can only wonder how Rotterdam 2020 would have turned out for her.... Intro + Cicciolina Aikuisten rannekkeet Pyhä Erika Ei rakkaus kulu käyttämällä Pizza Häpeä Tääl on niin kuuma (with Arttu Wiskari) Amorin siivet Syntisten pöytä

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 - Aksel - Looking back Finland.... the fandom has paid little attention to this winner as their favorite Cicciolina didn't win. I admit I fell to that trap myself at first. But this is a fine song, well sung and beautiful. Actually a few weeks ago it was playing on radio and I was only half listening until I noticed myself stopping and wondering what is this song, this is good and it took me awhile to realize it's our Eurovision entry. I have a sneaky feeling the juries would have liked this and Finland for once could have been a shock qualifier. The staging in UMK was fitting and simple yet beautiful, and this was more or less how it would've been in Rotterdam. I give a very strong 8/10 YLE is planninh a new UMK2021 as usual and there's no guaranteed place for Aksel in it but "he is welcome to send a song". And indeed after initial hesitation it looks like he's about to......

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...

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...

It didn't long before the real Cicciolina or Ilona Staller found out of the Cicciolina hype in Finland and not only for Erika Vikman's UMK2020 entry. When Finnish Iltalehti contacted her for a comment she refused an interview but came up with a proposal that she could perform with Erika in Eurovision. Then she would give an interview. Erika and her team are obviously surprised but considering the wild idea along with many other ideas. Previously Erika had said she would invite Cicciolina to Rotterdam for a glass of champagne should she get that far. Cicciolina won't come cheap, that's for sure, but who knows if somehow she will be involved if Erika wins UMK2020. Meanwhile her entry has passed over 217.000 views on Yle Areena in three days and over 207.000 in Youtube and the song is fast climbing on Spotify charts has reached already #17 on Top-50. Cicciolina besides being a pornostar, a member of parliament, human and animal rights activist is also a performing s...

    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 ...