Aksel Kankaanranta

Aksel
Birth name	Aksel Kankaanranta
Born	(1998-01-28) 28 January 1998 (age 26) Turku, Finland
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	2017–present

Aksel Kankaanranta (born 28 January 1998)^[1] is a Finnish singer. He was due to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam with the song "Looking Back", before the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] In 2017, he finished second in The Voice of Finland.^[3] He was born in Turku.

Eurovision Song Contest[edit]

Aksel Kankaanranta was scheduled to represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam with the song "Looking Back" after winning the Finnish national selection Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, but then on 18 March, it was cancelled because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Later that month, the Finnish national broadcaster, Yle, announced they would not internally select Aksel, and he would have to participate in UMK 2021. In episode 2 of Eurovision Home Concerts, 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 with his song "Hurt". This time, he finished 5th in the final.

Kankaanranta announced the Finnish jury votes at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

Discography[edit]

Singles[edit]

Title	Year	Peak chart positions	Album
Title	Year	FIN^[4]	Album
"Jättiläinen" (with Pyhimys)	2018	1	Non-album singles
"Looking Back"	2020	—
"Hurt"	2021	—

References[edit]

^ Jokihaara, Teea (2 April 2020). "Aksel Kankaanrannan viisukevät vaihtui viulunsoittoon". ts.fi (in Finnish). Turun Sanomat. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
^ "Finland: Aksel Kankaanranta wins UMK 2020 with "Looking Back"". wiwibloggs. 7 March 2020.
^ "Aksel Kankaanrannan koskettava Looking Back -biisi kehottaa elämään hetkessä". yle.fi. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
^ "finnishcharts.com - Aksel Kankaanranta - Muista kuka oot". finnishcharts.com. Retrieved 18 January 2022.

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman with "Look Away"	Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 (cancelled)	Succeeded by Blind Channel with "Dark Side"

v t e Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu
Participation	1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 ~~2020~~ 2021 2022 2023 2024
Artists	Saara Aalto ~~Aksel~~ Markku Aro Ami Aspelund Monica Aspelund Nina Åström Beat Blind Channel Boulevard Carita CatCat Darude Edea Kim Floor Fredi Laila Halme Kristina Hautala Jarkko and Laura Jasmine Käärijä Kaija Katri Helena Laila Kinnunen Kirka Viktor Klimenko Koivisto Sisters Kojo Kari Kuivalainen Kuunkuiskaajat Laura Vesa-Matti Loiri Lordi Sonja Lumme Lasse Mårtenson Norma John Ann-Christine Nyström Hanna Pakarinen Päivi Paunu Paradise Oskar Pave Pernilla Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät Pihasoittajat The Rasmus Sebastian Rejman Geir Rönning Vicky Rosti Marion Rung Anneli Saaristo Sandhja Krista Siegfrids Jari Sillanpää Seija Simola Softengine Riki Sorsa Teräsbetoni Waldo's People Windows95man
Songs	"Aava" "Addicted to You" "Aina mun pitää" "Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus" "Aurinko laskee länteen" "Blackbird" "Bye Bye Baby" "Cha Cha Cha" "Da Da Dam" "Dark Side" "La dolce vita" "Eläköön elämä" "Fantasiaa" "Fri?" "Hard Rock Hallelujah" "Hengaillaan" "Huilumies" "Hullu yö" "Jezebel" "Katson sineen taivaan" "Keep Me Warm" "Kuin silloin ennen" "Kun kello käy" "Laiskotellen" "Lapponia" "Leave Me Alone" "A Little Bit" "Look Away" ~~"Looking Back"~~ "Lose Control" "Marry Me" "Missä miehet ratsastaa" "Monsters" "Muistathan" "Muistojeni laulu" "När jag blundar" "Nauravat silmät muistetaan" "Never the End" "Niin kaunis on taivas" "No Rules!" "Nuku pommiin" "Old Man Fiddle" "Playboy" "Pump-Pump" "Reggae OK" "Sata salamaa" "Sing It Away" "Something Better" "Takes 2 to Tango" "Tie uuteen päivään" "Tipi-tii" "Tom Tom Tom" "Tule luo" "Työlki ellää" "Valoa ikkunassa" "Varjoon – suojaan" "Why?" "Yamma, yamma"
Note: Entries scored out signify where Finland did not compete

v t e Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Countries	Albania Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Latvia Lithuania Malta Moldova Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom
Artists	Aksel Eden Alene Alicja Arilena Ara Ben and Tan Vincent Bueno Blas Cantó Benny Cristo Daði og Gagnamagnið Destiny Diodato Ben Dolic Efendi Elisa Gjon's Tears Go_A Natalia Gordienko Hooverphonic Hurricane Damir Kedžo Tornike Kipiani Tom Leeb Little Big Jeangu Macrooy The Mamas Athena Manoukian Montaigne James Newman The Roop Roxen Lesley Roy Sandro Senhit Ana Soklič Stefania Uku Suviste Samanta Tīna Ulrikke VAL Vasil Victoria
Songs	"Alcohol You" "Alive" "All of My Love" "Attention" "Chains on You" "Cleopatra" "Da vidna" "Divlji vjetre" "Don't Break Me" "Empires" "Fai rumore" "Fall from the Sky" "Feker Libi" "Freaky!" "Grow" "Hasta la vista" "Kemama" "Looking Back" "Medo de sentir" "Mon alliée (The Best in Me)" "Move" "My Last Breath" "On Fire" "Prison" "Release Me" "Répondez-moi" "Running" "Solovey" "Still Breathing" "Story of My Life" "Supergirl" "Take Me as I Am" "Tears Getting Sober" "Think About Things" "Universo" "Uno" "Violent Thing" "Voda" "What Love Is" "Yes" "You"
Replacement shows and events	Der kleine Song Contest Eurovision 2020 – das deutsche Finale Eurovision: Come Together Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light EurovisionAgain Sveriges 12:a

This Finnish biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF
National	Germany
Artists	MusicBrainz