This afternoon the Finnish broadcaster YLE released the list of artists participating in the 2020 edition of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu or UMK for short. This will be the first time since 2017 that multiple acts will be competing, as the 2018 and 2019 editions were used to select a song and not an artist.
However one thing will be remaining from the 2018 and 2019 editions: each song will be released one at a time rather than all at once. Thankfully, we will not have to wait weeks to hear the entries, as they will begin to release them every weekday starting this Friday.
Here is the list of participating artists, their songs, and their scheduled release dates:
- Tika – “I Let My Heart Break” – Release date: January 24th
- Erika Vikman – “Cicciolina” – Release date: January 27th
- Aksel Kankaanranta – “Looking Back” – Release date: January 28th
- F3M – “Bananas” – Release date: January 29th
- Sansa – “Lover View” – Release date: January 30th
- Catharina Zühlke – “Eternity” – Release date: January 31st
YLE had a plethora of music to sort through this year, as 400 submissions were received and reviewed by a jury of musical professionals. While little is known about the songs themselves, we do know general descriptions of the songs from the artist and the jury.
Below is a summary of the information from Eurovision.tv.
- Tika – Promises to deliver a power ballad, would be at home in a James Bond movie, jury appears to have loved this entry, collaboration with M-Eazy productions.
- Erika Vikman – Considered the boldest entry in UMK, pop song with a message, could be a new hit for Finnish bachelorette parties, collaboration with Mökkitie Records.
- Aksel Kankaanranta – A sensitive song about love, inadequacy, and weariness, jury stated it could have been a top 10 hit by Sam Smith or James Arthur, collaboration with Joonas Angeria.
- F3M – A catchy dance-inspired pop song with an anarchistic touch to it, appears to be about uncompromised tolerance and boisterous partying, jury described them as a mix between Gwen Stefani or Britney Spears and Little Mix, collaboration with Kaiku Songs.
- Sansa – A cool and sensual piece of electropop, is about the ultimate connection and the love you feel, the jury mentioned this could be on Robyn’s latest album, collaboration with Finland’s top DJs Yotto and Anton Sonin.
- Catharina Zühlke – A song about the power of love with a touching story, the jury described this as a dynamic song and potential world-beater, collaboration with Henrik Tala who worked on “Spirit In The Sky”
The winner of UMK will be decided between a public vote and an international jury similar to prior years. The show will take place on YLE TV1 and YLE Areena on March 7th at 20:00 CET.
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