There were no surprises tonight in Finland, as the favourite finally prevailed, just as expected. Erika Vikman with a sweeping performance of “ICH KOMME” seemed like she is indeed planing to come to Basel with a bang! A hot favourite of the UMK audience and many Eurovision fans after her legendary performance in UMK20 with “Cicciolina”, she proved that her return was a fair demand.
But let’s take things from the beginning:
THE GRAND OPENING
The show started off strong with last year’s winner Windows95man coming down from the ceiling with huge wings. He was joined from the stage by Henri Piispanen, to sing “No rules” of course, but also a new song. The two artists introduced the six contestants, during short pauses in their performance. Impressive start!
Then, the two hosts, Sanni και Jasmin Beloued, took to the stage and explained the selection process for Basel. This year, a new voting system is introduced, as the voting begins now and not after all the songs are presented. Let’s start!!!
THE COMPETITIVE PART
We then moved on to the competitive part of the evening. As always, the months of preparation, the lavish production and the inventive direction and camera work showed. Whichever song wins is essentially ready for Eurovision. Let’s see how the six competing songs were presented:
1.Costee – “Sekaisin“
2. Neea River – “Nightmares“
3. Goldielocks – “Made Of“
Goldielocks unfortunately couldn’t sing live as she is facing a serious issue with her vocal cords and the doctor has forbidden her to even speak today. We watched a taped version of her last night dress rehearsal.
4. VIIVI – “Aina“
5. Nelli Matula – “Hitaammin hautaan“
6. Erika Vikman – “ICH KOMME“
THE VOTING AND THE INTERVAL ACT
Public voting was ongoing from the beginning of the evening and continued on at this point. At this point, after the standard recap,
Sanni, one of the hosts for tonight’s show, gets the chance to perform during the interval. She sings a medley of some of her greatest hits, including “2080-luvulla”, which was number 1 on the Finnish airplay charts for 11 weeks.
Immediately after, the jury voting began, with juries from a total of 7 countries (Croatia, The Netherlands, Lithuania, San Marino, Spain, Estonia, and Switzerland). Among others, we saw Baby Lasagna (Croatia 2024), Silvester Belt (Lithuania 2024), and Tommy Cash (among the favourites to win Eesti Lalul 2025) announcing their score.
The juries awarded Goldielocks 1st place, Erika Vikman 2nd and Nelli Matula 3rd. Goldielocks got 12s from the Netherlands, Lithuania and Spain. Erika Vikman also got three 12s, from Croatia, Estonia and Switzerland. Nelli Matula also got 12 points from San Marino. We remind you that this was only 25% of the total score.
The 2nd interval act at this point was the surprise of the evening, something that the organizers revealed only yesterday. Six female artists, very popular in Finland, who have participated in the Finnish national final in the past, either as contestants or guest stars, will join forces and form the UMK FANTASY BAND! More specifically, Annika Eklund, Laura Voutilainen, Eini, BESS, Keira and Linda Lampenius will perform a brand new version of “Shanghain Valot”, Annika Eklund’s entry in the country’s national final in 2006.
This was followed by the exciting announcement of the results of the televoting (75% of the total score), which declared Erika Vikman the winner, with 430 points! In 2nd place is Goldielocks with 303 points. See the final scoreboard:
The televote ranking was (1) Erika Vikman – 368 points, (2) Goldielocks – 229 points, (3) Viivi – 100 points, (4) Nelli Matula – 88 points, (5) Neea River – 60 points, (6) costee – 43 points.
WHO IS ERIKA VIKMAN?
- One of the brightest stars of the Finnish pop world, Erika Vikman, began her career in the entertainment industry at a very young age.
- In the early stages of her career, she performed in open-air theaters and various television programs, and in 2016, Vikman became famous among Finns by winning the popular Tangomarkkinat festival.
- In 2019, Vikman signed a deal to record tracks with Warner Music and Mökkitie Records.
- In 2020, she participated in UMK with the song Cicciolina and the following year, the album Erika Vikman was released, which reached the top of the Finnish album charts.
- Vikman and UMK have a long history together. In 2020, she came second with her performance of Cicciolina . The following year, she performed the opening act of UMK together with Antti Tuisku . At last year’s UMK, Vikman and Käärijä performed their duet Ruoska during the interval.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT ‘ICH KOMME’
Vikman had originally thought that she would not return to the UMK stage as a contestant. However, plans changed when she created a song while working on her next album with producers Chisu and Jori Roosberg . Thus was born the song ICH KOMME . Specifically, she asked Chisu and Jori to make her a Eurovision-style song. They asked her directly if she wanted to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest and that’s where it all started.
An upbeat song, combining Finnish disco and rave aesthetics, it represents the happy news of taking control of yourself and the enjoyment it brings.
(Music & lyrics: ROOS+BERG)
IICH KOMME feels like a piece of art that takes Erika Vikman to a new level. The song combines traditional Finnish disco with a remarkable composition and lyrics, wrapping it up with the rave aesthetic of electronic music. The song is original and so approachable that the lyrics of the chorus will surely catch you at the first listening. The climax, pun intended, of the song is one of the most exciting in UMK’s history.
UMK jury
Those of you who didn’t have time to see the Finnish final and want to see it in its entirety, you will find the video of the evening HERE .
[Source: YLE]
RATE THE FINNISH PARTICIPATION
What did you think of the Finns’ choice? What prospects does it have for a good place in Eurovision 2025? Leave us your comments!
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest…
- Participating broadcaster: Yle
- Participations: 57 (49 finals)
- Debut: 1961
- Highest placement: 1st (2006)
- Lowest placement: 17th in the Semi Final (2019)
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube, to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in Eurovision!
