Estonia 2025: Changes announced for 'Eesti Laul' pre-selection

16 September 2024 at 17:00 CEST

5MIINUST x Puuluup celebrate for Estonia in the Green Room at the Second Semi-Final at Malmö Arena Alma Bengtsson / EBU

Estonian broadcaster ERR has announced details of its pre-selection for Basel 2025, including some changes for the popular national final 'Eesti Laul'.

050524_Sarah Louise Bennett_EBU_25344.jpg — 5MIINUST x Puuluup representing Estonia at the Opening Ceremony at Malmö Live Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU

It's an overhaul of the 'Laul'!

In February, the Estonian national final Eesti Laul will once again select the country's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. But the format of the Estonian pre-selection has undergone some slight changes ahead of Basel 2025.

The main alteration to Eesti Laul 2025 will be the fact that it's being reduced to a concise one-night event.

In previous years, the Baltic pre-selection has had its big final preceded by one or multiple semi-finals. But there's only one date to remember for Eesti Laul ahead of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, and that's the big event taking place on Saturday 15 February.

Fans of the annual opportunity to be introduced to Estonian music will be pleased to learn that the final is going to be a bumper one - with 16 songs set to take part, competing for victory.

On the night, once all songs have been performed, an audience vote and a jury vote will decide on three 'superfinalists'. A public vote will then open again to choose the Eesti Laul 2025 winner, and Estonia's song for Basel.

Ahead of the Eesti Laul broadcast, 15 of the songs will be selected by an expert jury out of all the applications received by Estonian broadcaster ERR. One last song will then be chosen by a public vote, and Eesti Laul 2025 will have its full lineup.

Song submissions opened on Monday 16 September and will stay open until 11:00 CEST on Monday 21 October. The successful applicants will be announced at some point in November, with the songs heard for the first time in December.

The full rules of Eesti Laul 2025, as well as details on how to apply, can be found on ERR's website.

At the 2024 Contest in Malmö, Estonia was represented by 5MIINUST x Puuluup and their song (Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi. The crowd-pleaser reached the Grand Final, where it finished in 20th place.

The result was Estonia's third Grand Final appearance in as many years.

You can listen to all 37 songs of Eurovision 2024 via your favourite streaming service or watch the music videos on our YouTube channel.

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