Finnish broadcaster YLE has revealed that approximately 2.1 million people have watched the final of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2023.
A total of 231,968 votes were cast this year: 138,644 votes in the app and 93,324 votes by phone and SMS.
The final of UMK 2023 took yesterday evening in Logomo in Turku and was hosted by Samu Haber. This was the second year in a row and the third time overall that Logomo played host to the contest.
Alongside the participating artists, there were also performances from The Rasmus, BESS and host Samu Haber. The Rasmus won last year’s edition of UMK and represented Finland in Turin, while BESS competed in UMK 2022 and went on to break the record for most weeks at number one on the Finnish Airplay Charts with “Ram pam pam”.
Commentary was available in eight languages: Finnish, Swedish, English, Russian, Northern Sami and Inari Sami, and for the first time this year also in Ukrainian and Finnish sign language.
As with the last two contests, the results were decided by international juries (25%) and public voting (75%). The countries that were voting in the show were:
- Australia
- Germany
- Poland
- Spain
- Sweden
- United Kingdom
- Ukraine
The results were as follows (jury + public vote):
- Robin Packalen – “Girls Like You“ 109 points (28 + 81) 4th
- KUUMMA – “Ylivoimainen” (Overpowered) 107 points (44 + 63) 5th
- Käärijä – “Cha Cha Cha“ 539 points (72 + 467) 1st
- Keira – “No Business on the Dancefloor“ 133 points (42 + 91) 3rd
- Benjamin – “Hoida mut” (Take care of me) 66 points (34 + 32) 7th
- Lxandra – “Something to Lose“ 70 points (46 + 24) 6th
- Portion Boys – “Samaa taivasta katsotaan” (We look at the same sky) 152 points (28 + 124) 2nd
Käärijä won Uuden Musikiin Kilpailu 2023 and will represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool with the song “Cha Cha Cha”.
Käärijä will perform in the second half of the first semi-final on May 9.
Source: YLE | Image Source: Yle/Nelli Kenttä
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.