Everything you need to know about Estonia's 'Eesti Laul' final

15 February 2024 at 16:49 CET

Alika from Estonia in the Eurovision 2023 studio Corinne Cumming / EBU

Estonia chooses its entry to the 68th Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday - here's your guide to following along on the evening.

How To Watch: 'Eesti Laul' is happening on Saturday 17 February. The start time is at 18:30 CET, with a 30-minute break for the news at 20:00. You'll be able to stream the show live over on the official Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel.

A total of 215 entries were submitted to Estonian broadcaster ERR in the hope of competing in the Baltic country's pre-selection for Malmö, Eesti Laul.

After an internal vote and a televised semi-final, we're now down to our final 10, with that ticket to Malmö finally in reaching distance for whoever triumphs at the Eesti Laul final on Saturday night.

5 acts qualified from the Eesti Laul semi-final in January Ken Mürk / ERR

The Tondiraba Ice Hall in Tallinn will play host to Eesti Laul at the weekend, as a live audience descends upon Estonia's capital city (via a detour through Rockefeller Street, no doubt) to see how the national final will play out.

10 songs will compete for the Eesti Laul win, following a semi-final in January which saw 5 songs voted through to this weekend's final, joining the 5 songs that Estonian broadcaster ERR had internally selected for an automatic place there.

It's the 16th edition of Eesti Laul since ERR launched the Estonian pre-selection in 2009, with many Eurovision fans from outside Estonia now tuning in to the highly-regarded competition every year.

In that time, Eesti Laul's winners have gone on to give Estonia a Top 10 finish at the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final 5 times; most recently at Liverpool in 2023, when Alika earned an 8th-place result with Bridges.

2023.05.12 Corinne Cumming - EBU-5832.jpg — Alika performing Bridges for Estonia at the Grand Final at Liverpool Arena Corinne Cumming / EBU

Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld will be our hosts on Saturday night, guiding us through the Eesti Laul final.

Regular Eesti Laul enthusiasts might recall that the pair also hosted together in 2021, and again in 2023. So they are well familiar with their roles by now, and will be taking viewers through the songs, the voting and all of the additional goings-on surrounding the 'superfinal'.

And with disco balls this enormous on display, we'd imagine they have a few show-stopping surprises in store for us, too!

Our hosts for the Eesti Laul final, Tõnis Niinemetsa and Grete Kuld Kairit leibold

Voting on the initial lineup of 10 songs will be done via both a public vote and an international jury vote. This will determine a Top 3, which will take 3 songs into a 'superfinal'.

These 3 songs will be performed again and voting will open once more. But this time, it will be solely the Estonian public that gets a say in deciding the winner.

After that final result is announced, we'll have the song and the artist that will be representing Estonia at the 68th Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö.

Estonia’s Stefan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 Grand Final EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett

Also performing for us on the night, we'll have some top-tier guest performances. But no doubt the highlight on the night will be a very special number dedicated to Estonia's very first participant at the Eurovision Song Contest - Silvi Vrait.

2024 marks 30 years since the historic moment when Estonia took to the Eurovision Song Contest stage for the very first time, as Silvi Vrait performed the song Nagu Merelaine for her country in 1994.

To celebrate the artist, who sadly passed away in 2013, the metal band HND, the rapper Gameboy Tetris, the pop artist Eleryn Tiit, the drum duo Muteko Taiko, and the dancers of the Dance Republic Dance School, will come together for what's promised to be a spectacular performance on the Eesti Laul stage, paying homegae to the songs of the late artist.

Silvi Vrait performed Nagu Merelaine for Estonia in Dublin in 1994

Below, you can listen to all 10 competing entries in the order that they'll be performed in on Saturday night.

None of the artists have represented Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest before. One of the songwriters behind Over The Moon is Victor Crone, who was the Estonian participant in 2019. And the writer behind Serotoniin is Sven Lõhmus, who composed the Estonian Eurovision entries in 2005, 2009, 2011 and 2017.