This year Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) takes place in Yle Mediapolis in Tampere, with six artists competing. Before the evening’s live broadcast, we followed the press rehearsal and share you the views of the final show.
Show intro
The intro performance was “traditionally” performed by Krista. The song’s lyrics are about “six is better than one”, referring to the number of artists at UMK!
All the six performances look and sound successful, so predicting the winner is difficult. 50 % of the votes are decided by audience vote and 50 % by the international jury. There are some former Eurovision stars among the jury: Poli Genova (Bulgaria), Lucía Pérez (Spain) and Laura Põldvere (Estonia).
Catharina Zühlke: Eternity
You can hear Catharina is a professional singer. This is a song for all the drama hungry fans out there, a big ballad that follows the Eurovision formula. But does it lack some personality?
Erika Vikman: Cicciolina
Erika is dressed in pink hot suite, wearing a red head piece which reminds a crown and sitting on her throne. She has two huge bears with her on stage. This is definitely the most camp performance in the Finnish preselections that we have ever seen! But is Finland ready for a brave artist like her?
Aksel Kankaanranta: Looking Back
Very stylish! The show has cool lights and human figures. Quite an introvert performance which suits Aksel very well.
F3M: Bananas
The girl trio reminds of Spice girls in neon colours! Very young, bright and refreshing. A happy performance.
Sansa: Lover View
A cool club scene song. As a stage performance, similar to Aksel, maybe a bit distant or boring to a big audience. We rarely hear this type of electronic music in Eurovision preselections.
Tika: I Let My Heart Break
The most traditional ballad. For the first two refrains, she is laying on her back, held by male dancers. That move does not really work on the screen either. The song is cool but does she have the necessary charisma?