The Finnish broadcaster YLE has announced that the Finnish national selection for Eurovision, Uuden musiikin kilpailu (UMK), will continue as an open contest in 2022. The search for the songs of UMK 2022 will be open from September 1st 2021 to September 6th 2021. Anssi Autio, the producer of UMK, tells the following about the contest:

”It is now indisputable that UMK is Finland’s biggest music show and media entirety, that has crossed all records during the last two seasons. The expectations for the year 2022 are really high. ”

Autio also tells that there’s an intention to return UMK to an audience event, if that is possible. 

In 2021 UMK was a big success. UMK final in February got a really good viewer count, and many of the competing songs became hit songs in Finland. The winner of UMK 2021, Blind Channel, carried the Finnish flag in Rotterdam last week, and they brought home Finland’s second best placing in Eurovision ever, when the band finished 6th in the Grand Final with 301 points. Their entry Dark Side has been a hit song not only in Finland but many other countries as well. Blind Channel also announced last week, that they’ve signed an international recording deal with Century Media Records / Sony Music. 

Here you can rewatch the amazing performance Blind Channel gave us last Saturday in Rotterdam: