Estonia: Eesti Laul 2022 First Quarterfinal contestants revealed

Estonia: Eesti Laul 2022 First Quarterfinal contestants revealed
Monday, 15 November 2021

  • The Estonian national broadcaster, ERR, has revealed the contestants of the first quarterfinal of Eesti Laul 2022, the show that will select the Estonian Eurovision 2022 hopeful. 

    A total of 202 songs were submitted to the ESC 2022  Estonian national selection 2022, 40 of which will be presented to the public for the first time in the quarter-finals. The first quarterfinals are set to take place on Saturday, November 20th.

    The songs submitted to the Estonian Song 2022 competition were evaluated by the pre-jury formed by Andi Raig, Bert Järvet, Eda-Ines Etti, Eric Kammiste, Heili Klandorf, Henri Laumets, Hugo Martin Maasikas, Jürgen Pärnsalu, Kadiah, Kaspar Viilup, Kerli Kivilaan, Lauri Laubre, Leonardo Romanello Liis Lemsalu, Meelis Meri, Tarmo Hõbe, Thea Paluoja. 

    A total of 10 candidates will compete in each quarter final. Namely the acts along with their song titles and the authors behind them are: 

    • Boamadu - “Mitte kauaks” (Not for long)  (Peeter Priks, Keith Mutvei)
    • Evelin Samuel - "Waterfall"  (Glen Pilvre, Priit Pajusaar, Katrin Pärn)
    • Fiona and Me -"Feel Like This”  (Fiona and Me)
    • Jaagup Tuisk - “Kui vaid”  (If Only)  (Jaagup Tuisk, Rita Bavanati, Lauri Räpp)
    • Kéa - "Everytime" (Andrei Zevakin, Ketter Orav)
      Little Fair - “Hea päev”  (Good Day)  (Timo Vendt, Tanja Mihhailova-Saar, Andra Teede)
    • Maian - “Meeletu" (Madman)  (Maian Lomp, Gevin Niglas)
    • Peter Moose - “Koos lõpuni”  (Together to the End)  (Peter Moose, Raul Krebs)
    • Stig Rästa  - "Interstellar"  (Stig Rästa, Victor Crone,Herman Gardarfve, David Lingren Zacharias, Fred Krieger)
    • Traffic - “Kaua veel” (For a Long Time)  (Karl Killing, Andreas Poom, Fred Krieger, Silver Laas, Vallo Kikas)

     

    Among the candidates of this quarter final are two past Estonian ESC representatives. Evelin Samuel represented the country back in 1999 alongside Camille singing “Diamond of Night”. Stig Rästa represented Estonia in 2015 in a duo with Elina Born with “Goodbye to Yesterday” and had penned the Estonian entries in 2016 and 2019.

    ERR will publish the line-ups and presenters of the quarterfinals on four consecutive Mondays during "Ringvaate".

     

    The 2022 Eesti Laul format

    The Estonian national selection will consist of four quarterfinals , two semi final heats and a grand final show which will unfold according to the following dates: 

    Eesti Laul 2022 will unfold over the next months as following: 

    • 20/11/2021 - 1st Quarterfinal
    • 27/11/2021 - 2nd Quarterfinal
    • 04/12/2021 - 3rd Quarterfinal
    • 11/12/2021- 4th Quarterfinal
    • 03/02/2022 - First Semifinal
    • 05/02/2022 - Second Semifinal
    • 12/02/2022 - Grand Final      

     

    All four quarter-finals will take place live.. Five candidates will advance to each quarter final as a result of the jury and audience voting. Three songs will be chosen by the public and two by a jury. The songs will be presented as music videos.

    The quarter-finals willl be hosted by well-known artists who have a close connection with both Eesti Laul and Eurovision. Tanel Padar and Eda-Ines Etti, who represented Estonia at Eurovision, will lead the first quarter-final.

    In the two semi finals, five acts will qualify to the final from each heat. Each semi final round will feature two round of voting:  winners of the first round will be determined by the jury vote and televoting, while the winners of the second round will be decided by the televoting.

    Same format will be implemented for the Grand final show that will see also two rounds of voting. In the first round the qualifiers to the Superfinal second round will be decided by a combination of Jury and public voting while in the Superfinal round the final winner and next Eurovision representative will be selected exclusively by the public. 

     

    Estonia in Eurovision 

    Estonia joined the Eurovision family in 1994 . On their debut participation they were represented by Silvi Vrait, who finished 2nd last with only 2 points. Seven years later the country was crowned winner of  Eurovision Song Contest 2001 for the first and only time until today. Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL, performed the song Everybody and against all odds achieved to bring the trophy from Copenhagen in Estonia.

    However this success didn’t continue as Estonia failed to qualify for the final from 2004-2008. In 2009 after successive bad results led to the establishment of Eesti Laul, as the show through which the country has been selecting its Eurovision entries the last ten years, having seven times qualified to the final.
    In 2019 with Swedish singer, Victor Crone won Eesti Laul 2019 and rerpesented Estonia with his song, “Storm”. The Estonian representative finished in 20th place in the final with 76 points, marking Estonia’s qualification to the final for a second year in a row.

    Uku won the Estonian national final back in February 2020 with his entry “What Love Is” and along with it the right to reprsent Estonian at Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam. Unfortunately the contest never took place cause of the coronavirus pandemic leaving Uku’s ESC journey incomplete.

    However, the Estonian act was given a pass to compete in Eesti Laul 2021 finals, which he eventually won again with his song 'The Lucky One' and went off to representing the country in Rotterdam. Uku competed in the second semi final and depsite his strong performance didn't make it to the Grand Final. 

    News Source/Image: ERR