Finland | Darude Announced as Finnish Act for Eurovision 2019

Today, during a live press conference the announcement was made that Darude will represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. We now can expect to see their three competing national final songs released weekly in the lead up to the national final UMK.

Finnish broadcaster has opted for the same selection process as used last year - when an artist is internally selected and then the national final 'Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu' (UMK) will be used to decide which song the performer will take to the Eurovision Song Contest. This year .. that act is famous Finnish DJ Darude - most commonly known for his 1999 dance/rave track 'Sandstorm'. After shooting to global fame with his debut Since then he has released four albums spanning two decades and has toured the whole world performing at many dance festivals including the illustrious Tomorrowland. Darude will be joined on stage by vocalist Sebastian Reyman. Check out his huge track 'Sandstorm' below - is this similar to what we could expect from Finland this year in Eurovision?

Last year, this new format of UMK was used when two-time runner-up Saara Aalto was chosen internally and then given three songs to perform. The three songs, 'Monsters', 'Domino' and 'Queens' were released weekly in the lead up to the final with music videos, with Saara then performing all three live during the national final before a joint jury/televote decided which song would be performed on the Eurovision stage. Once again the contest will be hosted by Finland's 2013 participant, Krista Siegfrids.

In 2018, it was decided that Saara's song would be 'Monsters' which then got Finland to the final for the first time in four years! Despite qualifying, disappointingly the song only managed to secure 46 points in the final placing 25th out of 26. UMK have put a video together to show off Darude, give it a look here:

Are you excited by the reveal of Darude as the Finnish artist? Let us know in the comments below or via our social media! Subscribe to our Facebook, Instagram, YouTube & Twitter for the latest Eurovision news, selection updates and exclusive video content!