The Finnish qualifier for the Eurovision Song Contest, known as Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (Contest for New Music or UMK) attracted a record audience on Saturday evening.
Käärijä won with his song “Cha Cha Cha” and will represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool in May. Appearing with a bare-bones set made of wooden crates, he was joined onstage by four dancers in pink.
The show was hosted by Samu Haber, lead singer of the pop-rock band Sunrise Avenue, at the Logomo Arena in Turku. It featured performances by seven finalists, but Käärijä won by a wide margin. He racked up 539 points in a system that includes some 232,000 votes from the Finnish public as well as points from an international jury.
Käärijä was born Jere Pöyhönen in Helsinki 29 years ago. He released his debut album Fantastista in 2020 but is best known for his wild, campy live shows. His style combines hip-hop, metal and electronic elements, with “Cha Cha Cha” already established as a Finnish party anthem.
UMK broadcast in Netherlands and Spain
The UMK23 Final was broadcast on Yle TV1 and Yle Areena, reaching an audience of 2.1 million people. It was also carried on three Yle radio channels: Radio Suomi, YleX and the Swedish-language X3M.
The Yle Areena stream had commentary in eight languages: Finnish, Swedish, English, Russian, Northern Sámi and Inari Sámi, and for the first time this year also in Ukrainian and Finnish sign language. The final was shown on the Spanish TenTV and the Dutch OutTv channels.
The Eurovision Song Contest will held be on 9-13 May in Liverpool, UK, on behalf of Ukraine, which won last year's ESC. Käärijä will participate in the first semifinal on 9 May.