Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Finland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. Their entry was selected using their national final Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2019 (Contest for New Music 2019) on 2 March 2019, where all three entries were performed by DJ Darude along with singer Sebastian Rejman, who were selected by the Finnish national public broadcaster Yle on 29 January 2019 to perform the nation's entry at the 2019 contest. "Look Away" won the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu and was the Finnish entry in the Eurovision 2019, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
| Eurovision Song Contest 2019 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Artist: Internal selection Song: Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2019 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 2 March 2019 | |||
| Selected entrant | Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman | |||
| Selected song | "Look Away" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) | Sebastian Rejman Ville Virtanen | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Semi-final result | Failed to qualify (17th, 23 points) | |||
| Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Background
Prior to the 2019 Contest, Finland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-two 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 2018 contest, "Monsters" performed by Saara Aalto qualified Finland to the final. The song finished in 25th place with 46 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 2019 Eurovision Song Contest on 13 September 2018.[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 2019 contest would be selected through Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2019, with the rules of previous year.[3]
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
On 29 January 2019, during the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2019 Press Conference, it was announced that Darude would represent Finland in the 2019 contest.[4] The three bidding entries were released, along with an accompanying music video, on 8, 15 and 22 February 2019, respectively.[5]
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2019
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2019 was the eighth 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 Darude and Sebastian Rejman, who was previously selected by Yle to represent the country in the 2019 contest.[4] The show took place on 2 March 2019 at Logomo in Turku, hosted by Krista Siegfrids, Mikko Silvennoinen and Christoffer Strandberg. The winning song, "Look Away" was determined by public voting and the votes from eight international jury groups.
| Draw | Song | Composer(s) | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Release Me" | Ville Virtanen, Jaakko Manninen, Brandyn Burnette | 70 | 19 | 89 | 3 |
| 2 | "Superman" | Ville Virtanen, Chris Hope, Thom Bridges | 74 | 73 | 147 | 2 |
| 3 | "Look Away" | Sebastian Rejman, Ville Virtanen | 96 | 148 | 244 | 1 |
| Detailed International Jury Votes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Song |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Total |
| 1 | "Release Me" | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 70 |
| 2 | "Superman" | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 74 |
| 3 | "Look Away" | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 96 |
| International Jury Spokespersons | ||||||||||
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Promotion
Darude & Sebastian made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Look Away" as the Finnish Eurovision entry. On 6 April, they performed at the Eurovision in Concert event in Amsterdam, hosted by Cornald Maas and Marlayne, to over 4500 spectators.[6] On 14 April, they performed at the London Eurovision Party at the Café de Paris venue in London, which was hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.[7] At the event, they also performed "Superman", the runner-up entry from the national selection. They are also scheduled to perform at the Eurovision Pre-Party Madrid on 20 April.
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 2019, 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 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[8]
Once all the competing songs for the 2019 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 3, following the entry from Montenegro and preceding the entry from Poland.[9] Finland failed to qualify from the semi-final.[10]
Semi-final
Finland performed third in the first semi-final, following the entry from Montenegro and preceding the entry from Poland. At the end of the show, Finland was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Finland placed last (seventeenth) in the semi-final, receiving a total of 23 points: 14 points from the televoting and 9 points from the juries.
Voting
Voting during the three shows involved 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 consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged 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.[11]
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 by Finland
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Split voting results
The following five members composed the Finnish jury:[11]
- Susanna Vainiola – Chairperson – music journalist, radio DJ
- Eva Louhivuori – musician
- Lasse Wikman – singer, songwriter, lyricist
- Samuli Sirviö – producer, songwriter, musician
- Janne Hyöty – songwriter, composer, producer, musician
| Split voting results from Finland (Semi-final 1) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
| E. Louhivuori | L. Wikman | S. Sirviö | S. Vainiola | J. Hyöty | Average Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  | 13 | 11 | 15 | 16 | 6 | 12 | 14 | ||
| 02 |  | 15 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 16 | ||
| 03 | | |||||||||
| 04 |  | 1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 6 |
| 05 |  | 10 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| 06 | | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| 07 |  | 4 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 2 |
| 08 |  | 7 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 12 | ||
| 09 |  | 9 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 10 | 1 |
| 10 | .svg.png){kind=small} | 11 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 11 | |
| 11 |  | 12 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 15 | ||
| 12 | .svg.png){kind=small} | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 8 |
| 13 |  | 5 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 12 |
| 14 |  | 6 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 10 |
| 15 |  | 8 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 3 | |
| 16 |  | 14 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 13 | |
| 17 |  | 16 | 16 | 16 | 10 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 4 | |
| Split voting results from Finland (final) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
| E. Louhivuori | L. Wikman | S. Sirviö | S. Vainiola | J. Hyöty | Average Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  | 11 | 16 | 15 | 3 | 17 | 10 | 1 | 22 | |
| 02 |  | 21 | 22 | 23 | 15 | 26 | 23 | 19 | ||
| 03 | | 10 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 15 | |
| 04 |  | 15 | 19 | 6 | 21 | 21 | 18 | 26 | ||
| 05 |  | 23 | 9 | 12 | 20 | 5 | 14 | 7 | 4 | |
| 06 | | 18 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 11 | ||
| 07 | | 25 | 26 | 24 | 26 | 25 | 26 | 14 | ||
| 08 |  | 6 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 17 | |
| 09 | | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 7 |
| 10 | | 7 | 20 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 1 |
| 11 | | 24 | 23 | 22 | 25 | 18 | 24 | 21 | ||
| 12 |  | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| 13 | | 17 | 7 | 21 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 24 | ||
| 14 | | 19 | 14 | 7 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 20 | ||
| 15 | | 13 | 6 | 18 | 22 | 10 | 16 | 2 | 10 | |
| 16 | | 14 | 18 | 20 | 17 | 13 | 20 | 25 | ||
| 17 | | 12 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 7 | 12 | 1 | 12 | |
| 18 | | 20 | 5 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 13 | 3 | 8 | |
| 19 | | 22 | 24 | 25 | 24 | 20 | 25 | 23 | ||
| 20 |  | 8 | 15 | 11 | 4 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 16 | |
| 21 |  | 16 | 17 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 13 | ||
| 22 |  | 5 | 25 | 19 | 2 | 24 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| 23 | | 9 | 4 | 16 | 14 | 15 | 11 | 18 | ||
| 24 |  | 4 | 21 | 14 | 5 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 2 |
| 25 | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 6 |
| 26 | | 26 | 13 | 26 | 19 | 23 | 22 | 12 | ||
References
- "Finland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
- "Finland announces date of UMK 2019 final, show will involve only one artist". wiwibloggs. 13 September 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
- "Finland announces date of UMK 2019 final, show will involve only one artist". wiwibloggs. 13 September 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
- "Finland: It's Darude to Tel Aviv!". esctoday.com. 29 January 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
- "It's Darude for Finland this year!". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
- "This was Eurovision in Concert 2019 in Amsterdam". Eurovision.tv. 6 April 2019.
- "18 Eurovision acts to perform in London on Sunday 14 A[p]ril". Eurovision.tv. 13 April 2019.
- Jordan, Paul (28 January 2019). "Eurovision 2019: Which country takes part in which Semi-Final?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
- "Exclusive: This is the Eurovision 2019 Semi-Final running order!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
- "Suomi putosi jatkosta Euroviisuissa: "Harmittaa vietävästi"". hs.fi. Helsingin Sanomat. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
- Groot, Evert (30 April 2019). "EExclusive: They are the judges who will vote in Eurovision 2019!". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2019.