Finland: Watch snippets from the performances of the UMK 2023 participants!

/0 Comments/in , , /by

A few minutes ago, the official Instagram account of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), posted a video, consisting of mere seconds of tommorow’s performances.

You can watch the performances of the artists here:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by UMK23 (@uudenmusiikinkilpailu)

The running order of the seven artists competing in the final of UMK is as follows:

  1. Robin Packalen – “Girls Like You“
  2. KUUMMA – “Ylivoimainen” (Overpowered)
  3. Käärijä  – “Cha Cha Cha“
  4. Keira – “No Business on the Dancefloor“
  5. Benjamin – “Hoida mut” (Take care of me)
  6. Lxandra – “Something to Lose“
  7. Portion Boys – “Samaa taivasta katsotaan” (We look at the same sky)

On an announcement made yesterday, the public broadcaster of Finland, revealed the seven countries that the international jury will be consisted of. These are:

  • Australia 
  • Germany
  • Poland
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom 

The national final will take place in February 25. UMK 2023 will be broadcasted live from Turku with Samu Haber as the host, while the winner and Finland’s representative in Eurovision 2023 will be determined by 25% internationla jury vote and 75% public vote.

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Finnish participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Finland: The International Juries of UMK 2023!

/0 Comments/in , , /by

A little while ago, the Finnish broadcaster announced the 7 countries that will make up the International Juries for the UMK 2023 final. These are:

  • Australia
  • Germany
  • Poland
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • United Kingdom
  • Ukraine

The international juries that will have a 25% say in the results of UMK 2023 have been announced.

The running order of the 7 artists who will compete in the UMK 2023 final is as follows:

  1. Robin Packalen – “Girls Like You“
  2. KUUMMA – “Ylivoimainen” (Overpowered)
  3. Käärijä  – “Cha Cha Cha“
  4. Keira – “No Business on the Dancefloor“
  5. Benjamin – “Hoida mut” (Take care of me)
  6. Lxandra – “Something to Lose“
  7. Portion Boys – “Samaa taivasta katsotaan” (We look at the same sky)

Yle also revealed some information about the commentary of UMK 2023. There will be commentary in eight different languages (Finnish, Swedish, English, English, Russian, Northern Sami and Inari Sami), sign language commentary provided by Miguel Peltomaa and for the first time there will be commentary in Ukrainian provided by Galyna Sergeyeva.

The national final is scheduled to take place on February 25th. UMK 2023 will be held in Turku with Samu Haber as the host, while the winner and Finland’s representative at Eurovision 2023 will be determined 25% by the international jury voting and 75% by the public vote.

Here you can enjoy the Eurovisionfun team on the reaction video for the UMK 2023 entries:

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more updates on the UMK 2023!

Portion Boys: “Expect a high energy performance with surprises!”

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The Portion Boys are participating in this year’s national final of Finland, UMK 2023 with the track “Samaa taivasta taksanas” and a few days ago they spoke exclusively to Eurovisionfun, specifically to Apostolis Matamis and Apostolοs Bogiannos, about their participation and their plans for the national final.

After getting to know all five band members, we chatted about their decision to take part in this year’s Finnish national final!

“Last year we wrote the song and immediately knew that it would fit UMK, and we felt that this was the right time! Now Finland is ready for us, we are ready for her and hopefully all of Europe!”

Regarding the song with which they participate in this year’s national final, they told us:

“Life is not that serious and you can enjoy it the way you want! We want to make the audience feel happy through our song.

“Our message is that we are all different but equal! In our own unique way, we use humor as a tool to convey the very important message of our song.”

Regarding the references to other countries in the song’s lyrics, the band revealed that it was a way to include more people as they also liked the word “Acropolis” very much and wanted it in the song. Also, many countries and regions did not manage to get into the song but on the other hand they have received messages that their song also has an educational function for many young children.

“Among the countries there is also Hungary, which does not participate in Eurovision either! So we’re not using the countries to necessarily win votes, but of course we’d like the public’s votes!”

For their stage appearance, the Portion Boys revealed to us:

“Expect a lot of energy from us and a lot of surprises!“

They stated that their favorite Finnish participation is Lordi (Finland 2006) and Blind Channel (Finland 2021), while as their favorite participation of the competition they mentioned Loreen from Sweden, Dana International from Israel and the Moldovan participation from 2010 with the viral sax-guy!

Enjoy the full interview of Portion Boys below:

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to be the first to enjoy interviews, reaction videos and Live streams for our favorite contest!

Would you like to see Robin representing Finland in Eurovision 2023? Tell us in the comments!

Robin Packalen: “My performance will be dangerous and not like the music video” | Exclusive Interview

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Robin Packalen is participating in this year’s national final of Finland, UMK 2023 with the track “Girls Like You” and a few days ago he spoke exclusively to Eurovisionfun and specifically to Apostolis and Alvaro, about his participation and his plans for the national final.

Although only 24 years old, Robin has been in the music industry since the age of 13 and is now considered one of the biggest names on the Finnish pop scene! On how he made the decision to take part in UMK 2023, he said:

“I am happy that this year I am taking part in the national final! Almost every year I had an offer to participate but there was always something else in my career and I couldn’t! At this moment I think the time has come and of course I have the right song”

Regarding the participation of “Girls Like You”, he told us the following:

“The song was not written exclusively for the competition! Last year I was in Los Angeles for the creation of the next international album and as soon as I heard the song I said that it is the best I have created! I didn’t want this song to be just another single and that’s how the idea of UMK came about!”

“If I were asked to describe myself with one song it would be ‘Girls Like You’, both in terms of sound and lyrics!”

Regarding his choice to participate with a song in English , he said that he wanted to try something different as he believes that he has offered for many years what he had to give to his country and now it’s time to try his luck to a bigger audience, that of Europe!

This year’s Finnish national final will take place in the city of Turku, which is also the birthplace of the young singer and of course he couldn’t help but express his joy to compete in his “home” and maybe have a small lead, as he said jokingly.

About his stage appearance Robin revealed to us:

“My appearance in the national final will be “dangerous” and will have nothing to do with the aesthetics of the video clip! On the stage there will be props and a lot of acrobatics, which I have been doing since I was a child!”

His favorite Finnish entry states that they are Blind Channel (Finland 2021), with whom they collaborated recently and have the same producers, while as his favorite entry of the competition he preferred a recent favorite of his, “Slo Mo” from Channel.

At the end he sang a part of his participation:

Watch the full interview of Robin:

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to be the first to enjoy interviews, reaction videos and Live streams for our favorite contest!

Would you like to see Robin representing Finland in Eurovision 2023? Tell us in the comments!

Lxandra: “My perfomance will be huge, dramatic with dancers!” | Exclusive Interview

/0 Comments/in , /by

Lxandra gave an interview to EurovisionFun and Giorgos Zefteridis talking about the participation in UMK 2023, her song “Something to lose” and her upcoming perfomance next week!

Lxandra, tell us some things about you as an artist.

“I am a songwritter, singer and I love all the aspects of being an artist. I like writing songs, perform and I love doing my visuals! The most important thing for me is the emotion and I want to touch the people listening to my music, just like how music helps me and my emotions.”

How did you write “Something to loose” and what does the song mean to you?

“I had some basic lyrics on my phone, I usually write while I am on the road, like walking or in the metro so it started like that. It is a very personal song and it talks about how important is to have real communication with people because loneliness is very common nowadays. Having something to loose means you have something to fight for.”

How were the reactions for your participation?

“It has been great! I usually don’t live in Finland, more people know me in the USA because that’s where I make shows and publish song, so many people here in Finland don’t know me. It is very cool seeing the Eurovision community react to my song.”

Have you thought of participating in Eurovision before?

“I used to watch Eurovision when I was a child, everyone knows Eurovision! I always liked dramatic perfomances and ballads. I had talked before with UMK to participate in the past but I was not sure. UMK now has been updated, the perfomances, the video- clips so I decided to do it. Also, at that stage of my career, I don’t have the chance to perform on such big shows like Eurovision so it is a great oppurtinity and honour for me. I thought that if i find the right song, I would do it! We wrote “Something to loose” in Los Angeles and it’s not the biggest ballad I’ve written before but the meaning and the feeling of the song is very important because the perfomance will be authentic and so me, so I chose this song. I had written more “Eurovision” tracks before, but I just went with the flow and my heart.

Could you tell us something things about your UMK perfomance?

“On the video- clip there is some dancing, so I’m preparing myself for the perfomance that will have a lot of movement, five dancers and will be very dramatic. It will start slowly and then it will end up in something huge. I am very excited about the perfomance cause it will be huge, from the movement, to the visuals, the sound, the dramatic direction, those are all things that inspire me a lot and I am very excited. It will be theatrical!”

Is there any other song that stand out to you in UMK 2023?

“I like them all, they are all huge hits! Many different tracks, pop ones, crazy ones and also my ballad. I think it will be an awesome year, I have no idea who will win. Most people in Finland expect Kaarija to win UMK but we do not know until the perfomances!”

At the end she mentioned that she is doing a lot of vocal practice because she will sing the song in a different more dramatic way and that her favourite Finnish entry is Blind Channel (2021). Of course, she sang to us a small part of “Something to loose“! You can watch the full interview below:

Finland: The Rasmus and BESS to perform at UMK 2023!

/1 Comment/in , /by

The Rasmus and BESS will perform during the Finnish national final as interval acts.  UMK host Samu Haber will join them as an interval act.  In addition to this, one of the members of Younghearted (UMK 2022 contestant) will perform before the live broadcast.

The Rasmus won UMK 2022 and represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.  The Rasmus are one of the most acclaimed rock bands from Finland since the release of their 2003 album Dead Letters.  Last year, the band performed at numerous Finnish summer music festivals and, in the autumn of 2022, it published its own book, The Rasmus, and released its tenth album, Rise. After a special concert performance at the Helsinki Ice Hall last September, the band embarked on a European concert tour and played to a massive crowd in Mexico. The band is currently writing new music and will announce new performance dates later this year.

“It’s so awesome to get back up on the UMK stage! When we were in last year’s contest, the excitement was overwhelming. Now, we get to come back to Logomo to head up an amazing show with our latest single Live and Never Die,” The Rasmus comments. “UMK and Eurovision were absolutely amazing experiences. At ESC in Turin, we were able to make friends with other artists, and we came up with this really great idea to do a collaborative version of In The Shadows together with Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra. Our Eurovision entry Jezebel has also become an audience favourite along with our other hits.”

BESS will also perform during the UMK interval act.  BESS is one of the most successful pop artists in Finland.  She recently won four Finnish Grammy Awards in the categories: Best Solo Artist, Best Pop, Most Streamed Domestic Song (Ram pam pam) and Best Song (Ram pam pam).  She competed in last year’s UMK where she finished in third place.

“It’s a huge pleasure and honour to be able to perform on the UMK stage again and put together a show with this amazing team,” says BESS. “It’s all at once inspiring, exciting and challenging in a different way than when I was competing. It’s so awesome! So, buckle up, and don’t say I didn’t warn you – this UMK is going to be a mega show like no one has ever seen before.”

Last but not least, UMK host Samu Haber will also perform during the national final.  Samu Haber is better known for being the lead singer of the band Sunrise Avenue.

“Just being the host for UMK23 alone is such a great honour, but I have to admit that perhaps the biggest reason for me doing this is the chance to really cut loose on stage,” explains Haber. “Artists don’t get many chances like this to have this kind of setup for doing your own number, and then get to blow everyone away with no holds barred.”

Seven acts are competing to represent Finland at the UMK national final: Keira, Benjamin, Robin Packalen, Lxandra, Käärijä, KUUMAA, and Portion Boys..  The final will take place next February 25, 2023 at Logomo arena in Turku, Finland.  The winner will be chosen jointly by Finnish television viewers and international juries. The public will account for 75 % of the vote and the juries for the remaining 25 %.

Source: Yle

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more updates about Finland in Eurovision 2023!

Finland: The running order of UMK 2023!

/0 Comments/in , /by

A few minutes ago Finland‘s national broadcaster Yle announced the line-up of artists who will compete for the ticket to Liverpool and Finland’s representation at Eurovision 2023.

The running order of the 7 artists who will compete in the UMK 2023 final is as follows:

  1. Robin Packalen – “Girls Like You“
  2. KUUMMA – “Ylivoimainen” (Overpowered)
  3. Käärijä  – “Cha Cha Cha“
  4. Keira – “No Business on the Dancefloor“
  5. Benjamin – “Hoida mut” (Take care of me)
  6. Lxandra – “Something to Lose“
  7. Portion Boys – “Samaa taivasta katsotaan” (We look at the same sky)

Yle also revealed some information about the commentary of UMK 2023. There will be commentary in eight different languages (Finnish, Swedish, English, English, Russian, Northern Sami and Inari Sami), sign language commentary provided by Miguel Peltomaa and for the first time there will be commentary in Ukrainian provided by Galyna Sergeyeva.

UMK executive producer Anssi Autio confirmed that two international broadcasts of UMK 2023 will be available, one from Spanish Ten TV and one from Dutch OUTtv.

The national final is scheduled to take place on February 25th. UMK 2023 will be held in Turku with Samu Haber as the host, while the winner and Finland’s representative at Eurovision 2023 will be determined 25% by the international jury voting and 75% by the public vote.

Source: Yle, Yle

Kuumaa: A Eurovision winner in Finnish? Why not? | EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW!

/0 Comments/in , /by

Kuumaa has recently won the Finnish Grammy Award for Band of the Year.  Moreover, their UMK competing song, Ylivoimainen, has reached the Spotify Top in Finland.

Eurovisionfun had the pleasure to talk with the guys from Kuumaa.  Johannes, Jonttu and Aarni took some time in their agenda to sit and answer our questions.  In this interview they discussed with us how is their UMK journey going on and how they are taking one step at the time this road to eventually represent Finland in Eurovision.  Here are their answers.

Eurovisionfun: What motivate you to represent your country in the Eurovision Song Contest?

Kuumaa: Well first we’ll focus on the UMK competition and if it will lead to the Eurovision Song Contest, we’ll have to see. Right now we are going to try and chew (and enjoy!) one bite at a time!

Eurovisionfun: What are you planning to bring to the UMK stage next February?

Kuumaa: We are definitely trying to channel our live gig energy and bring it to the big stage. This is the perfect chance to try and transform our club gig energy and joy of performing to the biggest stage performance in the band’s history. We are so excited and honored to take on the challenge of UMK!

Eurovisionfun: For the audience outside of Finland, how would you describe your band?

Kuumaa: KUUMAA is a band that has been built on friendship and the joy of making music. For us, the band is above all a group of friends. We are all united by ambition and the thought of taking things seriously but not being too serious. We have a lot of fun together and humor is one of our core values: if working together is fun, it’ll most likely lead to good things.We are also very self-sufficient as a band: Johannes (vocals) is mainly responsible for our lyrics, Jonttu (drums) is involved in the production side and Aarni (bass) is in charge of our visuals. Composition work is done together with our executive producer Jonas Olsson.

Eurovisionfun: Last year a song in Ukrainian language won the Eurovision Song Contest and the year before it was a song in Italian. Do you think a song in Finnish could win the Eurovision Song Contest?

Kuumaa: Finnish is a beautiful language, why not! However we believe that the song, live show and artist combined as whole will determine who wins, not only the language.

Eurovisionfun: Do you see yourselves releasing a single in English in the near future?

Kuumaa: As of now making music in our mother tongue feels like the right thing to do and it’s hard to imagine KUUMAA in English. However: never say never!

Eurovisionfun: Do you have any memories from the Eurovision Song Contest? Are you fans of the show?   

Kuumaa: We’ve followed the Eurovision Song Contest for a long time. Johannes had admired the power and community spirit of the contest since he was a child. Jonttu remembers taking party in an ESC night hosted by drag queens and Aarni got to stay up late for the first time when the legendary Lordi won the competition in 2006.

Eurovisionfun: What are your favourite Eurovision songs in general and from Finland?

Kuumaa: We’ll forever be fans of the amazing Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät who represented Finland in 2015.

Eurovisionfun: Apart from your own work what artists and genres do you like to listen?

Kuumaa: The 1975 is a big inspiration to us, we love the surprise element that their whole existence entails in music, performance and visuals. From our artist colleagues in Finland we’d like to give a shoutout to Chisu and Olavi Uusivirta who are both such inspirations as music makers and performers.

Eurovisionfun: What message would you like to send to the audience with your song Ylivoimainen?

Kuumaa: The song is an energetic pop song with a hint of danger. Ylivoimainen came together very intuitively and it represents an universal energy that is easy for anyone to catch on to. The tension of the song arises from the fact that the narrator is ready to do anything to get what he wants. The feelings of longing and love have been put aboard a tuned Ferrari so to say. The friction between these things is interesting.

Eurovisionfun:. Finally, to close this interview, what message would you like to give to the Eurovision fans?  

Kuumaa: Whether we are in the running or not, we are so excited to see what the lineup for the contest will look and sound like. The beauty of Eurovision is how music brings people and countries together. Long live music!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more updates on the UMK 2023!

Eurovision 2023: The Semi-Final Allocation Draw Results!

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , /by

Liverpool’s Saint George’s Hall with a very nice event hosted a few minutes ago the draw for the semi-finals of the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.

The analyzes of the fans and not only, have been on fire for a few minutes now. Since the theories based on the pre-history of the countries in the competition, it is a first insight into how passable the qualification to the final is or not. In other words, it’s time to make our predictions, about who will go through to the final and who are the favorites to say goodbye to Liverpool early…

The presenters and the handover ceremony

The Eurovision 2023 semi-final draw was hosted by AJ Odudu and Rylan. Both are on the staff of the BBC, being some of the most loved faces of British public broadcasting.

During the draw, the ceremony of handing over and accepting the emblem of the contest took place. The mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo, formally handed over the “keys to the event” to the mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson.

Draw Procedure

The 31 countries competing in the semi-finals were divided into five pots, based on the scores they have exchanged in recent years with each other. This is done in order to avoid, as much as possible, the alliances that appear every year in the voting.

Big 5 and Ukraine

With the big winner of last year’s competition, Ukraine, directly in the final, along with the Big 5 (UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain), the first part of the draw determined the semi-final that the direct finalists would vote for.

Will vote in the 1st Semi-Final:

  • Germany
  • France
  • Italy

Will vote in the 1st Semi-Final:

  • Ukraine
  • Spain
  • United Kingdom

In the semi-final that the six aforementioned countries were drawn to broadcast and vote for, the video from their dress rehearsal will also be shown. This was done at Eurovision 2016 for the first time, for reasons of equal exposure of the countries directly in the final and the countries that qualify from the semi-finals. Essentially, viewers see each entry twice during the shows.

Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The allocation draw for the two semi-finals had two parts. In the first part the 31 countries participating in the semi-finals were drawn in which of the two they will compete in. Fifteen countries will compete in the first/second semi-final and sixteen in the first/second semi-final.

In the second part, each country learned whether it will appear in the first or second half of the semi-final in which it will compete. The exact order of appearance will be determined by the EBU and the show’s producers at a later date.

1st Semi-final (9 May):

1st Half

  • Serbia
  • Latvia
  • Ireland
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Croatia
  • Malta

2nd Half

  • Sweden
  • Moldova
  • Switzerland
  • Israel
  • Netherlands
  • Finland
  • Azerbaijan
  • Czech Republic

2nd Semi-Final (11 May):

1st Half

  • Armenia
  • Cyprus
  • Romania
  • Denmark
  • Belgium
  • Iceland
  • Greece
  • Estonia

2nd Half

  • Albania
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Lithuania
  • San Marino
  • Slovenia
  • Georgia
  • Poland

Liverpool will host the 67th Eurovision Song Contest from 9 to 13 May at the Liverpool Arena. The motto of this year’s event, as chosen by the organizers, is “United by Music“.

You can see the draw again through the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HAY-qpDTnY

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments regarding Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool!

Eurovision 2023: Today the semi-final draw!

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , /by

At 20:00 CET and live from Saint George’s Hall in Liverpool, the Eurovision 2023 semi-final draw will take place.

During today’s event, there will also be the delivery-receipt of the emblem of the organization from the city of Turin to that of Liverpool. For this reason, today’s draw will be attended by both the mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo, and the mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson.

Presenters

The draw is expected to be hosted by AJ Odudu and Rylan, both BBC presenters.

Draw Procedure

The first part of the draw will determine the semi-final that each of the six countries that are directly in the final (Italy, France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, Ukraine) will broadcast and vote for.

The second part of the draw will determine which semi-final and which half the other 31 participating countries will compete in. As in recent years, the exact order of appearance will be determined by the event’s producers at a later date.

The 31 countries have been divided into five pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by official TV partner Digame.

Pot 1
  • Albania
  • Austria
  • Switzerland
  • Croatia
  • Serbia
  • Slovenia
Pot 2
  • Denmark
  • Australia
  • Finland
  • Iceland
  • Norway
  • Sweden
  • Estonia
Pot 3
  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Georgia
  • Israel
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
Pot 4
  • Cyprus
  • Greece
  • Ireland
  • Malta
  • Portugal
  • San Marino
Pot 5
  • Belgium
  • Czech Republic
  • Netherlands
  • Moldova
  • Poland
  • Romania

In the evening, therefore, we all tune in for the draw of the semi-finals of our favorite competition. You can watch the draw on the official Eurovision YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HAY-qpDTnY

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments regarding Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool!