The Finnish national selection, UMK, has now taken place, with the next Finnish Eurovision act decided. A total of 7 acts competed in this year’s selection, including last year’s UMK winner Aksel, who was set to represent the nation at Eurovision in 2020 with the song Looking Back.
The 2021 line-up was as follows:
- Teflon Brothers x Pandora – I Love You
- Aksel – Hurt
- Laura – Play
- Danny – Sinä päivänä kun kaikki rakastaa mua
- Oskr – Lie
- Blind Channel – Dark Side
- Ilta – Kelle mä soitan
The voting consisted of a jury vote and the televote. The jury was international, with representatives from the UK, Switzerland, United States, Poland, Iceland, Spain and The Netherlands. In the jury vote, Blind Channel received the most sets of 12 points, and finished on 72 points overall from the juries. Oskr trailed behind with 62 points, and Aksel finished in third with the juries with 56 points.
The televote revealed a landslide victory for Blind Channel, with an impressive 479 televoting points. Teflon Brothers x Pandora was second with the televote, receiving 150 points, and Ilta was in third with 101 points.
With the points combined, it was clear that Blind Channel would be representing Finland at Eurovision this year with the song Dark Side. The group finished with a huge margin, with 551 points in total. In second was Teflon Brothers x Pandora with 180 total, and Ilta with 149 in total.
Blind channel is a metal group consisting of Joel Hokka (vocals and guitar), Niko Vilhelm (vocals), Joonas Porko (guitar), Olli Matela (bass), Tommi Lalli (drums) plus the recent addition to the band, Aleksi Kaunisvesi (keyboards). The group describes their music as ‘violent pop’ and have been compared to British alt-metal band, Bring Me The Horizon.
Watch their winning performance below: