In a strong seven-song final, 2007 winners Finland made their decision and selected The Rasmus as the winners of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2022. “Jezebel” won both the jury and televote, and will now represent the nation in Turin, Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
UMK 2022 results
| Jury | Televote | Total | Rank | |
| The Rasmus – “Jezebel” | 68 | 242 | 310 | 1 |
| Cyan Kicks – “Hurricane” | 52 | 169 | 221 | 2 |
| Bess – “Ram Pam Pam” | 56 | 148 | 204 | 3 |
| Olivera – “Thank God I’m An Athiest” | 46 | 121 | 167 | 4 |
| Isaac Sene – “Kuuma Jäbä” | 28 | 99 | 127 | 5 |
| Younghearted – “Sun Numero” | 40 | 51 | 91 | 6 |
| Tommi Läntinen – “Elämä kantaa mua” | 4 | 52 | 56 | 7 |
The winning song “Jezebel” is written by the lead singer Lauri Ylönen together with Desmond Child. Desmond has written multiple hits to bands such as Kiss, Bon Jovi and Aerosmith. These include “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” for Kiss, “Livin’ on a Prayer” for Bon Jovi and “Poison” for Alice Cooper.
The Rasmus was formed in 1994 in Helsinki and was first named just as Rasmus. Already their first full-length album Peep, released in 1996, charted in Finland and was certified as a gold record after selling over 21 thousand copies. In 2003 the group struck gold when they released the song “In the Shadows”. The song charted all over the world and gave the group top 10 hit in many European countries. The song has over 120 million streams on Spotify.
For the first time since 1999, the group’s line-up had some changes just before it was announced they will take part in Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu. One of the founding members of the band, Pauli Rantasalmi announced he will leave the group. The new guitarist Emppu Suhonen has previously been part of girl group Tiktak, who also had major success in Finland in late 1990s and early 2000s.
New hosts, new juries
This year’s show was hosted by pop artist Vesala and social media influencer Mmiisas. Neither of the duo had ever hosted a live show before, but guided viewers through a brilliantly engaging competition. Last year’s UMK winner Blind Channel and rap duo JVG performed during the show.
The winner was chosen by both international jury (25% of the vote) and the public televote (75% of the vote). Seven juries were selected by Finnish brodcaster Yle to have their say on this year’s entry.
The international jury comprised of Cyprus, Serbia, Spain, Italy, Norway, Germany and the Czech Republic. The spokespersons of the juries included some familiar Eurovision faces, such as KEiiNO (Norway 2019), Albert Černý of Lake Malawi (Czech Republic 2019), Elena Tsagkrinou (Cyprus 2021) and Rosa López (Spain 2002). Televoters could either call, send a text message or use the Yle app – upon which they could vote once for free.
The running order was as follows:
- The Rasmus – “Jezebel“
- Isaac Sene – “Kuuma jäbä“
- Olivera – “Thank God I’m an Atheist“
- BESS – “Ram pam pam“
- Younghearted – “Sun numero“
- Cyan Kicks – “Hurricane“
- Tommi Läntinen – “Elämä kantaa mua“
Following the semifinal allocation draw in Turin, Finland will perform in the first half of the second semifinal at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. Hoping to qualify first and attempt to match Blind Channel’s excellent sixth place finish they got in Rotterdam last time around.
Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest
Making their Eurovision debut in 1961 with the entry “Valoa Ikkunassa” by Laila Kinnunen, Finland hasn’t always had the best time at the contest. Finland didn’t have a smooth start at Eurovision, placing last three times in the 1960s. Marion Rung was Finland’s first success, placing 6th in 1973 with “Tom Tom Tom” – this remained as Finland’s best result until 2006.
Before the turn of the millennium, Finland placed last a further five times while they placed in the top ten on only three occasions. Finland’s fortunes finally changed however in 2006 when Lordi won the contest in Athens with “Hard Rock Hallelujah” – marking Finland’s only win and only top 5 result.
During the semi-finals era, Finland has qualified for the final on eight occasions. Blind Channel brought Finland their first top 10 finish since Lordi in 2021 with “Dark Side” which scored 301 points. The group finished 6th overall at the contest in Rotterdam.
Are happy on who won the Finnish NF? Where do Finland rank in your top? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify and YouTube to see our reactions to the news in the run up to the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, which is due to take place in Turin, Italy!
