Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018


Finland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The entry was selected in the national final Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018 on 3 March 2018, where all three entries were performed by the singer Saara Aalto who was internally selected by the Finnish broadcaster Yle on 7 November 2017 to perform the nation's entry at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal.

Background

Prior to the 2018 Contest, Finland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-one times since their first entry in. Finland has won the contest once in 2006 with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi. In the 2017 contest, "Blackbird" performed by Norma John failed to qualify Finland to the final, making it the third consecutive year that Finland missed out on qualification.
The Finnish national broadcaster, Yleisradio, broadcasts the event within Finland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Yle confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 28 January 2017. Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest have been selected through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years. Between 1961 and 2011, a selection show that was often titled Euroviisukarsinta highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision. However, since 2012, the broadcaster has organised the selection show Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu , which focuses on showcasing new music with the winning song being selected as the Finnish contest entry for that year. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster also announced that the Finnish entry for the 2018 contest would be selected through Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 7 November 2017, during the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018 Press Conference, it was announced that Saara Aalto would represent Finland in the 2018 contest, with UMK featuring three songs for the public to choose from. The three bidding entries were released by Yle and Saara Aalto, along with an accompanying music video, on 9, 16 and 23 February 2018, respectively.

''Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018''

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018 was the seventh edition of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, the music competition that selects Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The show took place on 3 March 2018 at Espoo Metro Areena in Espoo, hosted by Krista Siegfrids and Mikko Silvennoinen. The winning song, "Monsters" was determined by public voting and the votes from eight international jury groups.
DrawSongComposerJuryTelevoteTotalPlace
1"Monsters"Saara Aalto, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Ki Fitzgerald88951831
2"Domino", Bobby Ljunggren, Johnny Sanchez, Will Taylor, Saara Aalto84751592
3"Queens"Farley Arvidsson, Charlie Walshe, Tom Aspaul, Saara Aalto68701383

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 29 January 2018, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Finland was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2018 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Finland was set to perform in position 15, following the entry from Greece and preceding the entry from Armenia.

Semi-final

Finland performed fifteenth in the first semi-final, following the entry from Greece and preceding the entry from Armenia. At the end of the night, Finland were one of the ten countries announced as having qualified for the grand final, their first qualification since 2014. Following the semi-final, Saara Aalto joined the other qualifiers in a press conference in which they drew to see which half of the final they would compete in. Finland was drawn to perform in the second half of the grand final.It was later revealed that Finland placed tenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 108 points: 73 points from the televoting and 35 points from the juries.

Final

Finland performed 17th in the grand final, following Australia and preceding Bulgaria. At the end of the night, they received 46 points, finishing in twenty-fifth place. So, as it happened, the "curse of twos" continued - the song finished second-to-last.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involves each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury will consist of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. The jury judges each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.

Points awarded to Finland

Points awarded by Finland

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Finnish jury: