Finland: Here's the lineup for UMK 2023

362 songs were received by Finland's public broadcaster YLE, all hoping to make the cut and compete at Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), the country's national selection for Eurovision 2023.

Seven songs were shortlisted and will be performed on 25 February during UMK's one night show:

The release of the songs starts this evening. YLE will make one song available per weekday at 23:00 CET until 19 January. We'll update this article, as well as the page on Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2023, when the songs are released.

Tapio Hakanen, chair of the UMK jury, says:

– Thanks to increased interest in UMK, more extremely high-quality entries were submitted this year than ever before, and the judges’ job was anything but easy. This year’s crop of finalists offers an amazing lineup of new songs performed by both long-time favourite artists and total newcomers.

– The song by Keira, one of the newcomers and the youngest contestant, is the first release of her own music, while the more experienced Portion Boys and Robin Packalen have already amassed a stack of gold and platinum recordings. Benjamin and Kuumaa are currently climbing the charts in Finland, Lxandra is internationally established as a vocal talent and Käärijä has been a promising artist on the rap scene for years.

– In other words, the UMK23 final promises to be a spectacular show, and choosing the winner will certainly be a challenge for both the international jury and Finnish audience.

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2023

The winner of the Contest for New Music UMK, and Finland’s next Eurovision representative, will be chosen on 25 February at the UMK 23, held at Logomo in Turku. The final will be broadcast for international audiences on Yle Areena starting at 20:00 CET. The broadcast will also include English-language commentary.

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 the remaining 25%. The finalists were chosen from 362 applicants by a jury of music industry professionals led by Tapio Hakanen, YleX’s Head of Music.

Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Finland debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, and has participated ever since, except six years, mostly because of previous years' poor results.

The Finnish have won the competition once, in 2006, with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah," performed by Lordi. Since then, Finland's best result is a 6th place finish in 2021.

Since the introduction of the Semi-finals in 2004, Finland has qualified for the Grand Final 10 out of 18 times.