After four Quarter-Finals and two Semi-Finals, Estonia is ready to select their entry for Eurovision 2022 in Turin, Italy. The Estonian national broadcaster, ERR has released the running order for the final of Eesti Laul 2022 taking place this Saturday, February 12.
Eesti Laul 2022 – Grand Final
After much speculation, ERR this week confirmed the Final will have a live audience. In line with government advice, a maximum of 3000 spectators can attend. They will be arranged into seated zones, in order to provide extra safety. As well as this, all attendees must wear masks and the consumption of food and drink in the hall is forbidden. Below is the full running order as announced by ERR:
- Elina Nechayeva – ‘Remedy‘
- Andrei Zevakin ft. Grete Paia – ‘Mis nüüd saab‘
- Jaagup Tuisk – ‘Kui vaid‘
- Elysa – ‘Fire‘
- Ott Lepland – ‘Aovalguses‘
- Stig Rästa – ‘Interstellar‘
- Minimal Wind ft. Elisabeth Tiffany – ‘What To Make Of This‘
- Stefan – ‘Hope‘
- Anna Sahlene – ‘Champion‘
- Black Velvet – ‘Sandra‘
The Grand Final of Eesti Laul 2022 will take place in the Saku Suurhall on February 12, (5:30pm GMT, 6:30pm CET, 7:30pm EET and 4:30am AEDT). The winner will be decided through 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, this May. Besides the main show, many surprise guests are set to feature. Among them is former 2020 and 2021 representative, Uku Suviste.
Hosting the Final
Throughout this Eesti Laul season we have seen former Eurovision representatives turn their hand to hosting duties. Already we have seen previous participants, Tanel Padar, Ines, Uku Suviste, Tanja, Ott Lepland, Laura Põldvere, Jüri Pootsmann and Getter Jaani.
Now for the Final the Semi-Final hosts return. Firstly is Maarja-Liis Ilus, who represented Estonia in 1996 with Ivo Linna on ‘Kaelakee hääl’. Together they placed 5th, Estonia’s best result until 2000. A year later Maarja-Liis returned as a solo artist with, ‘Keelatud maa‘, achieving another top 10 result in 8th. Alongside her as main host is actor, Priit Loog. Since graduating from the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy in 2007, Priit has had an illustrious career on stage and screen. In 2020 he won Best Actor at the Estonian Film and Television Awards. Meanwhile on green room duties is 2016 representative and Eesti Laul regular, Jüri Pootsmann.
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
The Baltic country made their Eurovision Song Contest debut in 1994, with Silvi Vrait and her song ‘Nagu merelaine’. Since then, Estonia has participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 26 times, reaching the grand final 16 times. Back in 2001 Estonia achieved their first and to date, only victory in the contest with ‘Everybody‘, performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL.
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. Unfortunately, the EBU announced the cancellation of the contest, 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. Performing 2nd in semi-final two, he finished 13th with 58 points.
Who is your winner of Eesti Laul 2022? 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!
