Aksel is one of the seven artists competing at UMK21, Finland’s national selection for Eurovision Song Contest. Today his entry “Hurt” was released.
Listen to “Hurt”
The song is written by Gerard O’Connell, Kalle Lindroth and Joonas Angeria.
Joonas Angeria has two songs in this year’s Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu. He was also one of the writers of Aksel’s winning entry last year and Satin Circus’ 2015 entry “Crossroads”. He has worked with multiple Finnish artists such as Krista Siegfrids, Kaija Koo, Isac Elliot and Alma.
Gerard O’Connell has worked with some international artists such as Dua Lipa and Marco Mengoni.
Next to being a talented songwriter who has worked with Antti Tuisku, Diandra and Abreu, Kalle Lindroth also performs his own music as a duo with Ida Paul. Their songs have been very popular in Finland with over 40 million combined streams.
Who is Aksel?
21-year-old Aksel Kankaanranta rose to fame after competing at The Voice of Finland in 2017. Next year he featured on the song “Jättiläinen” by Pyhimys. The song became the most streamed song of 2018 in Finland. Pyhimys is also taking part in this year’s UMK as part of the group Teflon Brothers.
Aksel first took part in Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu in 2020 with the song “Looking Back“. He won the final and was set to represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. Since then he has released his first single in Finnish. Recently he was also nominated as the breakthrough act of 2021 by radio station YleX.
In the interview with ESCXTRA he told that the stage performance will follow the rhythm of a day with the sunrises and sunsets.
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2021
The tenth edition of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu will take place on February 20 at 20:00 CET. Seven artists will compete and the Finnish public together with international juries will choose Finland’s representative for Eurovision Song Contest 2021.
The seven contestants who are taking part are Ilta, Laura, Oskr, Teflon Brothers x Pandora, Aksel, Danny and Blind Channel. Mikko Silvennoinen will serve as the commentator of the show and the host will be revealed in February.
You can also listen to the other competing entries at this year’s Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu by following our Spotify playlist.
What do you think about the song? Let us know below or on social media @ESCXTRA!