Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Etta (or Emmalotta Kanth, 28) is the most successful and the first female rap artist to have a #1 album. But besides being a rapper she is also an excellent singer. She has released three  top-10 albums and has eight Top-10 singles (and four more as featuring, including one #1 hit). She first came to spotlight at the age of 10 when she reached the semifinal stage in Talent Suomi. Coming from a musical family her brother Vilikasper Kanth also has UMK 2015 experience. Another funny fact is her ex-boyfriend Lukas Leon is Kiki's brother. She has also done featuring with Pete Parkkonen and Isaac Sene among others.  Her song Million dollar smile is an ode to her single mother and gets inspiration from her difficult youth and dealing with alopecia that made her lose her hair as a teenager. As said music was always present in her family and she says she didn't choose music, music chose her. They have tried to label her as pop singer or a female rapper but she says she's and Artist....

The 16th season of Vain elämää is on and every Friday we get new versions of artists songs by other artists. Here comes the first dose of the best ones so far excluding Käärijä's songs and covers that are covered in a different post here . Here comes two effort by UMK veterans Viivi and Kohannes Brothers of Kuumaa fame. Viivi - Olen kaunis (syntynyt voittamaan ) (Pelle Miljoona cover) Johannes Brotherus - USA (Viivi cover) Viivi - Tikapuut (Jonna Tervomaa cover) Johannes Brothers / Kuumaa - Minä toivon (Jonna Tervomaa cover) 

  Yle has announced today information on coming UMK 2026 with the first clues on artists. Yle received a record number of 491 songs for UMk 2026. As usual seven entries have been selected via various juries (both professional and amateur) to compete. The show will include also grand opening and interval acts by Top Finnish artists. The artists will be revealed on January 14, 2026 in live television event and the song previewed as usual one per day at midnight between January 15 and 23. The final takes place on February 28 in Tampere Arena.  There will be as give  as glues: a charismatic performer making their debut at UMK,  an artist who represents a current sound right now,  an internationally sought-after crowd-pleaser,  a pioneer in their own genre,  an attractive duo of two performers with unique voices,  a dramatic pop piece from a singer with a magnificent voice,  and a captivating ballad from an artist radiating international appeal So...

While Sweden's Melodifestivalen 2026 has received 3.888 entries only to have then some 20 out of 28 written by same 5-6 names in various combos Finland's UMK is way more unpredictable and you never know what we have in store for the next edition. We have already noticed the selection team tends to have a sort of trend for the season. If 2025 was very pop oriented and 2024 quite rap influenced it's curious to see where they put the focus on in 2026.  This said the fandom is already speculating and so far Yle has kept quiet and there hasn't been any leaks or bitter comments by artists that they applied and were not taken ( Vilma Jää this year for example). Anyways, here's my first prediction/wish list for possible names added with the first rumored names! If I get 2-3 out of 7 right I'm happy, LOL.      Ladies Vesta - She's in Van elämää this fall and already making it big, could it be that she's doing both back to back? Her career has taken an upright di...

This week we have four more goodies from 2024 and even beyond. Ehyt is an indie-duo with astonishing 71 monthly listeners on Spotify! Let's change that as the song is just wonderful! Show some love to them. Then we have big names from streaming and radio, Hugo and Olli and finally Shimmer, a trio of ladies that have made a comeback with a great song after 22 years! Ehyt - Kaikki muistuttaa mua susta Olli Halonen - Miten käärmeet lisääntyy Hugo - Sun puolesta Shimmer - Korennot

 It's time to relaunch #FinPop series with the hits from Finland in charts, streaming platforms and radio waves in 2024. Enjoy! We kick off with a UMK 2024 collaboration Sara Siipola feat. Sexmane, and one of the biggest revelations of the season Mirella, ever so popular ABREU and a newcomer Larry. Sara Siipola ft. Sexmane - Juostaan Mirella - Timanttei ABREU - Valheista kaunein Larry - Mitä me nähtiin

As in previous years UMK 2024 is also a hit machine. The past three years the most streamed song in Finland has been an UMK entry, last year even Top-2 (and they are still in the Top-40 after one year!) It's funny to think just a few years ago the songs didn't chart at all, sometimes not even the winner and even longer ago some songs were not even recorded and/or released.  Here's how the songs have made in the Official singles Top-50 charts. As they were release one by one on different days and over two weeks chart period the positions enter gradually. Sara Siipola has featured the best here staying in Top-5 for three weeks already.  Cyan Kicks - Dancing with demons          14 . 21. Sexmane - Mania           4.   8. 15.  24. Sara Siipola - Paskana           19.  2.  4.  5. Jesse Markin - Glow           -  20 . -  -  Windowsman95 - No ru...

Eurovision 2023 runner up and televote winner Käärijä and #teamFinland returned home this afternoon and there were hundreds of people waiting for him chanting WINNER! WINNER! and non stop singing Cha cha cha.  This morning he published on social medias he's sorry he didn't win, which made Finns appreciate and love him even more. Therefor many fans interviewed on spot said they wanted to come and welcome him back as in their books he's a winner. He may have not won the contest thanks to juries but he won the televote and people's hearts. You can say he was surprised! All this was broadcast live by Yle, as they also did a Käärijä special this morning. I think they were ready for an eventual victory and with the on going Käärijä hype the second place is worth broadcasting everything anyways.  You can watch it here

Antti Tuisku, Finland's self declared Number One Pop artist has released a new party banger in time for Vappu aka the May 1 Eve, a Finnish spring is here carnival when most everyone gets drunk and enjoys picnic the the morning after even if it might be freezing cold and snowing - as it usually is....  The song is a nonsense with lyrics in bits in dialect, trying to be humorous and I doubt no one will listen tot his except on these party days Vappu, midsummer and new year's but it bears an important message If you drink, don't drive! Thus auto jää or car stays (where it is) while party continues elsewhere. 

Finland's UMK has really turned itself around in just a couple of years from no hit machine disaster to a real chart topping delivering career launching hit machine. Two years in a row the Finnish Grammy aka Emma has gone to a song from UMK, all the songs hit the charts, it delivers several Top-10 hits, number ones and creates new stars. This year more than ever. In my personal opinion every song this year is good or great, and any of them would have been a winner just 3-4 years ago but things have changed now. How to pick up the one from the goodies? Easy if you think about it: there's one that caused an international stir right after it was released, it sticks out like a slap in the face and all I can say is WE MUST CHOOSE IT.  The running order caused some commotion in the social medias but I believe it has something to do with the stagings and props etc. On the other hand with only seven songs it's not so important if you go first, last or somewhere in between. Especial...

How things change! Not so long ago the Finnish national entries didn't bother the charts, not even the winner and there are even entries that have never even been released after the contest. And now, UMK is living a real resurrection or renaissance and has become similar to Sanremo or Malodifestivalen: It makes hits. Artists want to take part. It's hot. Relevant. A hit.  Not all this year's entries have had the time to enter the official charts but last weekend for example Spotify's Top-10 had five UMK entries! I'm sure they will all storm into the charts this week. So far we have two debuts at the official singles Top-20 charts; Benjamin at #7 and Keira at #10. In the radio play Top-100 we have Robin at #46., Benjamin at #55., Lxandra at #65. and even Käårijä made it #77 already. I suppose he might hit the singles #1 and who knows how high on radios..... Let's look back at how it all started, this new era. Erika Vikman hit #5 on singles chart back in 2020 and ...

In the 2015 UMK was a battle anti-ESC like entry vs. very ESC like entry and sadly the first won, went to Vienna, scored last place in the semi-final. I can't even bother to link it here. Satin Circus however did their best to save the situation but came only second. Crossroads charted and played on radio and the band enjoyed some fame and popularity until the end in 2018. Paul Elias went solo and has scored minor hits since and Olli Halonen started his solo career a bit later but scored one of the biggest hits in 2022 and a couple of minor ones and expectations for his debut solo album to be released in 2023 are high. 

While waiting for the entries for UMK2023 aka Finland's national selection for Eurovision song contest let's look back at some of the best non winning ones from yesteryear. Sonja Lumme may have won Euroviisut 1985 with Eläköön elämä , the national Finnish Eurovision selection but the runner up was the biggest commercial success. Late Riki Sorsa (ESC 1981) performed Kari Kuivalainen's ((ESC 1986) penned Haaveissa vainko oot mun (Are you mine only in my dreams), a melancholy yet catchy song with that piano and sax that became one of Riki's biggest songs and with the help of it he gained his first Gold Disc . 

  I wrote about Syksyn sävel 2022 semi-finalist that didn't make the final yesterday (here) and tonight's the final, with the most mediocre non-hit making elderly dance hall audience oriented not-music-buying audience ever. For anyone who follows today's music it's just a huge joke to laugh at the music but then again, as written yesterday, maybe it fits with the tv-channel's almost non existing audience. I will sit down and giggle myself sick listening and watching "the show". Here are the finalists: I have a vague idea media is playing for Kurre's win but the gypsy vote (always strong in Syksyn sävel) will go to Leif and Amadeus but in my books clearly the best one out of these is Eija Kantola. By far. Well sung, a proper ageless melody that sounds already a classic. The arrangement is what it is but imagine this with proper strings and orchestra! Finlanders - Päätyyn asti Tero Vaara - Menköön kaikki J.Eskelinen - Elämää Reija Kortet - Vain me kaksi...

Syksyn sävel competition is here again. The one that was a real hit machine in the 1970's and 1980's where as the national Eurovision selection Euroviisut was a real let down with songs no one listened and with songs that weren't even recorded by the artists. With a few exceptions of course. Syksyn sävel was where known artists went with their hits aiming for commercial success, a sort of Melodifestivalen in fact. After a break Syksyn sävel has made a couple of comeback attempts but if last year offered a few goodies and was sort of promising effort this year's offering is something else. Several previous hit makers and winners whose career is pretty much gone and dead is trying again after decades but anything different or a bit modern was voted out by the public. A vanishing public I should add as the contest is broadcast on a random small channel aimed for old and religious folks and near bankruptcy apparently. Syksyn sävel may be dead but UMK has been delivering hug...