Country Finland Selected entrant Norma John | Selection date(s) 28 January 2017 Selected song "Blackbird" | |
Selection process Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017 Selected songwriter(s) Lasse Piirainen
Leena Tirronen | ||
Finland will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kiev, Ukraine with the entry Blackbird written and performed by the duo Norma John. The Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle) selected the song through the national final Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017.
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Background
Prior to the 2017 Contest, Finland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty times since their first entry in 1961. Finland has won the contest once in 2006 with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi. In the 2016 contest, "Sing It Away" performed by Sandhja failed to qualify Finland to the final, making it the second consecutive year that Finland missed out on qualification.
The Finnish national broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), broadcasts the event within Finland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Yle confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 15 May 2016. 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 (UMK), 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 2017 contest would be selected through Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017.
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017 was the sixth edition of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), the music competition that selects Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Format
The final of the competition took place on 28 January 2017 at Espoo Metro Areena, in Espoo. The winning entry was determined by public voting and the votes from international jury panels.
Competing entries
Yle opened a submission period between 1 September 2016 and 5 September 2016 in order for interested parties to submit their entries. At least one of the writers and the lead singer(s) had to hold Finnish citizenship or live in Finland permanently in order for the entry to qualify to compete. The submitted songs were not allowed to exceed three minutes, but could contain lyrics in any language. A panel of experts appointed by Yle selected entries for the competition from the received submissions. Yle filmed promotional music videos for each of the competing entries.
Yle announced the selected acts on 23 November 2016.
At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will take place at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine and will consist of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and the final on 13 May 2017. According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) 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.