Finland: YLE announces the full details of the national final, UMK 2022

Finland: YLE announces the full details of the national final, UMK 2022
Tuesday, 16 November 2021

  • The Finnish national broadcaster, YLE,  has shared the dates, the host city and venue of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2022 (UMK) the show that determines the country's Eurovision representatives. 

    YLE,  is sticking with the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) format in order to select the Eurovision 2022 representative.This will be the 11th edition of UMK which continues for another year, especially after this years record breaking numbers of viewers for the national final  but also for the contest itself combined with Blind Channel's good placing in Rotterdam which was Finland’s second-best result in the contest.

     

    The Host city and venue

    UMK returns to Logomo arena in Turku after a two year break, as the show was hosted in the Mediapolis Studios in Tampere the last two editions. The national final is set to take place on February 26, 2022 and will see a total of 7 contestants compete for the right to represent Finland at Eurovision 2022 in Turin, Italy. 

    While the acts of the national final will presented on a special press conference on January 12, the entries we will see in the national final will be released progressively from January 13, 2022 onwards. The outcome of the national final will be determined by a combination of public and jury voting. 

    Previously, in beginning of September, YLE has released the rules and regulations of the competition accepting applications up to September 6, 2021. Eventually the broadcaster received a total of 312 entries, i high number that is explained by Blind Channel's successful appearance in Rotterdam finishing 6th in the final. 

     

    Finland in Eurovision

    Finland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 53 times since its debut in 1961. Finland won the contest for the first time in 2006 with Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah". The country's best result before then was achieved by Marion Rung with the song "Tom Tom Tom" in 1973, which placed sixth.

    Finland has finished last in the contest eleven times, receiving "nul points" in 1963, 1965 and 1982. Since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Finland has failed to reach the final eight times. In 2014, the country had its best result in eight years when Softengine finished 11th. In 2015, Finland finished last in the first semi-final with the shortest-ever Eurovision entry, "Aina mun pitää" performed by Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät.

    In 2020 Aksel won the national final with the song “Looking Back”.  As the competition was cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic he never reached the Eurovision stage in Rotterdam. 

    This year the rock band Blind Channel triumphed in UMK 2021 with their song 'Dark Side' and went off defending the Finnish colors in Rotterdam, where they achieved the country's second best result finishing 6th with 301 points in the overall score. 

    News Source/Image: YLE