Estonia: Eesti Laul 2022 Second Quarterfinal contestants revealed

Estonia: Eesti Laul 2022 Second Quarterfinal contestants revealed
Monday, 22 November 2021

  • The Estonian national broadcaster, ERR, has revealed the contestants of the second 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. Half of them are in Estonian and the rest in English. 

    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

    Following last Saturday's  first quarterfinal the second quarterfinal is set to take place on Saturday evening, November 27, 2021. A total of 10 candidates will compete in each quarter final and will battle for the five spots that lead to the semifinals. The 10 contestants of the 2nd heat of the Estonian selection were announced during the show "Ringvaate".

    Namely the acts along with their song titles and the authors behind that will compete in the upcoming second quarterfinal are: 

    1. Andrei Zevakin feat. Grete Paia – “Mis Nüüd Saab”  (What Now)) - (Andrei Zevakin, Henry Orlov, Grete Paia)
    2. An-Marlen – “Lõpuks Muutub” (It finallly changes) - (Ingel Marlen Mikk, Sander Sadam, Alvar Antson)
    3. Desiree – “Siiani”  (So far) (Hannes Agur Vellend, Desiree Mumm, Kretel Kopra)
    4. Helen – “Vaata Minu Poole”  (Look at me) - (Karl Killing, Gevin Niglas, Merili Käsper, Helen Randmets)
    5. Jyrise – Plaksuta”  (Clap) - (Rauno Jürise, Tuomas Lehtinen, Mairo Virolainen, Sander Valge)
    6. Kaia-Liisa Kesler – “Vaikus”  (Silence) - (Kaarel Orumägi, Kaia-Liisa Kesler)
    7. Meisterjaan – “Vahel Lihtsalt”  (Sometimes Just)   - (Jaan Tätte juunior)
    8. Silver Jusilo – “Elu Rüpes”  (In the midst of life) - (Silver Jusilo)
    9. Triin Niitoja & Frants Tikerpuu – Laululind” (Songbird) - (Frants Tikerpuu)
    10. Wiiralt – “Kuradile” (Damn it) - (Hendrik Sal-Saller, Martin Saaremägi)

     

    Quite remarkable how the 2nd quarterfinal sees no entries in English but all competing songs are exclusively in Estonian. 

     

    The hosts

    Along with the participant of the second quarterfinal ERR revealed the hosts of the show. Two former Eurovision representative will present us the 2nd quarterfinal: Uku Suviste and Tanja Mihhailova-Saar.

    Uku represented the country this year in Rotterdam with the song "The Lucky One" which failed to qualify to the final. Uku was the Estonian act for Eurovision 2020 which was eventually cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic. Tanja was the country's hopeful at Eurovision 2014 with the song "Amazing" who despite her energetic performance didn't make it to the Grand final. 

     

    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
    • 11/12/20214th 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.

    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