Share this content:

The songs for UMK25 will be released one song and music video at a time on every weekday beginning from tomorrow, Thursday January 9, 2025. Each song will be released at midnight on each artist’s reveal day on Yle Areena and YouTube, as well as on Spotify and other streaming services. 

Release dates for UMK25 entries:

Thu, January 9: NEEA RIVER – Nightmares
Fri, January 10: Nelli Matula – Hitaammin hautaan
Mon, January 13: costee – Sekaisin
Tue, January 14: VIIVI – Aina
Wed, January 15: One Morning Left – Puppy
Thu, January 16: Goldielocks – Made Of
Fri, January 17: Erika Vikman – ICH KOMME

Tapio Hakanen, the chair of UMK’s professional jury comments: “This year’s UMK artist and song selection is an amazing showcase of the current level of Finnish songwriting and production. It is fantastic to see both fresh independent artists, and some of the biggest names in our country participating. One of the special features of this year is that the group of artists includes many exceptionally talented vocalists. I’m sure that we’ll witness and hear incredible UMK performances in February at the Nokia Arena in Tampere”.

UMK’s popularity has also grown year on year among artists. This year, 485 songs were submitted to the contest, which is a record during the current format of UMK. Changes were made to the selection process for UMK participants this year. In addition to the professional jury, consisting of music industry professionals, chaired by YleX’s Head of Music Tapio Hakanen, five audience juries were invited to select the artists and songs for the UMK25 show. The number of high-quality songs with great potential submitted to the contest has increased every year, and the juries were expanded to gain an even broader perspective on the final line-up.    

In addition to Hakanen, the professional UMK25 jury consisted of Sibelius Academy professor and UMK vocal coach Aija Puurtinen, Yle X3M and Yle Vega Head of Music Amie Borgar, Yle Radio Suomi Head of Music Johan Lindroos, YleX music journalist Katri Norrlin, Spotify Senior Editor Samuli Väänänen, Head of Music for Nelonen Media radios Jani Juntunen, PME Records’ Head of Marketing Saara Everi, andHead of Music for Radio NRJ Finland Marcus Sjöström.