Following Käärijä’s televote win in Liverpool, producers at Finland’s Yle have received a total of 419 submissions for Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2024 — their national selection for Eurovision. And apparently those entries are of superb quality. In a statement, Yle says that “according to the jury, the standard of these songs is historically high and selecting the final seven was more challenging than ever before.”
The seven acts competing in UMK24 will be announced Wednesday, 10 January 2024 and their songs will be released one by one, each day from 11 to 19 January 2024.
The final will take place on 10 February. Tickets for UMK24 will be available on Thursday, 5 October at 9am EET at lippu.fi/umk.
UMK 2024: Lineup of artists is Finland’s best-ever
Tapio Hakanen, chair of the UMK jury, isn’t holding back. He says this is the strongest line-up ever to grace the UMK stage.
“It’s amazing to see how Finnish artists and songwriters, from newcomers to national favourites, are all jumping into the UMK fray. This year, we’re seeing what has to be the all-time best group of entries, which will end up being a truly sensational final seven.”
“Among the finalists we have a talented artist’s first 90s-style dance song, a power song by a true vocal talent, perhaps the best song of an indie favourite’s career, two big name performers doing a surprising duo with a serious refrain, a thunderous rock anthem by a world-touring band, a seriously intense song from one of the most listened-to artists in Finland, and a hard-hitting club banger by a well-known artists making a comeback. This year, viewers will be getting an extremely high-energy UMK in an even bigger arena!”
Tampere’s Nokia Arena is the UMK 2024 venue
Yle’s decision to move their Eurovision selection to a bigger venue stems directly from the success of last year’s edition.
“In the last few years, UMK’s popularity has skyrocketed both in Finland and abroad,” they write. “In 2023, UMK was a major phenomenon: Käärijä made history when he placed second in the Eurovision Song Contest. In Finland, 2.1 million viewers watched UMK live last year. On YouTube, UMK23 videos were watched over 32.4 million times, and all of the season’s contest songs rose to the top of Finland’s Spotify Top 50 list.”
Thanks to the continued growth in popularity and last season’s Eurovision phenomenon, UMK24 will be bigger than ever before, with the event moving up to the Nokia Arena in Tampere. It can hold 15,000 people for concerts.
“The Contest for New Music UMK has become a real music institution, which absolutely deserves a much bigger venue,” says Ville Vilén, Yle’s creative director.
“Turku has been such an amazing UMK city for so many years — we’re very grateful for that. This year, the UMK train is heading north, and I think that Tampere and Nokia Arena are the perfect venue for a major Eurovision event. Now’s the time for a really big show and a Eurovision atmosphere that will blow the roof off!”
Anssi Autio, executive producer of UMK, agrees that the show is ready to go up another notch.
“Looking back over the entire 13-year history of UMK, I can say that we’re now in a better position than ever before. In the eyes of our Finnish and international audience, UMK has become an unparalleled hit factory and source of top-tier entertainment, whose move to a bigger venue is also served by the massive increase in Eurovision’s popularity.”
Producers also promised a very exciting show. In addition to the UMK contestants, they’ve flagged special appearances by Käärijä and “other top artists in the opening and interval acts.”
As they did at Logomo Turku last year, they’ll once again ramp up the Eurovision excitement with, among other things, a “Eurovision disco.:
Tickets for UMK24 will be available on Thursday, 5 October at 9am EET at lippu.fi/umk.
