FINLAND – As we all expected and predicted, THE RASMUS won the Finnish national final and will represent Finland in Turin with the song JEZEBEL.

The winner of Finland’s Contest for New Music UMK this year is The Rasmus with their song Jezebel. The Rasmus will represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin in May 2022.

The UMK22 winner was chosen today by the votes of the Finnish people and points from the international jury. The Rasmus scored 310 points in today’s UMK22 final.

The song Jezebel is co-composed by The Rasmus frontman Lauri Ylönen and renowned producer-musician Desmond Child. Child has worked with, among others, Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper and Kiss. He also produced The Rasmus’ 2008 Black Roses album. The Eurovision entry Jezebel was written in just a few hours based on Ylönen’s demo.

THE PERFORMANCES

• The Rasmus – Jezebel
• Isaac Sene – Kuuma jäbä
• Olivera – Thank God I’m an Atheist
• BESS – Ram pam pam
• Younghearted – Sun numero
• Cyan Kicks – Hurricane
• Tommi Läntinen – Elämä kantaa mua

According to the band, Jezebel is a song for strong, independent women, who blaze their own trail. “Jezebel was a biblical troublemaker, who did things her own way and really shook things up. We wanted to introduce her to the modern-day world. The song is also a bit tongue-in-cheek, which is pretty unusual for The Rasmus,” Ylönen said in the beginning of the band’s UMK journey.

Together for nearly 30 years now, The Rasmus is one of Finland’s most internationally successful groups. The Rasmus has released several albums, won numerous music industry awards, and played gigs all over the world.

The Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Turin, Italy May 10-14, 2022. Finland competes in the second semifinal on May 12.

All UMK22 performances are available on Yle Areena and can be freely embedded on any website using the available embed codes.

ABOUT THE RASMUS

The Rasmus is a Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school.

The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer-songwriter), Eero Heinonen (bass), Pauli Rantasalmi (guitar) and Jarno Lahti (drums).

Jarno Lahti left the year after and was replaced by Janne Heiskanen in 1995. Heiskanen quit the band in 1998 and was soon replaced by Aki Hakala. Pauli Rantasalmi left the band and was replaced by Emppu Suhonen in 2022.

The Rasmus has sold 5 million albums worldwide, and about 350,000 albums in Finland alone. They have won numerous awards, both domestic and international. They are best known for their 2003 hit single “In the Shadows”.

The Rasmus have released a total of twenty music videos. Niklas Fronda and Fredrik Löfberg of Baranga Film have directed three of the band’s videos, all from the Dead Letters album. Dead Letters is the album with most music videos: seven videos have been released from that album, including three versions of “In the Shadows”.

The videos of “Immortal” and “Your Forgiveness” were directed by bassist Eero Heinonen. The first video they ever made was for “Funky Jam” in 1996.

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