Last month, the 24 acts who will be competing in Eesti Laul 2021 were revealed. Now, we can finally hear their entries for the first time.
Estonian national broadcaster ERR revealed each of the competing songs through television show Eesti Laul 2021, Start. The music video of each entry was shown, in addition to interviews with all of the acts.
The line-up for Eesti Laul 2021 features several familiar faces. Jüri Pootsmann, Koit Toome, Tanja and Ivo Linna have all previously represented Estonia at Eurovision. Meanwhile, Eesti Laul 2020 winner Uku Suviste is back and hoping to finally make it to Eurovision after the contest’s cancellation earlier this year.
Eesti Laul 2021: Competing songs
Click on the song titles to listen to each of the songs and watch the music videos.
- Alabama Watchdog – “Alabama Watchdog”
- Andrei Zevakin & Pluuto – “Wingman”
- Egert Milder – “Free Again”
- Gram-Of-Fun – “Lost In A Dance”
- Hans Nayna – “One By One”
- Helen – “Nii kõrgele”
- Heleza – “6”
- Ivo Linna, Robert Linna, Supernova – “Ma olen siin”
- Jüri Pootsmann – “Magus melanhoolia”
- Kadri Voorand – “Energy”
- Karl Killing – “Kiss Me”
- Kéa – “Hypnotized”
- Koit Toome – “We Could Have Been Beautiful”
- Kristin Kalnapenk – “Find A Way”
- Nika Marula – “Calm Down”
- Rahel – “Sunday Night”
- REDEL – “Tartu”
- Sissi – “Time”
- Suured tüdrukud – “Heaven’s Not That Far Tonight”
- Tanja – “Best Night Ever”
- Tuuli Rand – “Üks öö”
- Uku Haasma – “Kaos”
- Uku Suviste – “The Lucky One”
- Wiiralt – “Tuuled”
Next: Semi-final performances
The 24 semi-finalists were selected from 156 entries. The semi-finalists were selected by an expert jury. We’ll see the acts of Eesti Laul 2021 perform their songs live in February and March next year.
In November, ERR confirmed that all three Eesti Laul 2021 shows will take place in Tallinn. The two semi-finals will be filmed in a TV studio at ERR’s headquarters, without a live audience. The broadcaster hopes to hold the grand final in the usual venue of the Saku Suurhall and may involve a live audience.
The semi-finals of Eesti Laul 2021 will be held on 18 and 20 February, while the grand final will take place on 6 March 2021.
Which of the 24 songs is your favourite? And who do you think has the best chances to win? Sound off in the comments below!
Both Sissi and Egert spoke to my soul with their songs 🙂
Also love: the 80’s vibe Gram of Fun has going on, Jüri singing high notes, and the build up of Uku’s song.
Pretty good year overall ^^
Why is no one talking about Kaos? It’s amazing!
Just finished listening to all the songs (the first twelve yesterday and the last 12 today), and I have a few points. I’ve seen comments around saying this selection is weak. I sort of disagree with this, as there are a few really good songs, but then again there are some not so good songs. There are some that fit under the pleasant category and wouldn’t do well in a competition setting like Eurovision. The music videos for all the songs looked to be of high production, which gives me hopes for the stagings. I don’t know if it just… Read more »
I’m very disappointed. Estonia used to be my favorite country at Eurovision, but again they have a National Selection without a single song that would make me root for them so badly (like Kuula, Goodbye to Yesterday, La Forza and Randajad, which should win the Eurovision in their respective years).
Heleza is so awesome.. and unique! I like her song
Lovely selection though lots of similar sounding funky songs. Wingman, Lost in a dance are amazing! But Uku should win. Great song & he will be the only rightful winner bc 2020 is the most unjust year ever. It’s the final going to be without an audience BTW ????
Not a bad line up. I can’t see any Eurovision winner here, but there are two standouts in my opinion: Karl Killing – Kiss Me and Gram-Of-Fun – Lost In A Dance. I can’t decide which one is better at all. I would be glad with any of those winning, though I suppose the general public won’t appreciate them. Just hope Uku don’t won again with an average song. My top 10: 1. Gram-Of-Fun – Lost In A Dance (7) 2. Karl Killing – Kiss Me (7) 3. Hans Nayna – One By One (6.5) 4. Koit Toome – We Could Have Been Beautiful (6.25)… Read more »
My favotites are:
Alabama Watchdog – “Alabama Watchdog”
Andrei Zevakin & Pluuto – “Wingman”
Egert Milder – “Free Again”
Hans Nayna – “One By One”
Heleza – “6”
Ivo Linna, Robert Linna, Supernova – “Ma olen siin”
Ju?ri Pootsmann – “Magus melanhoolia”
Karl Killing – “Kiss Me”
Kéa – “Hypnotized”
Koit Toome – “We Could Have Been Beautiful”
Nika Marula – “Calm Down”
Sissi – “Time”
Uku Suviste – “The Lucky One”
Top 3:
3= Heleza
2= Koit Toome
1= ANDREI & PLUUTO
In other news, Tanja’s husband Mikk Saar won the second season of the Estonian version of the TV show ‘The Masked Singer’ on Sunday night and Elina Nechayeva took second place.
Haha. How does Elina take second place in what is literally a singing competition? 😉
well kate miller-heidke also got 2nd place ?
Could anyone explain to me what transphobic message lies within the Alabama Watchdog lyrics? I’m not insensitive or trying to be rude, I just honestly don’t understand where this interpretation came from (happens to non-native English speakers), so please, be civil.
Isn’t there an “anti-covid” message too ? They talk about a plague being a growing lie that media won’t let die… The lyrics are really confusing !
All songs have lyrics displayed below their videos (genuine props to ETV!). So, the controversial verse goes: ”There ain’t no girls if they’re plugged online, if they eat those pills and the hormones fly, reverse or recovery won’t come so easily so who’s gonna pay if it wont feel swell?” The first verse is obviously against too much living through social media, while the following can be interpreted either as a critique to girls who do drugs and sleep around or to transgender people who take the pills to change their hormones. It depends on whether taking pills and hormones… Read more »
Yeah, transphobic or not, that’s just clumsy writing.
I think you and Kosey defined my problem with the song. Clumsy writing and aggressive negativity. Which is a pity, because their sound is not bad at all.
Agreed with Colin. I don’t know what the situation is with broadcasting regulators in Estonia, but if there is a method to enquire or complain, I would ask Estonians to consider using it on this occasion.
Hm, alright.
To be fair, I read that as… simply being pent up? You know, people locked down at their homes, unable to meet in person with others, using the Internet to find any resemblance of love/sex, taking pills (contraception?) but still being unable to make a proper use of this, hence the hormones flying, “girls not being real”, because it’s all just online and not in person, yadda yadda…
Maybe I’m looking to far, I don’t know anymore 😀
As with most songs, the messages are not explicit but they can be easily read from the lyrics. “reverse or recovery won’t come so easily” could be determined as economic (especially as I get a strong anti-lockdown vibe from this song) but the line before talks about pills and hormones and there not being any girls so it’s easy to see how it might be construed as a dig about trans people. Ultimately, I get huge swathes of aggressive negativity from this song and that’s the last thing we need in the world right now.
I found some really decent songs. Currently my TOP10 would look like this:
The rest are meeh. Nicely done so far, Estonia. Good luck from Lithuania!
Kiss me really reminds me of IDK you yet by Alexander 23.
Wingman, The Lucky One, Lost in a dance and ‘6’ stand out to me. I actually think the songs this year are much stronger than last year 😀
Jüri’s song is a bit disappointing given the fact that “Play” was a masterpiece and he is damn sexy ^^ The part when he sings the title is cool, but the overall impression… if it wasn’t for his name, it wouldn’t even make the NF final (or would do a Telemoveis in Eurovision)
Idk what ur on about. Play is far inferior to Magus Melanhoolia, at least to me, and especially from a production standpoint.
For me, the structure of the song, the Estonian language and the way of building up the instrumentalisation are so “artsy” (as some would call this type of songs) coming all together, that it’s always a bit tricky. “Play” had a clearer structure of verse and chorus (and yes, in English), but also managed to create a special “Bond-ish” atmosphere which sounded not that “mainstream” (I hate this word btw. People should like what they want to ^^). I believe, for voting issues in Eurovision, it won’t reach the final 2021 by televote only, but we have the juries…
Uku Suviste or Koit Toome are the only 2 songs that I like. I hope that Uku Suviste will win his deserved ticket to Rotterdam
Juri caught me off guard with this. I’m not sure would I call Magus melanhoolia a ballad, but oh, what a twist it has! It would be something totally different from Estonia to send and something I bet nobody else would do on ESC. Now, this is so out there that it’s a ”love it or hate it” situation, but personally, I love it! Is it very commercial… I don’t know, but I also kinda don’t care.
Comments on other songs will follow.
Much as I like Juri I am getting Telemoveis vibes from this track but sadly not in a good way
Honestly, I could see the Telemoveis type of ESC result for Juri, but it doesn’t mean that both of them aren’t excellent. Having more unique songs is a risk. It can result in a huge success (Toy, HMS, Soldi, La forza) or in a really bad result (Telemovies, O jardim, Play or to a degree Pali sie and Blackbird). But it’s sometimes a risk worth taking because even today we are discussing how Telemovies or Blackbird were or weren’t ”robbed” their spot, while some of the less remarkable NQs usually don’t even get enough buzz to debate on.
i think it’s your usual midtempo rnb song. it reminds me of labrinth’s new song no ordinary….
I have so far only listened to the ones I’m most familiar with: Koit, Uku S., Ivo, and Juri. I’ll probably sample the rest when it’s closer to Eesi Laul time. Anyway: “We Could Have Been Beautiful” by Koit is a good solo effort and I think he was able to shine more on this one than “Verona” although the latter was such a guilty pleasure. “Magus melanhoolia” by Juri fills the indie niche song void in my heart. Unusual by ESC standards, stands out not just for its unique Spotify-friendly sound but also the fact that it is in… Read more »
Uku is totally winning this and I’m so glad.
Lost In A Dance is amazing too.
Gram of Fun’s Lost in a Dance stands out for me on first listen. But I would say there were 5-10 songs which grabbed me, some more that might be growers and unfortunately one or two that if I heard them ever again, it would be too soon.
Everybody is on Uku, Koit Toome or Juri, but for me the big potentials are Hans Nayna and Sissi.
Uku’s song is far better than the one he had last year. Would be a good choice for Rotterdam 🙂
Magus melanhoolia is AMAZING! It’s so different and stands out in this selection. If Estonia goes with Juri, they may reach top 10. However, I’m pretty sure they will go with “The Lucky One”, which is dated imo.
Gram of Fun and Sissi were my immediate stand outs. Jüri’s song was also nice, and quite different from his 2016 entry! I’m a little disappointed by some of them, to be fair, Eesti Laul is usually of very high quality and I feel there’s quite a lot of….meh this year. And a lot of bad grammar, haha
Uku Haasma has a song that would work well live… Overall – MEH!
I like Wingman (it stands out because it’s so different) and The Lucky One the most, so happy that Uku has a chance to win because in my opinion he deserves the opportunity to represent Estonia
I am so happy for Uku.
His song is so strong that he will easily win this.
I was enjoying Alabama Watchdog until the transphobia became apparent. Really disappointed that it was allowed to pass the preliminary round.
Oh wow. In that case I’m glad I didn’t listen to the full version. Hope they come last.
Oof, at first I thought they were just being political, but then verse 2 came.
What does it say….
Depending on your interpretation, the second verse can be seen as somewhat sexist or quite transphobic, but either way it makes me cringe.
Indeed, it is a song about a certain movement in the USA which has since spread around the world. I honestly thought the video was a parody, but the lyrics are clearly not ambiguous. If anything, congrats to ERR for allowing the extremes of free speech in music, although it simply wouldn’t be broadcast at Eurovision, so I don’t see the point of it being in Eesti Laul, practically.
As far as I remember, Iriao from Georgia also have 7 members – one of them just didn’t appear on the stage.
Buranovskaye Babushki also have more than 6 members and they agreed on some of them not performing the live version. It’s not necessarily the happiest solution for those left behind, but it did work several times in the past.
Geez, even if those are your opinions about things…to put such divisive ideas into a song that’s competing in a song contest is just odd. That’s really uncomfortable and unnecessary.
I had sick in my mouth from the very first lyric.
OMG !!! Can you differentiate “violent” and “argument”.
Did you ever have a relationship in your life?
Violence:
behaviour involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something.
Argument:
an exchange of diverging or opposite views, typically a heated or angry one.
I think that now it is clear who needs to educate himself.
Have you ever watched a movie in your life? A tv series maybe?
We live in the most sensitive world than ever before in history…
I mean yeah i don’t think anyone argues that domestic violence isn’t bad, it’s just that we can include whatever we want into art (wouldn’t call Uku’s song exactly art but you get the gist) – bad and good things. And it’s barely even violence – just a passionate argument I’d say hahah 🙂
Wingman and Magus Melahoolia are the most contemporary songs of this weak selection. I also appreciate Koit’s and Alabama Watchdog’s songs. I find The lucky one bad produced and a little bit chaotic.
That awkward moment where Uku and Koit have better songs than the ones they won Eesti Laul with….(I’m sorry but I never liked Verona!)
That said, the production on The Lucky One is really bad- it sounds so muffled.
I see a lot of people here saying that alternative/unique songs won’t win anyway but actually I’ve noticed that almost every year we dare to send something risky, we fail – 2016, 2010, 2008 etc. If we do better with ordinary pop music then it’s obvious that a lot of Estonians prefer to vote for them. And sending opera is not risky because opera does always well.
well 2016 could actually qualify if it had better staging. and 2009 was risky and u did great!
2010 was a cool risky song and it should have qualified. 2008 was not that risky, cause it was so bad there was no chance it would do well. 2016 was borderline risky, but had some mainstream elements too. It could have qualified if Laura and Koit had chemistry. I’d say that La forza was risky, because not all operatic songs do that well (Belgium 2014 and Romania 2013, even though the song itself was not operatic, just the voice). Also, Kuula wasn’t on the edge of risk, but it wasn’t totally safe either and you did great.
2016 was actually Jüri not Laura and Koit
Oh, yeah, I mixed it up, sorry. Juri was amazing in my book (I voted for him), but somehow a lot of people didn’t connect. Him being visibly nervous might have played a part, but that’s just a guesswork.
I mean the very best result was 2009 which was risky and amazing.
“Play” came across cringey with a pint of creep factor. not Juri’s fault of course, but that’s how the whole thing was presented on stage that year.
Magnus melanhoolia is my #1. It’s fresh and very different. Wingman is a toe tapper/bop as well. Unfortunately neither of these two probably won’t win after seeing what happened with Jaagup Tuisk’s Beautiful Life last year. I do like Koit’s We Could Have Been Beautiful as well. It’s definitely a song made for Eurovision so I could see this winning. Uku’s song is better but the competition this year is much more competitive!
I love ur #1 and Wingman as well. But I agree, Estonia won’t choose them bcos Estonia usually chooses wrong.
Can we all just appreciate the effort that’s gone into this selection? Eesti Laul always tries to get representatives of many different music genres but usually, the songs they pick for certain genres, are simply not good, and there to tick the box. This year, the alternative songs are excellent. I’m really impressed.
Wingman by Andre Zevakin is the absolute winner here. Total standout and a top 10 for Estonia! I’m sure people will start referring to it as Soldi 2.0 just like every upbeat song after 2018 got called Fuego 2.0, but this song would be a complete surprise coming from Estonia – fresh, different and certainly would clean up with the audiences.
Andrei Zevakin & Pluuto – “Wingman” should win, something new and fresh and badass feel
The Magus Melanhoolia slander in the comments is simply not it. This song could come top 10 with great staging. It’s a type of song we haven’t heard at eurovision before, the percussion and production is absolutely insanely good, and Jüri’s vocals are breathtaking. But Estonia seems to never choose right, so he won’t win. But he should.
I like the verses but then, not so much. It’s kinda disjointed. For me, this is a great selection and there are better options. You’re right about Jüri’s vocals though.
yep agree.. such a shame he won’t win :(( that’s why i don’t like national selections, it’s mostly 40+ women voting.
I was agreeing until the ageism. That’s not cool. 40+ citizens are just as much eligible to vote as everyone else.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t vote or that their votes should count less, it’s just that that is a demographic, I usually disagree with based on the song taste – I didn’t mean anything bad by it – and of course some 40+ people have the same taste as I do, but it’s no secret that Uku won last year because of them.
Thank you for clarifying. I agree with this, the older market definitely helped in Uku’s victory and left poor Jaagup (with a more modern, more fresh song) in the dust.
I can´t say for sure, that the older generation is making the wrong choices. I am 50+ myself and I really wanted Jaagup to win! I think that the choice of Eesti Laul has been determined by the taste of outdated Eurovision music, which has not been able to open people’s eyes to let modern music in! People should open their eyes a little and educate themselves on, what is suitable for today’s Eurovision Song Contest and what is not! But I don’t think it will happen this year yet, because they definitely need to send Uku to Eurovision this… Read more »
I really like Alabama Watchdog, Free Again, Lost in a Dance, 6, The Lucky One and Kaos. This lineup is much stronger than last year and even 2019. Uku’s song is sooo much stronger than last year, which was unbearable to me. The biggest disappointment is Juri and Tanja, two previous Eurovision participants which I don’ even feel will be in the Eesti Laul final.
okay I retract my statement about Alabama Watchdog, at first I didn’t get the transphobic message, but it’s so disgusting! Can’t understand how it got selected by the producers. They ruined such a good, alternative rock song to express a hateful opinions? Shame.
Jüri Pootsmann bringing that sexy serial killer vibe once again
It’s the serial killer vibe for me
For me the winner it’s between The lucky one, Lost in a dance or Magus melanhoolia.
Same same same !!! Glad to read this comment (: ! Wingman, 6, lost in a dance are my favourites
Tartu is the only good song of Eesti Laul 2021 and you can’t change my mind
In my opinion Free Again is the best song
Personally I think there are quite a few songs that has the potential to do well at Eurovision 2021. Out of the acts who would be returning back to Eurovision then I would say Koit Toome is the best bet to do well. For some reason I got Lithuania 2018 ‘When We’re Old’ vibes from the song. However Tanja song is pretty cool and if it has a Belgium 2016 ‘What’s the Pressure’ performance then it may surprise at the Eurovision 2021. However I think Egert Milder song could do the best especially if he has a staging similar to… Read more »
I feel so bad for Juri. His song is UNLISTENABLE. It’s like he took a Spotify ad and composed a song around it.
vehemently disagree.
I can live with that.
Didn’t ask if you could.
I have always loved Eesti Laul, and this year is no different. Egert Milder’s video moved me, and songwriting-wise I’m always going to relate to Kadri’s “Energy” the most. But more honestly, the mainstream-sounding picks here are Uku and Koit’s entries. There is a lot to like here though: Kea’s “Hypnotized” is a great track; I love the arty/Glee twist of “Sunday Night”; the Linna’s song is a nice musical callback to John Lennon; I always liked Nika’s voice and her vibe; and my cousin nearly wet himself over Karl’s very simple song and beautiful looks, haha. Hans has a… Read more »
Look up Janek – Gemini on streaming platforms. That song got ignored by Eesti Laul in 2016 and 2017. He had two masterpieces this year and got ignored again. I’ve heard them personally. They were euro top 10 for sure. Eesti Laul is very inaccessible to unknown talent.
I think my favourites are ‘Hypnotized’ and ‘Sunday Night’, but there’s 5 or 6 songs I really like! Seems likely that Uku Suviste will win again, but that wouldn’t bother me because ‘The Lucky One’ is better than ‘What Love Is’ imo 🙂 Looking forward to the semis!
Oh my, Juri’s song is sooooo disappointing, it makes me cry… Uku’s song is interesting, too much better than his song for ESC2020
Uku Suviste’s song is sooooo much better this year. If he wins, I wouldn’t be upset. But I do think there’s a lot of good songs this year. It’s going to be a good national final this year!
Excited to give this a listen! On an unrelated but Eurovision-adjacent note: Sarah Lombardi, who represented Italy at the Free European Song Contest, just won The Masked Singer Germany. So that makes it a weird full-circle thing, since Max Mutzke won the first season, then he competed in FreeESC as his masked character the Astronaut, and now ANOTHER veteran of FreeESC has won The Masked Singer. (The second season, which took place after Max’s win but before FreeESC, also featured Kazakhstan’s Mike Singer and Switzerland’s Stefanie Heinzmann).
Well, to loop it back around to Estonia, Elina Nechayeva just got unmasked on the Estonian version. People’d been predicting that for a while, right?