Finland’s biggest music show gets off to a spectacular start as the seven UMK competitors are introduced to the public for the first time.

A live audience of 300 people will be present at the artist reveal event.

We’ll be bringing you the atmosphere live both from the UMK competition studio and from the audience event on site. You can watch the live broadcast on Yle TV1 or with English Commentary by Jaakko Oleander on Yle Areena.

This is how the evening will unfold

The UMK artist reveal will be hosted in the competition studio by Jasmin Beloued. Her studio guests are Swedish-language commentator Eva Franz, artist BESS, music industry expert Samuli Väänänen, and DJ Orkidea (Tapio Hakanen).

The on-site audience event will be hosted by Mikko Silvennoinen, who will also interview the artists. Katri Norrlin, a music journalist from YleX, will be interviewing members of the audience.

During the artist reveal, the UMK chat will also be live, hosted by Aikku and Mellu, presenters from YleX’s afternoon show. The chat opens at 7:20 p.m., allowing fans to discuss the reveal in real time with other UMK followers.

Due to UMK’s international popularity, the programme will also be commentated in English. The English-language commentator is Jaakko Oleander.

During the 60-minute broadcast, viewers will be introduced not only to the UMK artists but also to the upcoming UMK season and its themes. The artist reveal ends at 8:30 p.m.

At midnight, the first song and music video of the UMK season will be released. All UMK songs will be released on weekdays between 15-23 January 2026 at midnight on Yle Areena, YouTube, and streaming services.

The UMK songs and artists were once again selected by several juries this year. The most influential was a jury made up of music professionals, chaired by Tapio Hakanen, Head of Yle Music.

In addition to the professional jury, five audience juries also contributed to the selections. These juries included a diverse group of representatives from different fields. The jury reform introduced last year proved successful and was continued this year.

From a large pool of entries, seven UMK competitors and songs have now been selected.

– This season’s artist and song lineup includes a charismatic performer making their debut release at UMK, an artist representing a very current sound, an internationally in-demand crowd-pleaser, a pioneer of their genre, a compelling duo of two distinctive performers, a dramatic pop track by a stunning vocalist, and a striking ballad from an internationally oriented artist, hints professional jury chair Tapio Hakanen.

From the artist reveal to the UMK show

The UMK26 season will culminate on Saturday, 28 February 2026, when the seven competitors take the stage at Nokia Arena in Tampere.

Each year, UMK reaches around 2 million viewers on television, and approximately 20,000 fans from Finland and abroad are expected to attend the UMK event at Nokia Arena.

During the two-hour live broadcast, the winner will be crowned as Finland’s Eurovision representative for 2026.

Get the latest UMK news at yle.fi/umk.