Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Sing It Away" written by Sandhja Kuivalainen, Milos Rosas, Heikki Korhonen, Petri Matara, and Markus Savijoki, and performed by Sandhja. The Finnish participating broadcaster, (Yle), organised the national final in order to select its entry for the contest. 18 entries were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of three semi-finals and a final, taking place in February 2016. Six entries competed in each semi-final and the top three from each semi-final, as selected solely by a public vote, advanced to the final. Nine entries competed in the final on 27 February where the 50/50 combination of votes from ten jury groups representing different factions of Finnish society and votes from the public selected "Sing It Away" performed by Sandhja as the winner.
Finland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2016. Performing as the opening entry for the show in position 1, "Sing It Away" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Finland placed fifteenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 51 points.
Background
Prior to the 2016 contest, (Yle) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Finland forty-nine times since its first entry in . It has won the contest once in with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi. In , "Aina mun pitää" performed by Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät failed to qualify Finland to the final, placing last 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 2016 contest on 26 May 2015. Yle had selected its entries for the contest through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years. Between 1961 and 2011, a selection show that was often titled highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision. However, since 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 for that year. Along with its participation confirmation, the broadcaster also announced that its entry for the 2016 contest would be selected through .
Before Eurovision
was the fifth 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 three semi-finals on 6 February 2016 and concluded with a final on 27 February 2016. The four shows were held at the YLE Studios in Helsinki and hosted by Finnish actor/singer/rapper Roope Salminen and 2013 Finnish Eurovision entrant Krista Siegfrids. Due to Siegfrids participation in the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest 2016 national final Melodifestivalen 2016 on 13 February, Salminen hosted the second semi-final alone. Rakel Liekki and Mikko Silvennoinen presented an after-show programme that took place following the announcement of the qualifiers in each semi-final and during the final. All shows were broadcast on Yle TV2 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 by Eva Frantz and Johan Lindroos on Yle X3M.
Format The format of the competition consisted of four shows: three semi-finals and a final. Six songs competed in each semi-final and the top three entries from each semi-final qualified to complete the nine-song lineup in the final. The results for the semi-finals were determined exclusively by a public vote, while the results in the final were determined by the 50/50 combination of public voting and jury voting. Public voting included the options of telephone, SMS and online voting. Prior to each of the four shows, the public was able to vote in advance online between Monday to Thursday. The proceeds from the public voting were donated to the Nose Day Foundation (Nenäpäivä-säätiö), which funds projects in developing nations.
Competing entries A submission period was opened by Yle which lasted between 1 September 2015 and 8 September 2015. The competition allowed entries longer than three minutes to compete, however, should the winning song be longer than three minutes, it would have to be shortened for the Eurovision Song Contest. 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 eighteen entries for the competition from the received submissions. The competing entries along with their promotional music videos were presented during a live streamed press conference on 12 January 2016, hosted by Krista Siegfrids, Rakel Liekki and Mikko Silvennoinen. The competing entries were also presented in a televised preview programme on 30 January 2016, hosted by Rakel Liekki, where a panel of guests consisting of Essi Hellén, Mikko Silvennoinen, Jaana Pelkonen and Tommi Manninen discussed the artists and songs and together with an audience vote, determined which entry had the best music video. The guest panel selected "Love Is Blind" performed by Cristal Snow and "Sing it Away" performed by Sandhja as having the best music videos, while the audience vote was won by "Love Is Blind" performed by Cristal Snow. Between 31 January and 19 February, each competing artist held a Facebook Live session online, the content of which was up to each artist.
Artist Song Songwriter(s) and Kimmo Blom "Good Enough" Jonas Gladnikoff, Matthew Ker, Michael James Down, Primož Poglajen Attention 2 "Ready For the Show" Henna Helasvuo, "Let Me Out" , Niki Westerback, ClemSO "Thief" Clement Ogundipe, Gideon Aiyegunle Cristal Snow "Love Is Blind" Tapio Huuska, Jimi Constantine, Samuel Kovanko "Draamaa" Gušani Brothers "Poom Poom" Irfan Gušani, Sami Gušani, Meho Gušani Lieminen "Pehmeiden arvojen vaalijat" Jaakko Luomanen, Pasi Siitonen "On It Goes" Mikael Saari Mikko Herranen "Evil Tone" Mikko Herranen Pää-Äijät "Shamppanjataivas" Julmari, Jaba, Jimi, Heku, Samu Pietarin Spektaakkeli "Liian kuuma" , Antti Hynninen Rafaela Truda "Rise Up" , , Rafaela Truda Saara Aalto "No Fear" Saara Aalto Sandhja "Sing It Away" Sandhja Kuivalainen, Milos Rosas, Heikki Korhonen, Petri Matara, Markus Savijoki "Ain't Got Time for Boys" Stella Christine Tuuli Okkonen "Don't Wake Me Up" Michael James Down, Primož Poglajen, Dimitri Stassos, Tuuli Okkonen, Johnny Sanchez, Sara Ljunggren Ylona "Blazing Fire" , Jaakko Salovaara, Ilona Savolainen
Shows
Semi-finals The three semi-final shows took place on 6, 13 and 20 February 2016. The top three from the six competing entries in each semi-final qualified to the final based on the results from the public vote. In addition to the competing entries, hosts Krista Siegfrids and Roope Salminen performed the song "Juontoharjoitukset" as the interval act in the first semi-final, while Robin performed a cover of the 1980 Finnish Eurovision entry "Huilumies" and his single "Miten eskimot suutelee?" in the second semi-final and Chisu performed a cover of the 1962 Finnish Eurovision entry "Tipi-tii" and her song "Tähdet" in the third semi-final. + Semi-final 16 February 2016 Artist Song Public Vote Place BeforeShow DuringShow Total 1 Saara Aalto "No Fear" 35% 35% 35% 1 2 Mikko Herranen "Evil Tone" 9% 7% 7% 6 3 Stella Christine "Ain't Got Time for Boys" 17% 21% 21% 2 4 Eini "Draamaa" 11% 19% 18% 3 5 ClemSO "Thief" 12% 8% 8% 5 6 Pää-Äijät "Shamppanjataivas" 16% 10% 11% 4
+ Semi-final 213 February 2016 Artist Song Public Vote Place BeforeShow DuringShow Total 1 Attention 2 "Ready For the Show" 7% 5% 5% 6 2 Cristal Snow "Love Is Blind" 28% 21% 22% 3 3 Annica Milán and Kimmo Blom "Good Enough" 21% 22% 22% 2 4 Rafaela Truda "Rise Up" 8% 14% 13% 4 5 Ylona "Blazing Fire" 10% 14% 13% 5 6 Mikael Saari "On It Goes" 26% 24% 25% 1
+ Semi-final 320 February 2016 Artist Song Public Vote Place BeforeShow DuringShow Total 1 Lieminen "Pehmeiden arvojen vaalijat" 7% 5% 5% 6 2 Tuuli Okkonen "Don't Wake Me Up" 18% 26% 24% 2 3 Gušani Brothers "Poom Poom" 14% 9% 10% 4 4 Barbe-Q-Barbies "Let Me Out" 23% 24% 24% 3 5 Pietarin Spektaakkeli "Liian kuuma" 9% 8% 9% 5 6 Sandhja "Sing It Away" 29% 28% 28% 1
Final The final took place on 27 February 2016 where the nine entries that qualified from the preceding three semi-finals competed. "Sing It Away" performed by Sandhja was selected as the winner by a 50/50 combination of public votes and ten jury groups that represented different sections of Finnish society: Eurovision experts, musicians, the media, social media influencers, YouTube personalities, Finland Swedes, LGBT, members of parliament, asphalt constructors, and children. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 430 points to award. Each jury group distributed their points as follows: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through the following voting methods: telephone, SMS and online voting. For example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 430 points rounded to the nearest integer: 43 points.
In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval act featured Krista Siegfrids covering the first 1961 Finnish Eurovision song, "Valoa ikkunassa", 2015 Finnish Eurovision entrants Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät and Finnish Eurovision Song Contest 2006 winners Lordi. + Final27 February 2016 Artist Song Jury Public Vote Total Place BeforeShow DuringShow Total Points 1 Cristal Snow "Love Is Blind" 41 12% 9% 9.1% 39 80 6 2 Stella Christine "Ain't Got Time for Boys" 19 6% 7% 6.5% 28 47 8 3 Annica Milán and Kimmo Blom "Good Enough" 35 10% 11% 10.7% 46 81 5 4 Eini "Draamaa" 32 4% 7% 6.7% 29 61 7 5 Barbe-Q-Barbies "Let Me Out" 46 12% 9% 9.1% 39 85 4 6 Tuuli Okkonen "Don't Wake Me Up" 20 4% 5% 4.9% 21 41 9 7 Sandhja "Sing It Away" 98 16% 14% 14.4% 62 160 1 8 Saara Aalto "No Fear" 67 11% 21% 20.2% 87 154 2 9 Mikael Saari "On It Goes" 72 25% 17% 18.4% 79 151 3
+ Song 1 "Love Is Blind" 8 2 6 2 10 4 1 8 41 2 "Ain't Got Time for Boys" 2 2 6 1 6 2 19 3 "Good Enough" 8 1 8 4 6 8 35 4 "Draamaa" 1 6 1 4 1 10 8 1 32 5 "Let Me Out" 6 8 10 6 8 2 2 4 46 6 "Don't Wake Me Up" 4 1 2 2 10 1 20 7 "Sing It Away" 12 10 10 8 12 12 12 4 12 6 98 8 "No Fear" 10 1 12 4 2 6 12 10 10 67 9 "On It Goes" 4 12 4 12 8 10 6 4 12 72
+ Jury Members Parliament Jaana Pelkonen Aino-Kaisa Pekonen Kristiina Salonen Jani Toivola Eurovision Experts Marko Vaittinen Kaisa Iivonen Anna Muurinen Sami Luukela Finland Swedes Janne Grönroos Jan Wallin Hannes Wallin Linda Sundell Musicians Hanna Pakarinen Mikko Tamminen LGBT Mikko Autio Jenni Ahtiainen Paula Noronen Mika Tarvainen YouTubers
Roope Lainevuo Mika Tolvanen Joona Puhakka Media
Mari Pudas Marcus Sjöström Children Eedit Patrakka Juuso Meklin Oiva Hyvönen Eeli Kuosmanen Bloggers Nimo Samatar Peeta Peltola Mikko Toiviainen Asphalt Constructors Joel Jaalas Pavel Pajunen Jukka Hilmola Iiro Aarnikoivu
Promotion Sandhja's promotional activities in the lead up to the Eurovision Song Contest were focused mainly in Finland where she released a new single, "Love Me High", and completed interviews and performances to promote the release of her album Freedom Venture, which was released on 29 April 2016. In addition to her appearances in Finland, Sandhja took part took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel between 11 and 13 April where she performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.
At Eurovision