Aksel Kankaanranta has won Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2020 and will represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song “Looking Back”.
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2020 was held tonight in Mediapolis Studios in Tampere. Six acts competed for a chance to represent Finland in Rotterdam. The show was hosted by Krista Sigfrieds, who represented Finland in 2013, and Mikko Silvennoinen, who has commentated on the Eurovision Song Contest for Finnish viewers since 2016. During the show, there were guest performances from BEHM and Mikael Gabriel.
The winner was determined by 50% public voting and 50% international jury voting. The international juries (along with their spokespersons) were:
- Bulgaria – Poli Genova (Bulgaria 2011, 2016, host of Junior Euroivison 2015)
- Estonia – Laura Põldvere (Estonia 2005, 2017)
- Germany – Reinhard Ehret
- The Netherlands – Erik Bolks
- Sweden – Elize Ryd
- Spain – Lucía Perez (Spain 2011)
- Russia – Tutta Larsen
- United Kingdom – William Lee Adams
The results of the show were as follows (jury + public):
- Catharina Zühlke – Eternity – 66 points (42 + 24) 5th
- Erika Vikman – Cicciolina – 157 points (58 + 99) 2nd
- Aksel Kankaanranta – Looking Back – 170 points (76 + 94) 1st
- F3M – Bananas – 84 points (64 + 20) 4th
- Sansa – Lover View – 36 points (30 + 6) 6th
- Tika – I Let My Heart Break – 127 points (48 + 77) 3rd
Aksel Kankaanranta will perform in the second half of the second semi-final.
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
Finland first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, they debuted alongside Spain and Yugoslavia. Finland has finished last in the contest on 10 occasions and has received ‘nul points’ three times. It wasn’t until 2006 that Finland won the Eurovision Song Contest. Lordi represented the country in Athens with the song “Hard Rock Hallelujah” scoring 292 points, a record total at the time.
