Windows95Man will represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 after some consideration, Finland’s broadcaster Yle has confirmed.
Although the act won Finland’s national final UMK with his song “No Rules!”, the artist hadn’t made a firm confirmation that he would enter the contest.
The two performers, Windows95Man himself Teemu Keisteri and featured vocalist Henri Piispanen, said they were considering whether they should go to Eurovision because of the continued involvement of Israel. Both Teemu and Henri have stated that they are against Israel participating in Eurovision this year.
However, in a statement released by the artists and Yle today, they have said that “we do not feel that we could influence this by staying out.” Teemu and Henri have also said that they intend to put pressure on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) over Israel’s participation.
The full statement reads:
“We think that the only correct decision for the EBU would be to exclude Israel from the competition. However, we do not feel that withdrawing ourselves would make an impact. Instead, we have started discussions with other representatives on how to explore strategies for leveraging our collective influence and use our position to apply pressure on the decision-makers at EBU. The decision was difficult, but now it has been made. We thank everyone for the support we have received. From now on, we will focus on the music and building the show.”
After winning UMK, Teemu Keisteri said in an interview with Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that he wasn’t fully certain about going to Eurovision. As a result, the broadcaster Yle gave both Teemu and Henri a few days to think about their decision.
Israel’s participation in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest remains a controversial topic due to the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Over 1,500 Finnish musicians signed a petition which called on Yle to put pressure on the EBU to exclude Israel from the competition.
The broadcaster has said that it respects the EBU’s ability to evaluate the other TV companies participating in the competition. Ville Vilén, Head of Creative Content and Media at Yle stated:
“Yle has decided to respect the EBU’s judgment on the TV companies participating in the contest. We understand that there are various justified perspectives related to this issue. Yle has informed the EBU about the discussion in Finland and the Finnish representative’s view on the situation. We hope that the situation in the Middle East will resolve as soon as possible.”
With this confirmation, Windows95Man will now represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. He will perform in the second half of the first semi-final.
The act will try and go one better than Käärijä did in Liverpool last year, where he placed second with his song “Cha Cha Cha” despite winning the public vote.
Image Source: Miikka Varila / Yle | Source: Yle
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. Most recently, Käärijä ended up in the second position with his song “Cha Cha Cha”.
