Next up in our series of 2024 reviews is last year’s runner up Finland. Last year they wowed us with what was undoubtedly the strongest national final of the season. And after Käärijä’s success in Liverpool the bar was set high! 7 acts competed at this year’s UMK final and we can safely say that Finland did not disappoint! Every single song in this line up would have been a solid entry for them and would no doubt have given them another qualification. After coming very last with the international juries, Windows95Man swept the televote and managed to secure the ticket to Malmö, at the cost of fan favorite Sara Siipola.

Finland at Eurovision

Finland first took part in 1961 and have had varied results in its long history at the Eurovision Song Contest. In 56 attempts they only managed to win the contest once, in 2006, with hard rock band Lordi and their epic song “Hard Rock Hallelujah”, who received what was then a record amount of 292 points! They came last in the competition no less than 11 times, most recently in 2019 when Darude finished last in the semi final. They received the infamous nul points 3 times. But besides coming last they also reached the top ten 14 times.

Finland have sent many different genres to the competition but are nonetheless known mainly for sending solid rock entries, which is also when they’re at their best. The last 4 times that they were succesful was when they gave us a rock song. In 2014 the band ‘Softengine’ only just missed out on the top 10 with their entry “Something Better”. In 2021 ‘Blind Channel’ blew us all away with a killer performance of their song “Dark Side”, finishing 6th, their highest placement since their victory in 2006. Last year rapper and singer ‘Käärijä’ almost gave Finland their second victory with the song “Cha Cha Cha”. He landslided the televote with a massive 376 points but eventually had to settle with second place, behind ‘Loreen’, who secured her second win.

Finland hold the record for the shortest-ever Eurovision song, “Aina Mun Pitää”, which only lasted for 1 minute and 27 seconds. In 2022 the band ‘The Rasmus’, already widely known for their 2003 hit single “In The Shadows”, represented them with their entry “Jezebel”, finishing 21st in the final with 38 points.

Finland 2024

This year, the Finnish broadcaster YLE came back with yet another strong edition of UMK. 7 acts competed and many of them quickly became season’s favorites amongst the fandom. Sara Siipola was long the bookmakers favorite and gave us a stunning staging concept. She won the international jury vote but eventually had to give away the victory to visual artist and DJ ‘Windows95Man’ and his companion Henri Piispanen who provides the vocals on the track. The song “No Rules” is a fun upbeat 90s inspired dance track about freeing oneself from one’s every day life. It’s about feeling good about yourself and not caring about what anyone else thinks. The song is accompanied by an insane staging concept including crazy outfits, very short flying shorts and a giant denim covered egg.

Will Windows95Man’s shorts fly into the final in May? Or will they end up in the lost property box? Find out what we think below in our reviews! As usual we added our totally unbased early predictions!

niallpoints Review

That’s it for our Finland review! Do you agree with us? Who was your favourite at UMK this year? Let us know in the comments below what you think! Before you leave, have a look at our full reaction video to this year’s Finnish entry right here!