FeaturesLiverpool 2023🇫🇮 Finland

XTRA DECIDES: 🇫🇮 Benjamin “Hoida mut” is our choice to win UMK 2023

XTRA DECIDES sees the team here at ESCXTRA score the Eurovision national final songs, reviewing our winner. Follow us from here through to March 2023 as we make our choices for Eurovision 2023.

This weekend sees Finland’s national selection Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) take place. The seven songs were released earlier, all with music videos, and we will finally see the live performances. There was a lot of interest from the team, with almost joining in to place their scores. Benjamin with “Hoida mut” came out top, followed by Käärijä with “Cha Cha Cha”. Both received 12 points from five members of the team.

The Scores

ScoreTwelves
1Benjamin – “Hoida mut” 🏆1385
2Käärijä – “Cha Cha Cha”1265
3Keira – “No Business On The Dancefloor”1141
4KUUMAA – “Ylivoimainen”942
5Lxandra – “Something to Lose”682
6Portion Boys – “Samaa taivasta katsotaan”541
7Robin Packalen – “Girls Like You”520

The Reviews

Nick
We’ve not been doing too well with predicting winners in XTRA Decides this year and I fear that’s not going to change with Finland. Benjamin is delivering the bop of the year, full of innuendo (well, not even innuendo. It’s rather explicit) and I’m happily bopping along to this song. Finnish really is one of those languages that sounds great in music. However, this UMK line-up is so strong, I’m not sure how this will fare in the competition. I’ll just keep streaming it though!
Bo
It’s incredible how strong the Finnish preselection is this year! Even though the odds are not in Benjamin’s favor (currently at 7%), this might turn out to be the dark horse of the night. ‘Hoida Mut’ is one of my personal favorites to win UMK, based on the enchanting and harmonious melody and solid vocals. Benjamin’s song has an amazing staging potential and would stand out from the songs that have currently been released for Eurovision. Although Finland can’t go wrong with this amazing line-up they have, I would put ‘Hoida Mut’ in my Eurovision 2023 top 5 for sure! The best of luck to Benjamin and may the best song win!
Isaac
I must admit that I am very much team Cha Cha Cha as far as Finland is concerned this year. However, that’s not to say it would be a bad thing for Finland to pick Hoida Mut. It’s a strong and exciting modern pop song and we’ve often seen entries that are similar to it go on to huge success at Eurovision. Plus for a bit of excitement, the repetittion of the title line could really become a great chant on stage. Beyond the contest I think it also has potential as an international hit, it may be a little lower than some of its competitors on the Finnish charts right now but it sounds sonically like the good side of radio hits anywhere. If this is picked, Finland have a fine entry to go to Liverpool with. And I’ll never say no to a Finnish entry that is in Finnish, I love it as a sung language almost no matter the genre.

What do you think of our decision? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter@escxtra on Instagram@escxtra on TikTok and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify for the latest music from your favourite Eurovision acts.

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