Tonight, ten songs competed in the first semi-final of Eesti Laul, Estonia’s selection for Eurovision 2017. Of this ten, five acts have qualified for the grand final.
Tonight’s qualifiers were chosen by a new, two-round voting system which has been implemented this year. The first four qualifiers were determined by a 50-50 split between a public and jury vote. After these four winners were announced, a separate vote opened to decide which of the six remaining acts would make it through to the final. This 5th qualifier was chosen by a purely public vote with no jury input. Tonight’s ten participants were:
- Elina Born – “In or Out” [Qualified]
- Carl-Philip – “Everything But You”
- Laura Prits – “Hey Kiddo”
- Leemet Onno – “Hurricane”
- Ivo Linna – “Suur loterii” [Qualified]
- Lenna Kuurmaa – “Slingshot” [Qualified]
- Karl-Kristjan & Whogaux feat. Maian – “Have You Now” [Qualfied]
- Janno Reim & Kosmos – “Valan pisaraid”
- Ariadne – “Feel Me Now” [Qualified – public vote]
- Uku Suviste – “Supernatural”
Interestingly, three of tonight’s acts have performed at the Eurovision Song Contest before – Ivo Linna in 1996, Elina Born in 2015, and Lenna Kuurmaa in 2005 as part of Vanilla Ninja (representing Switzerland) – and all three of these acts have progressed to the next round. The second semi-final of Eesti Laul 2017 will take place on Saturday 18th February, and will feature the following acts:
- Rasmus Rändvee – “This Love”
- Angeelia – “We Ride With Our Flow”
- Daniel Levi – “All I Need”
- Antsud – “Vihm”
- Koit Toome & Laura – “Verona”
- Kerli – “Spirit Animal”
- Close To Infinity feat. Ian Karell – “Sounds Like Home”
- Liis Lemsalu – “Keep Running”
- Alvistar Funk Association – “Make Love, Not War”
- Almost Natural – “Electric”
Following next Saturday’s semi-final, the grand final of Eesti Laul will take place on 4th March in the Saku Areena in Tallinn. The winner will represent Estonia in the 2nd half of the 2nd semi-final in Kyiv on 11th May, and will hope to take Estonia back to the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest after Jüri Pootsmann’s “Play” finished last in its semi-final in Stockholm last year.
