Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "Marry Me", written by Krista Siegfrids, Erik Nyholm, Kristofer Karlsson, and Jessika Lundström, and performed by Siegfrids herself. Finnish participating broadcaster, (Yle), organised the national final in order to select its entry for the contest. 12 entries were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of two heats, a semi-final and a final, taking place in January and February 2013. Eight entries ultimately competed in the final on 9 February where the 50/50 combination of votes from a four-member judging panel and votes from the public selected "Marry Me" performed by Krista Siegfrids as the winner.
Finland participated in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest on May 16, 2013. Performing "Marry Me" in the 5th position, they secured a place among the top 10 entries, qualifying for the final on May 18. In the semi-final, Finland finished ninth out of 17 countries with 64 points. In the final, they performed 4th and placed twenty-fourth out of 26 countries, scoring a total of 13 points.
Background
Prior to the 2013 contest, (Yle) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Finland forty-six times since its first entry in . It has won the contest once in with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi. In , "" performed by Pernilla failed to qualify Finland to the final, placing twelfth in the semi-final.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, Yle organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2013 contest on 4 June 2012. Yle had selected its entries for the contest through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years. Since 1961, a selection show that was often titled highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision. However, in 2012, the broadcaster has organised the selection show (UMK), which focuses on showcasing new music with the winning song being selected as the Finnish entry. Along with its participation confirmation, the broadcaster also announced that its entry for the 2013 contest would be selected through .
Before Eurovision
was the second edition of (UMK), the music competition that selects Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition consisted of four shows that commenced with the first of two heats on 17 January 2013, followed by a semi-final on 31 January 2013 and concluded with a final on 9 February 2013. The four shows were hosted by YleX DJs Anne Lainto and Ile Uusivuori. All shows were broadcast on Yle TV2, Yle HD and online at yle.fi/umk. The final was also broadcast online at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv as well as via radio on Yle Radio Suomi and with commentary in Swedish on Yle X3M.
Format The format of the competition consisted of four shows: two heats, a semi-final and a final. Six songs competed in each heat and the top two entries from each heat qualified directly to the final, while the entries placed third to fifth qualified to the semi-final. Six songs competed in the semi-final and the top four entries from the semi-final qualified to complete the eight-song lineup in the final. The results for the four shows were determined by the 50/50 combination of public voting and a four-member judging panel. Each judge assigned scores to each entry ranging from 1 (lowest score) to 10 (highest score), while public voting included the options of telephone and SMS voting.
The judging panel participated in each show by providing feedback to the competing artists and selecting entries to qualify in the competition. The panel consisted of:
Toni Wirtanen – Heavy metal singer and leader of the band Apulanta Aija Puurtinen – Singer and music professor Tomi Saarinen – Head of Music at YleX Redrama – Rapper
Competing entries A submission period was opened by Yle which lasted between 3 September 2012 and 16 September 2012. At least one of the writers and the lead singer(s) had to hold Finnish citizenship or live in Finland permanently in order for the entry to qualify to compete. A panel of experts appointed by Yle selected twelve entries for the competition from over 470 received submissions and the competing entries were presented over three televised preview programmes between 27 December 2012 and 10 January 2013. Artist Song Songwriter(s) Arion "Lost" Iivo Kaipainen "Paperilyhty" Kyösti Salokorpi Diandra "Colliding Into You" , , Sharon Vaughn "He's Not My Man" Elina Orkoneva Great Wide North "Flags" Kaj Kiviniemi, Mika Kiviniemi "Last Night" Iina Salin, Tommi Gröhn "Sytytä mut vaan" Ilari Hämäläinen Krista Siegfrids "Marry Me" Krista Siegfrids, Erik Nyholm, Kristofer Karlsson, Jessika Lundström Last Panda "Saturday Night Forever" Henry Tikkanen, Aapo Immonen Lucy Was Driving "Dancing All Around the Universe" Lucy Was Driving, Otso Koskelo "We Should Be Through" Mikael Saari Rautakoura "Ilmalaivalla" Lauri Häme
Shows
Heats The two heats took place on 17 and 24 January 2013 at the Club "Circus" in Helsinki. The top two from the six competing entries in each heat directly qualified to the final based on a 50/50 combination of public votes and judges' votes, while the entries placed third to fifth advanced to the semi-final.
+ Heat 1 – 17 January 2013ArtistSongJury VotesResult Total 1 Iina Salin "Last Night" 6 8 8 7 29 Semi-final 2 Last Panda "Saturday Night Forever" 8 6 7 6 27 Semi-final 3 Mikael Saari "We Should Be Through" 10 10 9 9 38 Final 4 Ilari Hämäläinen "Sytytä mut vaan" 5 6 6 4 21 5 Rautakoura "Ilmalaivalla" 7 6 7 6 26 Semi-final 6 Diandra "Colliding Into You" 8 8 8 8 32 Final
+ Heat 2 – 24 January 2013ArtistSongJury VotesResult Total 1 Atlético Kumpula "Paperilyhty" 7 6 8 7 28 2 Krista Siegfrids "Marry Me" 8 8 9 9 34 Final 3 Lucy Was Driving "Dancing All Around the Universe" 6 7 7 6 26 Semi-final 4 Arion "Lost" 9 9 9 8 35 Final 5 Elina Orkoneva "He's Not My Man" 6 7 7 6 26 Semi-final 6 Great Wide North "Flags" 9 9 9 9 36 Semi-final
Semi-final The semi-final show took place on 31 January 2013 at the Club "Circus" in Helsinki. The top four from the six competing entries qualified to the final based on a 50/50 combination of public votes and judges' votes. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Elonkerjuu performed as the interval act. + Semi-final – 31 January 2013ArtistSongJury VotesResult Total 1 Last Panda "Saturday Night Forever" 6 6 6 6 24 Advanced 2 Elina Orkoneva "He's Not My Man" 6 8 9 9 32 Advanced 3 Rautakoura "Ilmalaivalla" 6 6 6 6 24 4 Great Wide North "Flags" 10 10 10 10 40 Advanced 5 Iina Salin "Last Night" 5 7 6 6 24 6 Lucy Was Driving "Dancing All Around the Universe" 5 6 5 6 22 Advanced
Final The final took place on 9 February 2013 at the Barona Areena in Espoo where the eight entries that qualified from the preceding three shows competed. "Marry Me" performed by Krista Siegfrids was selected as the winner by a 50/50 combination of public votes and the four judges. Each judge assigned points to each entry ranging from 1 (lowest score) to 10 (highest score). The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through the following voting methods: telephone and SMS voting.
In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval act featured Teflon Brothers featuring Meiju Suvas and Stig, Suvi Teräsniska, Johanna Iivanainen, Emma Salokoski, Kaisa Vala, 2007 Finnish Eurovision entrant Hanna Pakarinen and 2012 Finnish Eurovision entrant Pernilla Karlsson.
+ Final – 9 February 2013 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place 1 Arion "Lost" 13.5% 7.0% 10.2% 5 2 Elina Orkoneva "He's Not My Man" 11.5% 5.2% 8.4% 6 3 Lucy Was Driving "Dancing All Around the Universe" 9.6% 1.6% 5.6% 7 4 Krista Siegfrids "Marry Me" 14.6% 38.6% 26.6% 1 5 Last Panda "Saturday Night Forever" 9.2% 1.4% 5.3% 8 6 Mikael Saari "We Should Be Through" 14.6% 18.4% 16.5% 2 7 Great Wide North "Flags" 14.6% 12.0% 13.3% 4 8 Diandra "Colliding Into You" 12.3% 15.8% 14.1% 3 + Song Total Percentage 1 "Lost" 9 9 9 8 35 13.5% 2 "He's Not My Man" 7 8 7 8 30 11.5% 3 "Dancing All Around the Universe" 6 7 6 6 25 9.6% 4 "Marry Me" 9 9 10 10 38 14.6% 5 "Saturday Night Forever" 6 6 6 6 24 9.2% 6 "We Should Be Through" 10 10 9 9 38 14.6% 7 "Flags" 10 10 9 9 38 14.6% 8 "Colliding Into You" 8 8 8 8 32 12.3%
Promotion Krista Siegfrids made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Marry Me" as the Finnish Eurovision entry. On 13 April, Siegfrids performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Marlayne and Linda Wagenmakers. On 21 April, Siegfrids performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.
In addition to her international appearances, promotional activities also occurred in Finland where Krista Siegfrids performed "Marry Me" during the Miss Drag Queen Finland 2013 contest at the DTM venue in Helsinki on 4 April and the Yle TV2 show Tartu Mikkiin on 5 April. Siegfrids also released a new single, "Amen", which she performed for the first time during the Welcome to Finland Justin Bieber event on 26 April. Her debut album Ding Dong! was released on 10 May 2013 with prior interviews to promote its release.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 17 January 2013, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Finland was placed into the second semi-final, held on 16 May 2013, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2013 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Finland was set to position 5, following the entry from Azerbaijan and before the entry from Malta.
The two semi-finals and the final were televised in Finland on Yle TV2 with a second audio program providing commentary in Finnish by Aino Töllinen and Juuso Mäkilähde and in Swedish by Eva Frantz and Johan Lindroos. The three shows were broadcast via radio with Finnish commentary by Sanna Kojo and Jorma Hietamäki on Yle Radio Suomi and with Swedish commentary by Eva Frantz and Johan Lindroos on Yle Radio Vega. The Finnish spokesperson, who announced the Finnish votes during the final, was Kristiina Wheeler.
Semi-final Krista Siegfrids took part in technical rehearsals on 8 and 11 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 15 and 16 May. This included the jury show on 15 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.