The Finnish National Broadcaster YLE announced One Morning Left’s withdrawal from “UMK 2025” due to allegations against a member, leading to the band’s dissolution.
The Finnish National Broadcaster YLE announced today that One Morning Left, scheduled to perform “Puppy” in the Finnish Eurovision national final “UMK 2025”, will not participate in the competition to choose Finland’s representative for Eurovision 2025. The band explained in a detailed post that serious allegations were raised against one of its members, leading to the band’s dissolution as other members refused to perform with him.
The Finnish national final, set for February 8th, 2025, will proceed as usual with six contestants instead of seven.
In their post, the band stated:
“We were made aware of serious anonymous allegations against one of our members on social media. According to these allegations, Mika Lahti allegedly contacted a presumably minor person between 2007 and 2010, knowingly or unknowingly. These allegations came as a complete surprise to the band members, UMK contestants, YLE, and all entities working with the band. The allegations are not directed at any other band member, focusing solely on Mika Lahti.
The other band members immediately left the band and expressed shock at the allegations. They distance themselves from these accusations, which do not align with their values. Therefore, the band will not participate in the Finnish Eurovision national final and will suspend its activities.
Mika denies the claims against him and is prepared to file a complaint about baseless allegations. We apologize for any inconvenience caused to UMK, other artists, the YLE, fans, and band partners. The other band members would never have joined if they had known about such inappropriate behavior. We request no further contact with the band regarding this matter and wish UMK contestants peace of mind.”
Following these allegations and the band’s dissolution, the Finnish Eurovision national final will continue with six contestants instead of seven.
הצגת פוסט זה באינסטגרם
List of Participants and Their Backgrounds
- Neea River – “Nightmares” – A Finnish indie artist who describes her major influences as Rihanna and The Weeknd. She was involved in writing “Rodeo” for Poland’s Eurovision 2023 representative, Blanka.
- Nelli Matula – “Hitaammin hautaan” – A Finnish pop artist who was on a break from music and considered retiring from the industry in general, but eventually wrote her song which she claims is very personal to her.
- Costee – “Sekaisin” – A Finnish artist with over a hundred million plays on Spotify, started in 2019 and in the same year won the Breakthrough Artist award from the Finnish national broadcaster. Known for his fans, who are known to be very fanatical.
- Viivi – “Aina” – A Finnish pop artist operating from the United States, with 5 Emmy nominations. According to the committee that chose the songs, Viivi’s song will be played at weddings years from now.
- Goldielocks – “Made Of” – A 23-year-old artist from the former Finnish region of Karelia, currently living in Berlin. She describes the personality she created for herself as a “rock star in a pop star wrapper”, and says her influence is Miley Cyrus. She claims her song is a strong, polished, and danceable pop song.
- Erika Vikman – “Ich komme” – One of Finland’s biggest pop stars! Known to Eurovision fans due to her participation in the Eurovision selection in 2020 with the song “Cicciolina”. She describes her selection song as a “crazy” creation, unusual pop with a lot of thought behind it.
Finland’s Recent Eurovision Success
Finland has been enjoying considerable success in Eurovision in recent years. After a string of failures in the previous decade, the current decade is shaping up to be highly successful for the country. They have qualified for the final four times in a row, a feat not achieved since the late 2000s. Last year, Käärijä secured an impressive second place in the Liverpool final, marking one of Finland’s best performances ever in the contest. Additionally, Finland recorded a notable achievement by reaching sixth place in Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Finland in Eurovision 2024
“No Rules” is the name of the song performed by Windows95man, which was chosen to represent Finland after winning the Finnish national final. Finland advanced to the final after placing seventh in the first semi-final with 59 points, and in the grand final, they reached 19th place with 38 points. This is the fourth consecutive time Finland has qualified for the final, matching their qualification streak between 2006-2009.
Source: YLE.
Eurovision 2025: This will be Finland’s 58th participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Finland joined the competition in 1961 and achieved its best result in Eurovision 2006, winning the contest with Lordi and their song “Hard Rock Hallelujah”.
