YLE, the Finnish national broadcaster, has unveiled the UMK 2025 hosts.

SANNI and Jasmi Beloued will have the grand honour of hosting the forthcoming edition of UMK.

UMK 2025 is scheduled to be held on Saturday 8 February in Tampere with a total 7 acts battling for the golden ticket to Eurovision 2025. YLE will be uneveiling the names of the 7 competing candidates on Wednesday 7 January during a special  live press conference.

SANNI, one of Finland’s most beloved pop artists, celebrated her remarkable 10th anniversary in the music industry last year. Renowned for her signature lyrics and bold pop melodies, she recently released her highly anticipated new album, Muutos, which she also produced. As an acclaimed songwriter, SANNI has earned widespread respect, winning three Emma Awards (Finland’s equivalent of the Grammys) and the Music Publishers’ Song of the Year award. Her hit single “2080-luvulla” became the most-played radio song in Finland over the past decade. With a career spanning five albums and one EP, SANNI’s music has garnered over 300 million streams, solidifying her place as a powerhouse in Finnish pop music.

SANNI says:

Hosting is really different from singing and I think this experience will bring me new ideas for performing. I’m sure that this will strengthen me as a performer in general.

For me, UMK means, in particular, celebrating new music and giving new music an opportunity to make it.

UMK is a wonderful community event where people gather together, both in the arena and in homes. It’s great to be part of this.

Jasmin Beloued is a journalist  from Yle’s Youth News. Jasmin began her career hosting Yle’s youth program Yle Galaxi in 2017 and gained further recognition in spring 2020 as the host of Yle’s special COVID-19 program for children. Since 2020, she has been a journalist for Yle’s children’s news service, Yle Mix, and since 2021, she has also reported from Finland’s prestigious Independence Day Reception. Jasmin, who comes from Pirkanmaa (a small town near Tampere), says that stepping on stage in front of her home audience makes her especially happy.

Jasmin  Beloued says:

Being part of UMK has been my dream for a long time, and I have had the opportunity to collaborate with the UMK production team in my role as a journalist. That was how I made myself visible to the UMK team, and eventually I received a request for test shoots and got to join the team. This production is full of top professionals, so even though the role is very nerve-racking, I feel very confident. I am also a Eurovision fangirl, so it feels like a great privilege to be in this role and hit the stage in front of the audience in Tampere.

We have a good vibe together, our energy merges and we are both performers and perfectionists in a good way. Also, I’ve been listening to SANNI’s music since day one, so this is a pretty special fan encounter for me!

Source: YLE
Photo credit: YLE /Nelli Kentta