Erika Vikman has been crowned the winner of Finland's Contest for New Music (UMK) with her song Ich komme, earning the chance to represent Finland at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland.
The UMK final, held at Tampere Arena and broadcast live by Yle on Saturday, saw Vikman triumph with overwhelming public support.
The public vote, which made up 75 percent of the result, secured her victory, despite placing second to Goldielocks in the international jury vote.
Vikman outperformed UMK competitors Neea River, Nelli Matula, Costee, Viivi, and Goldielocks to claim the title.
"Now I'm going to have a glass of wine. This is just unbelievable. I'll cry once I get through this situation," Vikman said amidst the excitement and congratulatory hugs surrounding her.
"I was in shock during and after the whole performance. It's a sizable amount of shock," she laughed in an interview with Yle.
Vikman expressed her determination to deliver a memorable performance on the Eurovision stage.
"If I've been given this trust, I will do everything I can in Basel so that Finns can be proud of choosing me," she said.
Her Eurovision performance will remain true to her bold style, with potential tweaks to the current stage show. Vikman also plans to embrace the local culture.
"I will speak German in Switzerland, and the performance will be a blast," she said, "I'm going there as a woman and with a rock-and-roll attitude."
"I'm going to charm Europe by being a fabulous Finn, just a little bit sinful," she added playfully.
Second place redemption
Vikman, 31, first competed in UMK in 2020 with the song Cicciolina, finishing second. The song, which became a hit and a feminist anthem, boosted her career, leading to the release of her self-titled, chart-topping album in 2021.
Though she once thought she wouldn't return to the UMK stage as a contestant, her plans changed while collaborating with producers Chisu and Jori Roosberg on her next album.
Vikman had previously thought that she would not return to the UMK stage as a contestant. However, plans changed when she made a song request while working on his next album with his producers Chisu and Jori Roosberg. The result was the UMK song Ich komme, which is now sending her to Switzerland.
During the early stages of her career, she performed at summer theatres and various TV programmes.
In 2016, Vikman became famous among Finnish people by winning the popular Tangomarkkinat festival and becoming that year's Tango Queen.
Record audience
The Saturday evening UMK broadcast attracted a record audience, according to a press release from Yle.
According to Finnpanel, the UMK broadcast was watched by an average of 1.48 million viewers on the day of the performance.
The broadcast reached 2.27 million Finns on Yle TV1 on Saturday evening.
Both figures are all-time records for the competition. More votes were also cast this year than ever before, totalling 342,543.A total of 274,004 votes were cast via the app, while 68,539 votes were cast by phone and SMS.
Article updated 09.02 12:33 to add audience viewership statistics.