After the reveal of the competing artists at this year’s UMK, the entries are now starting to be released. The first entry to be released is “Nightmares” by Neea River, which coincided with the release of the official music video of their entry.
Listen to “Nightmares” on streaming platforms
Spotify
About NEEA River
NEEA River hails from Nurmijärvi in Finland, and pursued her musical dreams by chance whilst on holiday in Los Angeles, when she posted videos of her singing on Instagram, where she was discovered by a producer, who later on proposed she moved to Los Angeles.
During this time, NEEA ended up having a track featured on a soundtrack of a film, and through networking with Finnish music professionals, ended up signing a publishing deal with Warner Music Finland, where she has created songs for local and international artists for three years.
Later on, NEEA started working on songs for herself, and ended up focusing on her own career and ended up launching her own record label.
Speaking about her participation at UMK, this will be the first time that NEEA is performing one of her songs in public, with her entry “Nightmares” based on the idea of creating a winning song for Eurovision.
Upon the selection of “Nightmares” the UMK jury comments:
Neea’s voice is the first thing that catches your attention in the song Nightmares. Clearly, this is a top professional who controls her voice exceptionally well. The next thing you notice is the stellar composition that combines modern pop aesthetics with epic Eurovision vibes and cinematic glamour. The finishing touch is the uplifting dance production with its big drops. It is great to see a self-publishing independent artist like NEEA RIVER at UMK.
What do we know about UMK 2025?
Finland’s Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu will take place on the 8th of February 2025 and will be hosted by Sanni and Jasmin Beloued. The winning act will be chosen through a vote weighted 25% to the jury and 75% to the public televote.
The entries participating in this year’s competition will be released as follows (click on the song title to listen where available):
| Artist | Entry | Release Date |
| Neea River | “Nightmares” | 9th January |
| Nelli Matula | “Hitaammin Hautaan“ | 10th January |
| costee | “Sekaisin“ | 13th January |
| VIIVI | “Aina“ | 14th January |
| One Morning Left | “Puppy“ | 15th January |
| Goldielocks | “Made Of“ | 16th January |
| Erika Vikman | “ICH KOMME“ | 17th January |
Finland’s Eurovision Journey
Finland debuted in the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing 10th with Laila Kunnunen’s “Valoa ikkunassa.” Since then they have competed 56 times, and appeared in the final 48 times. Finland has finished in the top 10 an impressive 14 times. They have won the contest once in 2006, with Lordi’s performance of “Hard Rock Hallelujah” getting 292 points.
Finland’s most recent entry was “No Rules” by Windows95man. They came in 7th place in the semi-final in Malmö, thus qualifying for the final. At the close of voting, he gained a total of 38 points, earning them 19th place. Windows95man received 31 points from the televote, and an extra 7 points from the juries.
Are you excited for UMK25? What do you think of NEEA’s entry for this year’s competition? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky as we start our preparations for Eurovision 2025!
News Source – Yle
Photo Credit – Yle / Nelli Kenttä
Giwrgos Oiko