As six other countries, Estonia broadcast the first semi-final of national selection Eesti Laul. Like last year, there will be two semi-finals and a final on the 4th of March. In the end, we will find out who will succeed Jüri Pootsman and try to bring Estonia back to the Eurovision final.
Tonight’s was the first of two semi-finals. There were ten artists fighting for a ticket to perform in the final round. At the end of the show, five acts got through to the final.
The Songs
Lennaa Kuurmaa – Slingshot
This is a powerful ballad with good voice quality. The song is strong right from the beginning. This artist has participated many times in Eesti Laul. She even represented Switzerland in 2005 as part of the rock band named Vanilla Ninja. The stage was filled light and dancers and was pleasant to watch. The singer also made some dance moves while she sang the song perfectly. Compared to the studio version though, the lost some power in its live performance.
Elina Born – In Or Out
Elina is known due to her participation with Stig Rasta in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, where they finished seventh. This time it is alone, in Esti Laul 2017, that she will try to represent her country. The song is written also by Stig Rasta. She was dressed as a sexy woman with a simple staging with blue and purple colours. Her vocals were on point and she appeared to have much fun performing.
Carl-Philip – Everything But You
The song of Carl-Philip is also a catchy tune with a chorus showing the strong vocal abilities of the artist. The song is a love song and we can feel the sentiment running through it. The staging had the same colour as the one used for Elina. The vocals of Carl-Philip are good and reach the high notes very well in the chorus.
Ivo Linna – Suur Loterii
Ivo is known for having represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 with the song Kaelakee Hääl. The song is in the Estonian language and is a sweet ballad. It is relaxing and didn’t feel like a dated song. The staging was black and white with some pink colours appearing. The performance was very simple but very smooth with very good vocals.
Ariadne – Feel Me Now
The entry of Ariadne is a soft pop song. This is a simple melody but it is kind of magical and sticks in the mind for a long time. The voice of Ariadne is very sweet like the melody of her song. The magic of the song was still there when she sang it live. She was simply dressed in a white outfit and looked very beautiful. Her vocals were on point and delivered a very beautiful moment.
Uku Suviste – Supernatural
The song that Uku is proposing to us is an uptempo song with a bit of disco background in the chorus. The song is very catchy and we can discover the very strong voice of the artist in the chorus. The staging was very similar technically. He used effects with the LED screen to create some ‘magical’ stuff. The vocals were very well done and kept the energy of the song delivers going.
Laura Prits – Hey Kiddo
This entry seems a bit childish for an adult song contest. It is a simple sweet song that is reminiscent of Junior Eurovision. Thus the message of the song is more mature than the song itself. The staging was very childish, in keeping with the music of the song. There were some bicycles on the stage and the performers were dressed as teenagers. The vocals of Laura were very poor even though the song was not that difficult to sing.
Karl-Kristjan & Whogaux feat. Maian – Have You Now
The song has modern vibes about it and the duet is very pleasant to hear. The modernity of the song adds something catchy to it. The female vocals add something sweet to it. The stage had a space theme behind the singers. The vocals were sometimes a bit off but it stayed enjoyable. Behind them, two dancers performed around them.
Janno Reim & Kosmos – Valan Pisaraid
Valan Pisaraid is a country type of music. It feels a bit too old-fashioned to compete with a song like this in 2017. The song is in Estonian but makes us think of Westerns and all the stuff with them. The staging was simple, a bit too dark. The vocals were sometimes very bad for a rock song.
Leemet Onno – Hurricane
The last song begins with a country background, too. This one is more modern than the previous one and is pleasant to hear. The title and the genre of the music brings to mind a hurricane in Texas, USA. The song sounds the same as the studio version. His vocals were exactly the same to the point that one might think Leemet was miming to a recording (he was not of course). The staging was delivering the message of the song through a choreography with shadow effects in red and black.
The Show
This year, the hosts of the first-semi final of Eesti Laul were Marko Reikop and Elina Netšajeva. Marko is used to Eurovision events. Indeed, he has presented Eesti Laul on many occasions and, since 1999, has been the Eurovision commentator for Estonia.
The show began with an opera number with a piano. The number was about calling the host of the semi final. After that musical number, the participants were introduced with a small defile in the green room.
After each performances, the participants had to answer questions of the hosts and the tweets of the audience and discuss a bit about the performances, etc…Before the song number 5, the juries were introduced by the hosts. They discussed a bit about the songs of tonight.
At the end of all the prformances, the traditional recap is shown to help people to choose the five qualifiers of the night. After that the results will be shown and see who will have the chance to perform again in the 4th of March.
The interval act was a small clip about a fan of Eurovision collecting things about the Estonian representative such as sample of hair, nails ( from the swing used in a performance ), etc…
While we were waiting for the last qualifier to be announced, we had the right to watch a recap of the second semi final of next week in Eesti Laul.
The Results
The results were decided, half by jury and half by the public through tele-voting. In the end, the top five acts will proceed to the final.
| Draw | Artists | Song | Result | ||||
| 01 | Elina Born | In Or Out | Qualified | ||||
| 02 | Carl-Philip | Everything But You | |||||
| 03 | Laura Prits | Hey Kiddo | |||||
| 04 | Leemet Onno | Hurricane | |||||
| 05 | Ivo Linna | Suur Loterii | Qualified | ||||
| 06 | Lenna Kuurmaa | Slingshot | Qualified | ||||
| 07 | Karl-Kristjan & Whogaux feat. Maian | Have You Know | Qualified | ||||
| 08 | Janno Reim & Kosmos | Valan Pisaraid | |||||
| 09 | Ariadne | Feel Me Now | Qualified | ||||
| 10 | Uku Sevitse | Supernatural |
Estonia in Eurovision Song Contest
Estonia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 with a small score of two points. Though, the country was not last in that year’s edition.
The country has managed to win the contest only once, in 2001, with Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL. Since then, the country has finished in the top 3 of a Eurovision final once, with a third place in 2002.
The Baltic country missed some finals since the introduction of the semi-finals. In total, Estonia has failed to qualify eight times out of thirteen attempts to reach the Eurovision Grand Final. The most recent non-qualifier for the country was Jüri Pootsmann. Last year, he finished last in his semi-final with the entry Play, written by Stig Rasta, who represented Estonia in 2015 with Elina Born. Unlike Jüri, they finished in seventh place in the Grand Final.
Below, you can watch our video of last year’s Eesti Laul winner Jüri performing his entry in Stockholm.
