1. Background

2. Before Eurovision
    Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017   Competing entries    Final   Promotion 

3. At Eurovision
    Semi-final  Points awarded to Finland  Points awarded by Finland  Split voting results 

4. References

5. External links

Finland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Blackbird" written and performed by Lasse Piirainen and Leena Tirronen under the name Norma John. The Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle) organised the national final Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017 in order to select the Finnish entry for the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine. Ten entries competed in a televised national final on 28 January 2017 where the 50/50 combination of votes from ten international juries and votes from the public selected "Blackbird" performed by Norma John as the winner.

Finland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 7, "Blackbird" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.

Background

Prior to the 2017 Contest, Finland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty times since their first entry in {{ESCYr|1961}}.^[1] Finland has won the contest once in 2006 with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi. In the 2016 contest, "Sing It Away" performed by Sandhja failed to qualify Finland to the final, making it the second consecutive year that Finland missed out on qualification.

The Finnish national broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), broadcasts the event within Finland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Yle confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 15 May 2016.^[2] Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest have been selected through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years. Between 1961 and 2011, a selection show that was often titled Euroviisukarsinta highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision. However, since 2012, the broadcaster has organised the selection show Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), which focuses on showcasing new music with the winning song being selected as the Finnish contest entry for that year. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster also announced that the Finnish entry for the 2017 contest would be selected through Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017.^[2]

Before Eurovision

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017

Competing entries

Yle opened a submission period between 1 September 2016 and 5 September 2016 in order for interested parties to submit their entries.^[7] 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. The submitted songs were not allowed to exceed three minutes, but could contain lyrics in any language. A panel of experts appointed by Yle selected entries for the competition from the received submissions. Yle filmed promotional music videos for each of the competing entries, which were released on 28 December 2016.^[8]

Final

The final took place on 28 February 2017 where ten acts competed. The running order for the show was revealed two days before the final. "Blackbird" performed by Norma John was selected as the winner.^[9] The winner was selected by a 50/50 combination of public votes and ten international juries from Estonia, France, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. 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.

Promotion

Norma John made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Blackbird" as the Finnish Eurovision entry. On 2 April, they performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French. Between 3 and 6 April, the Finnish duo took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where they performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.^[12][13] On 8 April, Norma John performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.^[14]

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (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.^[15] On 31 January 2017, 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 first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.^[16]

Once all the competing songs for the 2017 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 perform in position 7, following the entry from Montenegro and before the entry from Azerbaijan.^[17]

Semi-final

Norma John took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May.^[18] This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

At the end of the show, Finland was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.

Points awarded to Finland

Points awarded by Finland

Split voting results

The following five members will comprise the Finnish jury:

• Jonas Olsson – Chairperson – producer, songwriter
• Iisa Pajula – singer-songwriter
• Marcus Sjöström – music director
• Virve Rosti – singer, represented Finland in the 1987 contest
• Kalle Mäkipelto - music producer

References

External links

• Official Yle Eurovision site
• Official Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017 site

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