It wouldn't be an overstatement to call Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2023 the most anticipated national final, from any country, in Eurovision history. After winning the hearts of the nation with Erika Vikman's "Cicciolina," scoring a top 10 result with Blind Channel's "Dark Side" and topping the year-end music charts with Bess' "Ram Pam Pam," national broadcaster Yle had proven that its selection show UMK was a stage worthy of the best artists Finland has to offer. Tickets for the live show sold out in under 24 hours before anyone even knew who was competing. Promotional material was confident and grand, and after some information about the artists and songs was revealed, it became clear that it wasn't only thanks to the show's slick visual identity.
From a submission pool of 363 songs, the competition featured seven of Finland's brightest musical talents, new and old: Keira, an energetic young artist debuting in UMK fresh off her stint on The Voice; Benjamin, whose dance single "GAY" recently re-energized his decade-long career; Robin Packalen, a teen heartthrob known as the Finnish Justin Bieber who has been on the scene for just as long; Lxandra, an indie darling who contributed the lineup's only ballad; Käärijä, a singer, rapper and favorite of many young Finns who couldn't care less about Eurovision; KUUMAA, a band who scored their first few hits on the Finnish charts in the previous year; and Portion Boys, the definitive masters of modern Finnish party anthems.
As the songs were released day by day, the Eurovision community stood with the Finnish public in utter shock at how good each song was. There was no way the next competitor could be as good as the last, yet they always were. All seven songs appeared in the Spotify Viral 50, and five charted in the official top 20 singles (with KUUMAA and Käärijä both hitting number one). As the date of the live show in Turku approached, people wondered not whether Finland would have a good entry, but where in the top 10 they would finish at ESC.
The only way Yle could live up to the hype was to craft a killer live show, and they blew the roof off. Slick live and graphic production, a charismatic host in Samu Haber, and everyone in Logomo screaming the words to all seven entries came together for the most electrifying night in Eurovision memory. A member of ROTW was even spotted on camera several times (though no one knows what he was saying when Haber handed him the microphone during the interval performance of "Syödään sieniä"). And the voting sequence, with UMK's now signature 25% jury, 75% televote split, was just as exciting as the rest of the show, despite everyone knowing Käärijä's beloved half-rock, half-dance anthem "Cha Cha Cha" would win. It did win, with 52.9% of the public vote, pulling Finland ahead in the odds and leaving the whole country hoping for his semifinal performance on the 9th of May.