Earlier this year Estonian broadcaster ERR announced their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, taking place in Turin, Italy. Following this, they later revealed their intention to expand the format of selection show, Eesti Laul 2022 to include a quarter-final stage. After surprises already in Quarter-Final 1 and Quarter-Final 2, but a fairly obvious result in Quarter-Final 3, tonight during Ringvaade, ERR has revealed the final 10 acts that will take part in Quarter-Final 4 on December 11.
Eesti Laul 2022 Quarter-Final 4 line-up
Tonight during the Estonian TV show, Ringvaade, ERR announced the final ten acts taking part in Eesti Laul 2022. Below are the fourth Quarter-Finalists.
- Ariadne – ‘Shouldn’t Be Friends’ (Liina Ariadne Pedanik, Martti Hallik, Sofi Meronen, Aleksi Liski)
- Black Velvet – ‘Sandra’ (Sven Lõhmus)
- Dramanda – ‘Tule minu sisse’ (Amanda Hermiine Künnapas, Hendrik Põlluste)
- Eleryn Tiit – ‘Tunnete keel’ (Karl Killing, Gevin Niglas, Eleryn Tiit, Aron Blom)
- ELYSA – ‘Fire’ (Linnea Deb, Ellen Benediktson, Andreas Stone, Elisa Kolk, Indrek Rahumaa)
- EMILY J. – ‘Quicksilver’ (Vallo Kikas, Emili Jürgens, Ani Nnebedum, Aleksanteri Hulkko)
- Jessica – ‘My Mom’ (Steven Ilves, Jessica Rohelpuu)
- Minimal Wind ft. elisabeth tiffany – ‘What To Make Of This’ (Paula Pajusaar, Taavi-Hans Kõlar, Elisabeth Tiffany Lepik, Ralf Erik Kollom)
- Ott Lepland – ‘Aovalguses’ (Ott Lepland, Maian Anna Kärmas, Karl-Ander Reismann)
- Púr Múdd, Shira – ‘Golden Shores’ (Madis Sillamo, Oliver Rõõmus, Joonatan Siiman, Kasper Krogh Vestergaard, Nikolaj Tøth Andersen)
Amongst this week’s line-up, we can see several prominent names including Eurovision 2012 representative, Ott Lepland. As well as former Eesti Laul participants – Ariadne (2017), ELYSA (2015), EMILY J. (2019), Púr Múdd (2016). Interestingly, Shira of Eesti Laul 2020 was previously in Quarter-Final 3 with ‘Under Water’, which failed to make it through, however she gets a second chance in Quarter-Final 4! Meanwhile in the songwriting teams we find Sven Lõhmus who has written the 2005, 2009, 2011 and 2017 Eurovision entries for Estonia and is also the lead singer of Black Velvet. Elsewhere Linnea Deb of Melodifestivalen fame who co-wrote the winning Eurovision 2015 entry ‘Heroes’, is part of ELYSA’s team, along with Andreas Stone, who wrote John Lundvik’s Eurovision 2019 entry ‘Too Late For Love’.
The Semi-Finalists so far…
Already into the Semi-Finals are the following fifteen acts, including former representatives, Evelin Samuel (1999), Stig Rästa (2015), Sahlene (2002) and Elina Nechayeva (2018).
- Boamadu – ‘Mitte Kauaks’
- Evelin Samuel – ‘Waterfall’
- Jaagup Tuisk – ‘Kui vaid’
- Maian – ‘Meeletu’
- Stig Rästa – ‘Interstellar’
- Kaia-Liisa Kesler – ‘Vaikus’
- Helen – ‘Vaata minu poole’
- Jyrise – ‘Plaksuta’
- Andrei Zevakin ft. Grete Paia – ‘Mis nüüd saab’
- Triin Niitoja ja Frants Tikerpuu – ‘Laululind’
- STEFAN – ‘Hope’
- Elina Nechayeva – ‘Remedy’
- Merilin Mälk – ‘Little Girl’
- Anna Sahlene – ‘Champion’
- Alabama Watchdog – ‘Move On’
New Eesti Laul format
This year it is all change for the Estonian national final, Eesti Laul. In order to give more prominence to Estonian language entries, as well as English ones, it was revealed in September that the selection would be expanded to 40 entries across four Quarter-Finals. Every Saturday, during the quarter-finals, five songs in each show will advance to the Semi-Finals. From a combination of three songs decided by public voting and two songs selected by the national jury. However, there will be no live performances of the songs. Only music videos for each song will be shown.
Next February the two Semi-Finals will take place with 10 acts each. From there five songs in each Semi-Final will progress to the Final. Both semi-finals will have two rounds – winners of the first round will be decided by the jury vote and public votes, and winners of the second round will be decided by public voting only.
The Grand Final of Eesti Laul 2022 will take place in the Saku Suurhall on February 12, (5pm GMT, 6pm CET, 7pm EET and 4am AEDT). The winner will be decided with two rounds of voting. Firstly, a combined 50/50 jury and public vote to determine the top 3 advancing to the Super-Final. During the super-final, public voting alone will pick the winner to represent Estonia in Turin next May.
Quarter-Final 4 hosts
Each week familiar Eurovision names in the Estonian industry are turning their hand from performing to hosting. Already we have seen previous participants, Tanel Padar, Ines, Uku Suviste, Tanja, Ott Lepland and Laura Põldvere. This week it’s the turn of Jüri Pootsmann and Getter Jaani to put on a show. Of course, both are known for their Eurovision magic shows! Back in 2016, Jüri Pootsmann wanted us to ‘Play‘ cards and recently made an Eesti Laul comeback this year with ‘Magus Melanhoolia‘. Meanwhile it was in 2011 that Getter Jaani spellbound us with her magic wand on ‘Rockefeller Street’. In later years it became a viral sensation on TikTok, which Getter acknowledged at Eesti Laul 2019.
Broadcast schedule for Eesti Laul 2022
Below the dates of all the selection shows on ETV are as follows:
- First Quarter-Final – November 20
- Second Quarter-Final – November 27
- Third Quarter-Final – December 4
- Fourth Quarter-Final – December 11
- First Semi-Final – February 3
- Second Semi-Final – February 5
- Grand Final – February 12
The Quarter-Finals will air at 7:35pm GMT, 8:35pm CET, 9:35pm EET and 6:35am AEDT on ETV, which can be viewed here. Furthermore, ERR are planning an additional show called ‘Eesti Laulu’, featuring performances from the super finalists. As of yet, there is no date for this show, but it will likely take place between April and May.
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
The Baltic country made their Eurovision Song Contest debut in 1994, with Silvi Vrait and ‘Nagu merelaine’. Since then, Estonia has participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 26 times, reaching the grand final 16 times. However it was in 2001 that Estonia achieved their first and to date, only victory in the contest with ‘Everybody‘, performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL.
Back in 2020, Estonia selected Uku Suviste to represent Estonia with, ‘What Love Is’ which was written by Uku, alongside Sharon Vaughn and produced by Dimitris Kontopoulos, who of course is from the famed Eurovision ‘Dream Team’. Unfortunately, the contest was cancelled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rather than re-select Uku internally, they instead gave him an invitation to compete in Eesti Laul 2021, which he accepted. In a field of 24 acts, Uku won Eesti Laul for the second year in a row with ‘The Lucky One‘. However, this success failed to translate in Rotterdam. During the contest he performed 2nd in semi-final two, where he finished 13th with 58 points.
Which act in the fourth Quarter-Final of Eesti Laul 2022 are you looking forward to? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify for the latest music from your favourite Eurovision acts. As well as YouTube to see our reactions to the news in the run up to the 2022 contest in Turin!
