Costee: ”Eurovision is a great festival of music!”

This weekend we get to know who is going to carry the Finnish flag in Eurovision 2025, since the final of this year’s Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) takes place this Saturday in Tampere. One of the finalists of UMK25 is Jussi Tiainen, better known as his artist name Costee. This 30-year-old singer-songwriter has already achieved a lot in his career, including three hit albums and over 100 million streams in Spotify. Now Costee is partcipating in UMK with his song ”Sekaisin”, hoping to win the ticket to Basel and representing his home country in Eurovision 2025.

Even though Costee surely is very busy at the moment getting ready for UMK, he still had time to answer a few questions we asked from him. This is what the artist told us about his relationship to Eurovision, his UMK-entry ”Sekaisin” and some other things as well:

Hello Costee and thank you for giving me this interview! At first I’d like to ask what is your relationship to Eurovision? Do you usually watch the contest and what are your favorite Eurovision songs?

I’ve watched Eurovision at home with my family ever since I was a kid and later followed the contest with interest, since I’m interested in all music shows. Eurovision is a great festival of music! ”Poupée de cire, poupée de son” by France Gall has been my favorite song for a long time already, even though I wasn’t yet born then. My aunt’s husband introduced the Eurovision performance of the song many years ago and it immediately impressed me. I like the compositions of Serge Gainsbourg.

Could you tell us a little bit something about your musical background? How long have you been singing and do you play any instruments?

Music has been a part of my life ever since I was a child. When I was 8-years-old my father gave me drums as a gift and my brother taught me how to play the guitar so I could write my own songs. Writing songs was important to me right from the start. During the years I’ve had numerous different bands, I’ve played humppa at weddings and rock music at the clubs. In 2018 I released my first own songs as a solo artist costee.

How was your UMK-song ”Sekaisin” born and how would you describe the song and the message of it?

The song was born in a same way as all my songs – in a studio with friends. We were at the studio with Tomi Tamminen and Heviteemu. I noticed right away that the song had different kind of optimism than my previous songs and that gave me the idea to participate in UMK with this song. I feel that ”Sekaisin” introduces a new side of me.

What kind of stage show can we expect from you in UMK?

Energetic live performance has always been important to me in my own gigs and I wanted to bring that also to the UMK stage. I’m very excited of the upcoming stage show, which is going to include for example climbing. Climbing has been practiced for weeks alreaady!

What is the biggest achievement in your career so far?

I am grateful that I have around me a strong and passionate fan base, which are going to gigs diligently and have taken hundeds of tattoos of the lyrics and names of my songs. Of course it’s also great that I’ve gotten to release three successful albums and my songs have been listened over 100 million times in Spotify.

Who are your musical role models?

I like a lot of American and British rock music. The Strokes is my favorite band. I also admire many songwriters.

Besides your own song, which song is your favorite in UMK25?

”Made Of” by Goldielocks hit me right away and it is that kind of music I listen anyway.

What do you do when you don’t do music?

I hang around with my friends and animals. I have a cat and a dog, who cheer up my ordinary days in life. My latest hobby is ice swimming, in which I’ve totally exhilarated.

What would it mean to you to win UMK and represent Finland in Eurovision 2025?

It would be a huge honour to represent Finland with a self-written song, which tells honestly of mental health challenges and love.

What would you like to say to our readers and your fans from all over the world?

I want to encourage everyone to be themselves and I hope you have the courage to speek openly and honestly about the challenges of life and your thoughts to your loved ones. No one should be alone. Thank you for listening to my music!

Thank you very much for the interview and the best of luck to UMK!

You can watch the music video ”Sekaisin” by Costee here:

If costee is YOUR favorite to win UMK25, don’t forget to vote for him in our poll:

Vote for YOUR favorite in Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2025
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