Estonia: The 'Eesti Laul' final line-up 🇪🇪
12 February 2022 at 14:00 CET📺 TUNE IN: The Eesti Laul final will begin at 18:30 CET on Saturday 12 February. Estonian broadcaster ERR have set up a live stream so that anyone can tune in to proceedings.
After a round of quarter finals in December and 2 semi finals which were broadcast earlier in February, Estonian broadcaster ERR now has the final line-up of 10 songs in the running to be Estonia’s Eurovision hopeful in May.
Eesti Laul has been the format used for selecting the Baltic nation’s Eurovision Song Contest entry since 2009. In this year’s final line-up of 10 (which has been arrived at from an opening field of 40 contenders), we have no less than 4 artists who have previously represented Estonia at Eurovision, with each one having given the country a Top 10 placing at the Contest.
Your hosts for the evening will be Maarja-Liis Ilus, Priit Loog and Jüri Pootsmann. They’ll be guiding you through these 10 finalists, one of whom will be making the journey to Turin for Estonia; potentially via Rockefeller Street, possibly even through Verona.
Elina Nechayeva – Remedy
(Sven Lõhmus)
A familiar name to Eurovision viewers, the soprano gave Estonia an 8th-place finish in Lisbon in 2018, with her song La Forza.
📺 Watch: Elina Nechayeva – Remedy
Andrei Zevakin feat. Grete Paia – Mis Nüüd Saab
(Andrei Zevakin, Henry Orlov, Grete Paia)
A collaboration between 2 Eesti Laul stalwarts, Andrei competed only last year in 2021, while Grete has previously tried her luck in 2013, 2016 and 2019.
📺 Watch: Andrei Zevakin feat. Grete Paia – Mis Nüüd Saab
Jaagup Tuisk – Kui Vaid
(Jaagup Tuisk, Rita Bavanati, Lauri Räpp)
This is Jaagup’s second time competing in Eesti Laul, with the artist having debuted in the 2020 contest.
📺 Watch: Jaagup Tuisk – Kui Vaid
Elysa – Fire
(Linnea Deb, Ellen Benediktson, Andreas Stone, Elisa Kolk, Indrek Rahumaa)
Since her debut at Eesti Laul 2015, Elysa has been biding her time for a return, waiting until now to compete a second time.
Ott Lepland – Aovalguses
(Ott Lepland, Maian Anna Kärmas, Karl-Ander Reismann)
Ott gave Estonia a 6th-place finish at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, with his unforgettable ballad Kuula.
📺 Watch: Ott Lepland – Aovalguses
Stig Rästa – Interstellar
(Stig Rästa, Fred Krieger, Victor Crone, Herman Gardarfve, David Lindgren Zacharias)
Along with singer Elina Born, Stig represented Estonia at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna with the song Goodbye to Yesterday, which finished 6th on the final scoreboard. He also co-wrote the song Storm by Victor Crone, which represented Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019. This year, Victor is returning the favour for Stig.
📺 Watch: Stig Rästa – Interstellar
Minimal Wind ft. Elisabeth Tiffany – What To Make Of This
(Paula Pajusaar, Taavi-Hans Kõlar, Elisabeth Tiffany Lepik, Ralf Erik Kollom)
Minimal Wind is a collective of friends that make music and art together, while also each having their own solo projects on the go. Their music style ranges from soulful r&b and pop, to indie and instrumental.
📺 Watch: Minimal Wind ft. Elisabeth Tiffany – What To Make Of This
Stefan – Hope
(Stefan Airapetjan, Karl-Ander Reismann)
Stefan has previously competed in the 2018, 2019 and 2020 editions of Eesti Laul. He’s also recently popped up (from under a mask) on The Masked Singer Estonia!
Anna Sahlene – Champion
(Anna Sahlene, Nicklas Ecklund, Dagmar Oja, Kaire Vilgats)
Anna Sahlene represented Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest 20 years ago, back in 2002, when it took place on home soil for Estonia, in Tallinn. Her song Runaway finished in 3rd place, a position that the Baltic country has yet to improve upon since.
📺 Watch: Anna Sahlene – Champion
Black Velvet – Sandra
(Sven Lõhmus)
Black Velvet are a musical ensemble who have been on the go since 1996. Founding member Sven Lõhmus has composed no less than 4 Estonian Eurovision entries.
📺 Watch: Black Velvet – Sandra
The Voting
Voting in the Eesti Laul final will be done across 2 rounds.
During the first round of voting, all 10 artists will perform their potential Eurovision entries, with a public vote making up 50% of the score and a jury contributing the other 50%. This will result in the 10 acts being whittled down to a final 3.
In the second round of voting, the top 3 songs will be performed again, and this time a public vote will be the sole format used for determining the winner.
That winner will then represent Estonia at the 66th Eurovision Song Contest in Turin.
Let us know what you think of the selection via the official Eurovision Song Contest YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook channels.