UMK 2026’s sixth song “Cherry Cake” out

Yle has released the sixth entry of UMK26 yesterday evening (CET), and we are back to a dance tune ready to hit the clubs of Finland and beyond with “Cherry Cake” by CHACHI.

Dance break and cake

Recently, Yle confirmed the names of the seven artists that will participate in UMK26. After revealing the first two entries on late Wednesday and Thursday last week, (at 23:00 CET, so midnight on the day after in Finland), the releases took a break for the week-end. The releases started back on Monday at midnight, and will continue this week until we reach the seventh entry tonight. “Cherry Cake” is thus the penultimate release.

Although it is CHACHI’s debut single (stage name of Chachi Hildén, also known as Chachi Gonzales from her maiden name), she is by no means inexperienced. Born in Texas, in a Mexican-American family, she started dancing at the age of four, which helped her through difficult years.

I grew up in a place where I was scared and lost most of the time. But dance kept me sane. Through it, I could say everything without words.
CHACHI about her dancing

After switching from ballet to hip-hop and R&B, she competed in America’s Best Dance Crew at age 15, in 2011, and won it with her crew I.aM.mE. Growing up as a dancer, performer and actress, she filmed her own reality TV show, Chachi’s World, and ended up meeting her future husband Jukka Hildén in Peru, on the production of Ultimate Expedition.

She followed him to his native Finland, where she now resides. After focusing on founding a family, she came back to acting and performing, took part in Masked Singer Finland and is now ready to sing in UMK to try to represent her adoptive country at Eurovision.

Co-written by Johannes Naukkarinen (co-writer of “Espresso Macchiato” and “Cha Cha Cha”) and Linnea Deb (who wrote and co-wrote many national selection and Eurovision songs, including “Hallucination” from Denmark last year), “Cherry Cake” is clearly in the “dance club banger” category and described as such by the UMK jury, with fans already comparing it to previous UMK entry such as “No Business on the Dancefloor” from 2023.

“Cherry Cake” is this charismatic artist’s debut release – an explosive dance banger guaranteed to set club dance floors alight around the world this year. Beneath the tight beat lies a stylish and highly musical composition that allows the singer’s voice to truly shine. The mid-song dance break will undoubtedly be a major moment in the UMK show, and we are eagerly awaiting the full staging concept.
UMK jury on “Cherry Cake”

Final set for February 28

UMK will once again be held over a single show, on the last day of February, on what will be a very packed Super Saturday of five finals (for Norway, Germany, Bulgaria and Italy, alongside Finland) as well as two qualification shows (the last heat of Melodifestivalen in Sweden, and the second semi-final of Portugal’s Festival da Canção).

The show will be held in Nokia Arena in Tampere, and will be used to select the Finnish representative to Eurovision 2026, with a mix of jury (25%) and public (75%) voting.

🇫🇮 Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Making their Eurovision debut in 1961 with the entry ‘Valoa Ikkunassa’ by Laila Kinnunen, Finland has not always found life in the contest easy. 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. Finally, their fortunes changed in 2006 when Lordi won the contest in Athens with ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah’ – their only victory to this date. Since the revamp to the UMK format the Nordic nation are on a five-year qualification streak and have achieved two top ten results, including runner-up in Liverpool 2023 for Käärijä with, ‘Cha Cha Cha’.

This year it was the turn of Erika Vikman to represent Finland. During the Basel contest, Erika placed 11th and achieved 196 points with, ‘Ich Komme’.