FINLAND – Anssi Autio, producer of the UMK, spoke to local press for the upcoming announcements for the Finnish representation in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. Within thfe first weeks of September it seems that YLE will make the announcements as almost all negotiations come to conclusion. Finnish website (hosting the interview) also speculated two names for UMK 2019.
Alma-Sofia Miettinen, known professionally as Alma, is a Finnish singer and songwriter. Beginning her career in 2013, she placed fifth in the seventh season of the Finnish version of Idol. Her breakthrough came in 2015 when she was featured on the single “Muuta ku mä” by Sini Sabotage, and was subsequently signed to Universal Music Group.
The following year she released the singles “Karma” and “Dye My Hair”, both of which became top ten hits in Finland. Her 2017 single “Chasing Highs” repeated this success, and also reached the top twenty in Germany and the United Kingdom. Her debut mixtape Heavy Rules Mixtape was released in 2018 and reached the top ten in Finland. She has collaborated frequently with English singer Charli XCX and Swedish singer Tove Lo.
Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli, known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish singer-songwriter. She is a lyric soprano and has a vocal range of three octaves.
Turunen studied singing at Sibelius Academy and Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. She is a professional classical lied singer, and the former lead vocalist of the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, which she founded with Tuomas Holopainen and Emppu Vuorinen in 1996. Their combination of hard and fast guitar riffs with Turunen’s dramatic, “operatic” lead vocals quickly achieved critical and commercial popularity. Their symphonic metal style, soon dubbed “opera metal”, inspired many other metal bands and performers.
Will the Finn representative will be one of them or a surprise name? Anticipation rises after the disaster ranking of Finn sweetheart Saara Aalto last May in Lisbon
