UMK | Mikael Gabriel is accused of cultivating conspiracy theories, but what does he really think?

Plasterer Mikael Gabriel know how to make headlines.

The musician, who released his first album 15 years ago, is one of Finland's most famous rap artists. In addition to his music, he has been in the public eye thanks to his outrageous opinions and actions.

That's why it's no surprise that among the participants in this year's New Music Competition, it was Mikael Gabriel's song that caused a stir before the final.

Mikael Gabriel, real name Mikael Sohlmanwill be performed at UMK together with an Estonian rapper Nublu with the title of the song Vox populi. The Latin term means the voice of the people that is sung about in the song's chorus.

“Vox populi, all opinions are equally wrong / Vox populi, if you are lions, why is your pack roaring? / Vox populi, and we will never hold our heads / Vox populi, vox populi, we are the voice of the people / Vox populi, vox populi, let's shout to the ends of the earth”

Soon after the release of the song, a discussion began about whether to distribute it Vox populi conspiracy theories. Rumba headlined of his article “Mikael Gabriel courting the voices of conspiracy theorists at UMK” written about the song. The story did not explain what exactly this refers to.

The next day, among others, a security policy observer who writes columns for Yle Janne Riiheläinen wrote in the message service X from the song. According to Riihäinen Vox populi is full of references to the views and terms of conspiracy theorists. Riiheläinen also saw a connection to Russia in the song.

“A particularly interesting phrase is 'all opinions are equally wrong'. So the idea is that the ideas presented are on the same line despite the facts and there is no truth. This is one of the central claims of Russian information influence,” Riiheläinen wrote.

The following week, Mikael Gabriel denied In the case of HS, that the song had anything to do with conspiracy theories. in X he said that he thought Riiheläinen's message thread was a parody.

Although Mikael Gabriel denies it Vox populin caused interpretations, they have hardly come as a complete surprise to him.

The rapper has often played with themes in his music, which he knows will cause confusion. At the same time, however, he doesn't say anything really incriminating, and leaves open what he really thinks about things.

This is not the first time he has been accused of spreading conspiracy theories. Now the accusations have only gained much more publicity.

Before singing about “rocky sheep”, the musician is It was meant to be – with the song longing for the times when “the waters were not fluoridated”.

Straightforward social criticism has been offered, for example, in the song But I don't say that (“I bite my teeth when I see who's in power here / I wanted to say fuck politics, fuck Sanna Marin / But I don't say that”).

Vox populin the music video shows footage of the hearing and the lizard man. They have been interpreted as references to well-known conspiracy theories that man has not really been to the Moon and that the world's elite are actually lizards in human form.

Done with JVG in 2022 Teddy bears-song's video is a straight pastiche Matrixfrom the movie. In the center is a choice between a red and a blue pill (or teddy bear). The red pill refers to the idea of ​​the extreme right-wing circles of the internet about seeing the “truth” under the current liberal worldview.

If you want, you can consider the style disturbing. Or you can interpret it like a dissertation researcher Matias Nurminen Vox populi In the case of HS.

“However, this song is not such a controlled entity that it has a clear hidden message, but it is a pile of different metaphors.”

What Does Mikael Sohlman really think about social issues?

At least he has enough opinions. It is already exceptional in itself, because in recent years the reluctance of mainstream artists to take a political stand has been updated several times.

For example, the end of 2023 In YleX's story the musicians, who remained anonymous, said that they don't want or dare to comment on current issues, because the reaction to exits is more aggressive than before.

Sohlman commented. Published in March 2019 In the matter of the monthly supplement Sohlman presented his social ideas. Among other things, the rapper listed nine things that concern him in society, the last four of which are these:

“If we talk about things that we want to keep in the dark, one of the biggest is how Israel controls the world economy and the world's weapons.”

“We are too silent about chemical fertilizers, even though they are already being talked about quite a bit.”

“I'll say it directly: Anne Berner. It does something sheidi saletically.”

“Juha Sipilä is the kind of jerk that should be investigated.”

Last years Sohlman has been particularly active in the messaging service X.

For this story, all of Sohlman's messages on X from August 2020 to today have been reviewed. In August 2020, he announced his departure from Twitter, but returned the following summer.

He has been worried about, among other things due to the increase in the price of electricity, about forced vaccinations of nurses, Sanna Marini from the government, from excessive taxation, about the lack of good candidates in the US presidential elections and about a film about drag kids that he experienced as “sexualizing children”..

During Marin's government, Sohlman wondered in many tweets to what extent it was the sitting government's fault that the price of electricity was expensive at the end of 2022. Above all, Sohlman criticized Marini's government for its corona policy and unreasonable corona restrictions.

In the 2023 parliamentary elections, Sohlman supported the coalition Elina from Valto (cook). In the presidential elections, Sohlman has been the candidate of the voters association Pekka Haaviston (green) visible supporter.

Sohlman has shown social activity in the JVG duo By Jare Brand and Ville Gallen with by distributing food bags to the needy in Malmi during Christmas for years.

Over the years, Mikael Sohlman has taken a stand on many social issues. Picture: Rio Gandara / HS

Sohlman's social media messages often move between joking and taking a serious stand. For example, when Sohlman surprised electricity at the end of 2023 with the words “someone is screwing us“, he added a crying emoticon after the message.

Sohlman's communication style also includes reacting to answers with gif animations, which may imply that the reader has not understood Sohlman's idea.

In December 2022, Sohlman tweeted the quote “due to climate change and warming, it is now snowing and cold” and wondered how the cold in winter could be the cause of climate change. The post garnered nearly a thousand likes.

Many interpreted the tweet as Sohlman denying the effects of climate change, but the rapper said he only meant to say that winter in December is not a sign of climate change. It remained unclear who had claimed this.

Sohlman's style also includes, to say the least, cautiously stirring up doubts in the media.

When a hockey player Teemu Selänne wrote last summer “thoughts about the media” and reflected on how “today's journalists ruthlessly push their own agenda”, Sohlman shared the tweet and praised it in his comment.

There is one something that Sohlman hears more about than anything else. No matter what he writes in X, the comments always ask the same thing:

“Do you still have it? Putin tattooed on the calf?”

In 2016, as a result of losing a bet, Sohlman tattooed the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin on his calf.

“I've studied Putin, read his interviews, his biography and watched many, many documentaries, so I have a good idea of ​​what kind of man he is, and that's why I look up to him because it gets more time than anyone else,” he wrote in 2016.

A little later, Sohlman told IS that he doesn't necessarily think the same way about things as Putin, but the president exudes a bossy attitude. “Mr. Vladimir is the one who is closest to my own worldview and who talks the way things should be talked about,” he continued.

In 2019, Sohlman covered Putin's tattoo with a lion when Finland won the gold medal in the World Ice Hockey Championship. When Russia launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022, Sohlman had to take a stand.

“To all of you who are interested in my opinion about Putin, because I once had his face on my knee: I on
ce believed that he would not pursue peaceful solutions while following his actions. I'm sorry I didn't get into that thread. The more years have passed, the more I've noticed that it's not nearly like this,” Sohlman wrote on Instagram.

“For a long time now, Putin has seemed to me like a dictator who the people don't dare oppose and who does whatever he wants.”

In 2016, Mikael Gabriel's Putin tattoo was not covered. Picture: Pete Aarre-Ahtio

Today's there is a style that has become common in online discussions over the years, where it is difficult to tell where the joking or trolling ends and presenting the right opinion begins. One person who has attracted massive attention in this way has been a rapper Kanye West.

In 2022, editor of HS Aino Frilander wrote, that West has succeeded in creating a perpetual motion picture: West says and does outrageous things, and the media makes headlines out of them. The attention seemed to tighten him into more and more strange positions.

In Sohlman, you can see a similar effort. The rapper is hardly bothered by the fact that X's commentators or the mainstream media create additional attention for his song by considering its lyrics in detail.

At the same time, Sohlman can laugh at the attention in messages to his own fans and let it be understood that once again he has been misunderstood.

Eventually only Sohlman himself knows the truth about Sohlman's world view. It would have been nice to ask him himself.

Sohlman will not have time to answer questions due to UMK's busy schedule, the spokesperson announced.