Aksel Kankaanranta (born 28 January 1998) is a Finnish singer. He was due to represent

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The con ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

with the song " Looking Back", before the event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In 2017, he finished second in ''

The Voice of Finland ''The Voice of Finland'' is a Finnish reality singing competition and local version of ''The Voice'' first broadcast as ''The Voice of Holland''. The series premiered on Nelonen on 30 December 2011 and the first season concluded in April 2012. ...

''. He was born in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Eurovision Song Contest

Aksel Kankaanranta was scheduled to represent Finland at the

in Rotterdam with the song '' Looking Back'' after winning the Finnish national selection ''

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (; abbreviated UMK; en, italics=yes, Contest for New Music) is an annual music contest organised by the Finnish public broadcaster Yle. UMK began in 2012 as the new format for the Eurovision Song Contest, replacing the original Finnish Eurovisi ...

'', but then on 18 March, it was cancelled because of the

Coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. Later that month, the Finnish national broadcaster,

Yle Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

, announced they would not internally select Aksel, and he would have to participate in UMK 2021. In episode 2 of ''

Eurovision Home Concerts The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song "Arcade (song), Arcade" by Duncan La ...

'', Kankaanranta confirmed that he would audition for the 2021 edition of the national selection. Aksel participated in the national selection for

Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 Finland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song " Dark Side" written by Aleksi Kaunisvesi, Joonas Porko, Joel Hokka, Niko Moilanen and Olli Matela. The song was performed by the band Blind Channel. The Finnish broadcaster ...

with his song "Hurt". This time, he finished 5th in the final. Kankaanranta announced the Finnish jury votes at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2022 The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Måneskin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and h ...

Discography

Singles

References

1998 births 21st-century Finnish male singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Finland Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2020 Living people {{Finland-bio-stub