Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country  Finland
National selection
Selection process Artist: Internal selection
Song: Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu Saara Aalto
Selection date(s) Artist: 7 November 2017
Song: 3 March 2018
Selected entrant Saara Aalto
Selected song "Monsters"
Selected songwriter(s) Saara Aalto
Joy Deb
Linnea Deb
Ki Fitzgerald
Finals performance
Semi-final result Qualified (10th, 108 points)
Final result 25th, 46 points
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2017 • 2018 • 2019►

Finland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The entry was selected in the national final Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018 on 3 March 2018, where all three entries were performed by the singer Saara Aalto who was internally selected by the Finnish broadcaster Yle on 7 November 2017 to perform the nation's entry at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal.

Background

Prior to the 2018 Contest, Finland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-one 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 2017 contest, "Blackbird" performed by Norma John failed to qualify Finland to the final, making it the third consecutive year that Finland missed out on qualification.

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 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 28 January 2017.[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 2018 contest would be selected through Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018.[2]

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 7 November 2017, during the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018 Press Conference it was announced that Saara Aalto will represent Finland in the 2018 contest.[3]

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018 was the seventh edition of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), the music competition that selects Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition featured three songs, all performed by Saara Aalto, who was previously internally selected by Yle to represent the country in the 2018 contest.[3] The show took place on 3 March 2018 at Espoo Metro Areena in Espoo, hosted by Krista Siegfrids and Mikko Silvennoinen.[3][4] The winning song, "Monsters" was determined by public voting and the votes from international jury panels.[3][5]

Competing entries

The three bidding entries were released by Yle and Saara Aalto, along with an accompanying music video, on 9, 16 and 23 February 2018, respectively.[6]

Final

Draw Song Composer(s) Jury Televote Total Place
1 "Monsters" Saara Aalto, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Ki Fitzgerald 88 95 183 1
2 "Domino" Thomas G:son, Bobby Ljunggren, Johnny Sanchez, Will Taylor, Saara Aalto 84 75 159 2
3 "Queens" Farley Arvidsson, Charlie Walshe, Tom Aspaul, Saara Aalto 68 70 138 3
Detailed International Jury Votes
Draw Song United Kingdom Iceland France Estonia Italy Switzerland Norway Portugal Total
1"Monsters"121012101210121088
2"Domino"1012101281281284
3"Queens"888810810868
International Jury Spokespersons

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 took place at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal and consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May and the final on 12 May 2018. 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) were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progressed to the final. On 29 January 2018, 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 first semi-final, to be held on 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2018 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Finland was set to perform in position 15, following the entry from Greece and before the entry from Armenia.

Semi-final

Finland performed fifteenth in the first semi-final, following the entry from Greece and preceding the entry from Armenia. At the end of the night, Finland were one of the ten countries announced as having qualified for the grand final, their first qualification since 2014. Following the semi-final, Saara Aalto joined the other qualifiers in a press conference in which they drew to see which half of the final they would compete in. Finland was drawn to perform in the second half of the grand final (Aalto joked that it continued her "curse of twos" - she finished second in The X Factor UK and in two Eurovision pre-selections, competed in the second half of the first semi-final, and were the second-to-last country announced as qualifying).

Final

Finland performed 17th in the grand final, following Australia and preceding Bulgaria. At the end of the night, they received 46 points, finishing in twenty-fifth place. So, as it happened, the "curse of twos" continued - the song finished second-to-last.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involves each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury will consist of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. The jury judges each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.

Points awarded to Finland

Points awarded to Finland (Semi-final 1)
Televote
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Jury
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Points awarded to Finland (Final)
Televote
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Jury
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded by Finland

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Finnish jury:[7]

  • Petri Kari Olavi Laaksonen (Petri Laaksonen) – Chairperson – singer-songwriter
  • Laura Marketta Vähähyyppä – radio DJ, journalist
  • Aija Puurtinen – Doctor of Music, singer, musician
  • Matias Veikko Olavi Keskiruokanen – producer, composer
  • Vilma Alina Lähteenmäki (Vilma Alina) – singer-songwriter

References

  1. ↑ "Finland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Osallistu Uuden Musiikin Kilpailun 2018 artistihakuun - haku on päättynyt". yle.fi (in Finnish). Yle. 28 January 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Saara Aalto to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest!". eurovision.tv. 7 November 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  4. ↑ Weaver, Jessica (15 January 2018). "Watch now: UMK 2018 press conference in Finland". ESCtoday.com. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  5. ↑ Tonks, Andrea (20 March 2018). "Eurovision 2018: Meet all of the contestants in the Eurovision Song Contest". Express. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  6. ↑ Weaver, Jessica (10 January 2018). "Finland: UMK18 songs to be released next month; first song on 9 February". ESCtoday.com. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  7. ↑ Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.