216 songs submitted for Estonia’s Eesti Laul 2019

Following the recent closure in the submissions process for the 2019 edition of Eesti Laul, Estonian broadcaster ERR has now revealed that 216 songs have been entered. This marks a small decline on the record-breaking 258 songs submitted to Eesti Laul 2018.

The entry fee has minimal impact

This year, ERR introduced a fee that must be paid for a song to be submitted to the selection. Indeed, the fee was €25 for songs submitted by Estonians. Then, for songs submitted by non-Estonians, €50 was be charged. This was to ensure a lack of “joke acts” would submit entries, as well as give an advantage to musicians native to Estonia. Therefore, a decrease of only 42 songs year-on-year can be considered impressive and a success for ERR.

Half of submitted entries in Estonian

Furthermore, ERR revealed that exactly half of the submitted entries were in the Estonian language. The other 108 songs are in another language, with English, Spanish, German and Russian-language songs amongst them.

Tickets on sale for Tartu and Tallinn

Tickets for Eesti Laul 2019 went on sale today. Tartu will host the two semi-finals, with Tallinn’s Saku Suurhall hosting the final as has become tradition for the competition. The two semi-finals will take place on January 31st and February 2nd, with the grand final taking place on February 16th.

Earlier this year, Elina Nechayeva won Eesti Laul 2018 in a landslide. As a result, she went on to represent Estonia and the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest with her operatic pop track La forza, finishing eighth in the grand final.

Are you looking forward to Eesti Laul 2019? Let us know @ESCXTRA!