Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

Finland originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle) organised the national final Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2020 (Contest for New Music 2020) on 7 March 2020 in order to select the Finnish entry for the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. However, as a result of the 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled.

Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Country Finland
National selection
Selection processUuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2020
Selection date(s)7 March 2020
Selected entrantAksel Kankaanranta
Selected song"Looking Back"
Selected songwriter(s)Joonas Angeria
Whitney Phillips
Connor McDonough
Riley McDonough
Toby McDonough
Finals performance
Semi-final resultCancelled
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2019 • 2020 • 2021►

Background
Main article: Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2020 Contest, Finland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-three times since their first entry in 1961.[1] Finland has won the contest once in 2006 with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi. In the 2019 contest, "Look Away" performed by Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman failed to qualify for the final, finishing in 17th (last) place in the first semi-final with 23 points.

The Finnish national broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), broadcasts the event within Finland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Yle confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest on 3 June 2019.[2] Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest have been selected through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years. Between 1961 and 2011, a selection show that was often titled Euroviisukarsinta highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision. However, since 2012, the broadcaster has organised the selection show Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), which focuses on showcasing new music with the winning song being selected as the Finnish contest entry for that year. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster also announced that the Finnish entry for the 2020 contest would be selected through Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2020, reverting to an open selection in order to determine their Eurovision entry and song for Eurovision 2020.[2]

Before Eurovision

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2020

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2020 was the ninth edition of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), the music competition that selects Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition consisted of one final on 7 March 2020. The show was held at the Mediapolis in Tampere and hosted by 2013 Finnish Eurovision entrant Krista Siegfrids with Yle youth radio channel YleX hosts Viki and Köpi hosting from the green room. The show was broadcast on Yle TV1 and online at yle.fi/umk as well as via radio with commentary in Swedish by Eva Frantz and Johan Lindroos on Yle X3M.[3]

Competing entries

A submission period was opened by Yle which lasted between 1 November 2019 and 8 November 2019. At least one of the writers and the lead singer(s) had to hold Finnish citizenship or live in Finland permanently in order for the entry to qualify to compete.[4] A panel of ten experts appointed by Yle selected six entries for the competition from the 426 received submissions. The panel consisted of Tapio Hakanen (Head of Music at YleX), Anssi Autio (UMK producer), Juha-Matti Valtonen (television director), Reija Wäre (choreographer), Samuli Väänänen (Senior Editor at Spotify Finland), Perttu Mäkelä (A&R Manager at Etenee Records), Ida Karimaa (YleX music editor), Katri Norrlin (YleX music editor), Johan Lindroos (Head of Music at Yle Radio Suomi) and Amie Borgar (Head of Music at Yle X3M).[3] The competing artists were presented during a live streamed press conference on 21 January 2020, hosted by Krista Siegfrids and Mikko Silvennoinen.[5] Lyric videos of the competing entries were released between 24 and 31 January 2020.

Final

The final took place on 7 March 2020 where six entries competed. "Looking Back" performed by Aksel Kankaanranta was selected as the winner. The winner was selected by a 50/50 combination of public votes and eight international jury groups from Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Russia and the United Kingdom.[6] The viewers and the juries each had a total of 320 points to award. Each jury group distributed their points as follows: 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through the following voting methods: telephone, SMS and online voting. For example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 320 points rounded to the nearest integer: 32 points.

Final – 7 March 2020
Draw Artist Song Songwriter(s) Jury Televote Total Place
1 Catharina Zühlke "Eternity" Marcia "Misha" Sondeijker, Roel Rats, Josefine Myrberg, Henrik Tala, Catharina Zühlke 42 24 66 5
2 Erika Vikman "Cicciolina" Janne Rintala, Mika Laakkonen, Erika Vikman, Saskia Vanhalakka 58 99 157 2
3 Aksel Kankaanranta "Looking Back" Joonas Angeria, Whitney Phillips, Connor McDonough, Riley McDonough, Toby McDonough 76 94 170 1
4 F3M "Bananas" Olli Äkräs, Hanna Ollikainen, Rafael Elivuo 64 20 84 4
5 Sansa "Lover View" Sansa, Yotto, Anton Sonin 30 6 36 6
6 Tika "I Let My Heart Break" Neea Jokinen, Timo Oiva, Oliver@ i-One Music, Lotus Wang 50 77 127 3
Detailed International Jury Votes
Draw Song Total
1"Eternity"6101066442
2"Cicciolina"1248412441058
3"Looking Back"101212124128676
4"Bananas"88488812864
5"Lover View"41010630
6"I Let My Heart Break"66610101250
International Jury Spokespersons

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2020, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Finland was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[8] However, due to 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled.

In the Eurovision Song Celebration YouTube broadcast in place of the heats, it was revealed that the song would have performed 13th, between Albania and Armenia[9]

References
  1. "Finland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  2. Jiandani, Sanjay (3 June 2019). "Finland: YLE confirms participation in Eurovision 2020". esctoday.
  3. "Here are the UMK finalists – Who will represent Finland at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest?". Yle. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  4. Luukela, Sami (1 November 2019). "🇫🇮 Finland: UMK 2020 dates announced, search for songs opens". escxtra.
  5. Gallagher, Robyn (28 November 2019). "Finland: YLE confirms six finalists have been selected from 426 entries for UMK 2020". Wiwibloggs.
  6. Luukela, Sami (3 March 2020). "🇫🇮 Countries voting at UMK20 final revealed". escxtra.
  7. https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2020/03/06/umkn-kansainvalinen-raati-esittaytyy
  8. Groot, Evert (28 January 2020). "Which country performs in which Eurovision 2020 Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  9. Eurovision Song Contest (14 May 2020). "Part two of Eurovision Song Celebration". Retrieved 3 June 2020.
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