Erika Vikman is representing Finland in 2025 with her song "Ich Komme"
And before we get to that, I want to share Erika's history with Eurovision.
Wikipedia says she was a finalist on the Finnish version of Idol, starting her career as a Finnish Tango dancer (I guess it's it's own tango flavor but I don't dance).
in 2020, she came in second at UMK (Finland's National Final) with her song "Cicciolina." Please bear with me on the history... Cicciolina the person is an Italian porn actress who was the first person to bare her breasts on Italian TV. She was 9 years later elected to Italian Parliament. Seems like an interesting person. I do NOT know how this song or her notable backup dancers escaped my notice til now, but the song is a bop. This song was a top 5 in the charts in Finland, and put her music and career in the international spotlight. (video below)
After Kaarija's divisive second place win in Eurovision in 2023, there was a lot of interest in Finland's 2024 entry and rumors flying around. Will Erika come back to Eurovision? Her career had grown and she seemed open to the idea. Kaarija made an expected performance as an interval act in UMK 2024, then mid-song who appears? At the top of the stairs, Erika Vikman entraps Kaarija with her voice and magic. "Ruoska" is a great song, and is in my permanent playlist. This song was #1 in Finland and again had international fame. (Video is Below).
This year, the rumors were true, and Erika competed in and won UMK 2025. Now if you're going to watch a national final - holy smokes the songs and acts were all absolutely great. I still haven't watched the whole thing, but there is an english commentator version that I will be watching.
Erika brought her song "Ich Komme" Which is German, yes, but it translates to "I'm Coming" in english. The song is "the joyous message of pleasure, ecstasy and a state of trance." Just a reminder to folks that the Finnish government was NOT founded by puritans, and it's really cold there. They don't have the same stigma on sex as Americans heading to theocracy. If anyone had any doubt about the meaning or intention of the song, the music video will banish it. It's... sticky. On the Official Finnish Charts, Ich Komme has topped at #2, and been on the charts for 3 weeks so far. Her stage performance left some imagination and probably won't get sensored by the BBC, but WOW what a performance. Great Vocals, stage presence, and the song, again, is a bop.
Now when you think of Finland and Eurovision, there's Lordii, there's Kaarija, and there's Erika.
She won so I put the live performance in the official playlist. The music video is below.