The third song of this year’s Finnish national selection for Eurovision, Uuden musiikin kilpailu (UMK) has been published! You can watch the music video of the song Looking Back by Aksel Kankaanranta here:

Aksel Kankaanranta is a young singer from Turku, Finland. He came to the public knowledge in 2017, when he participated in The Voice of Finland where he ended up as runner-up. During the show Kankaanranta showed that he has not only a beautiful voice but also an amazing capability to put his soul into his performances. In The Voice of Finland Kankaanranta was coached by a Finnish singer Anna Puu.

In 2018 Aksel Kankaanranta sang the chorus of the song Jättiläinen (Giant) by a Finnish hip hop artist Pyhimys. Jättiläinen became a huge hit song in Finland and it was the most popular song in the Finnish Spotify in 2018. The song was also rewarded as the song of the year in the Finnish music award gala Emma-gaala.

According to Yle, Looking Back is a song about world-weariness, love and the feeling of inadequacy. This is how Kankaanranta himself describes the song:

We set all kind of milestones into our lives. What is the value of them and does achieving them really make a person happy?

UMK 2020 -finalists have been chosen by a professional jury, which consists of many Finnish music industry professionals. The jury has given some comments of the six competing songs. This is what the jury said of Looking back by Aksel Kankaanranta:

Looking Back could very well be an international TOP 10 hit by Sam Smith or James Arthur. A really great piece from Joonas Angeria and a fantastic interpretation by Aksel Kankaanranta. Aksel is a fine personality and it is great to see him at UMK

The next UMK 2020 -song, Bananas by F3M, will be published tomorrow, on Wednesday January 29th.

What is you opinion of Looking Back by Aksel Kankaanranta? Would it have a chance of doing well in Rotterdam? Let us know in comments and our social media channels!