Shakespeare and Spirit animals were on show tonight in Estonia as ten more acts battled it out to make the Eesti Laul 2017 final on March 4 in Tallinn. 5 acts advanced from the heat – Koit Toome & Laura, Kerli, Liis Lemsalu, Rasmus Rändvee & Daniel Levi – and will fight it out to represent Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv in May.
EESTI LAUL SEMI-FINAL 2 QUALIFIERS
Rasmus Rändvee – “This Love”
Tonight the talent show winner and rock-jock caused an earthquake. And that was just his camera work. “This Love” is a thumping rock anthem up there with the best of them. Pairing jaunty camera angles, with Rasmus’s showmanship and simple graphics that focused on the song lyrics proved effective. Whether this will be a standout at the final remains to be seen.
Koit Toome & Laura – “Verona”
This was always going to be stunning and Koit & Laura didn’t let us down. Full of Shakespearian drama, the dynamic duo made strong use of shadows, silhouettes and their stunning voices to propel themselves into the final. This has to be the favourite to win going into the final.
Daniel Levi – “All I Need”
Daniel is back and things looked a little scary when he wasn’t one of the first four names called out. Fortunately, the televoters came through for homeboy and “All I Need” will appear at the final. For such an upbeat dance anthem, Daniel’s performance was dark, relying on lasers slicing through the darkness to light up our world.
Kerli – “Spirit Animal”
If Kerli is the witch doctor sign us up to be cursed. What had seemed a little monotonous in the studio version came alive on stage, with a phalanx of male dancers, a snowstorm and strong makeup taking it from ethereal to electrifying. There’s a reason homegirl was hyped before the competition!
Liis Lemsalu – “Keep Running”
Liis’s song is full of sunshine and light, so it’s little surprise her staging mirrored that too. Although the performance felt a little static at times, Liis’s undeniable energy and warmth shone through. As soon as the crowd started waving their lights the entire place came alive and the effect should be massively amplified in the arena in two weeks time.
EESTI LAUL SEMI-FINAL 2 ELIMINATED ACTS
Angeelia – “We Ride With Our Flow”
Antsud – “Vihm”
Close To Infinity feat. Ian Karell – “Sounds Like Home”
Alvistar Funk Association – “Make Love, Not War”
Almost Natural – “Electric”
WHEN’S THE FINAL OF EESTI LAUL 2017?
The final of Eesti Laul won’t take place till March 4 so you have plenty of time to familiarise yourself with the 10 finalists and their songs.
The venue, the Saku Suurhall played host to Eurovision itself in 2002, and is the largest indoor arena in Estonia.
The winner will be selected through two rounds of voting. First a 50/50 jury-televoting split will select three songs for a superfinal. At the superfinal the winner will be selected entirely by public televoting.
Make sure to follow our coverage with DELFI live on the night.
FOR MORE ESTONIA NEWS CLICK HERE
Photo Credit: Anna Aurelia Minev, ERR
NOOO! How did I miss this??? We lost “We Ride With Our Flow” and “Electric!” ;-;
Here is how I saw the 2nd semifinal of Eesti Laul: 9.375 Koit Toome and Laura: “Verona”+ Very convincing duet. If they should win, the stage directors need to do more to make it stand out above the competition. 9.325 Liis Lemsalu: “Keep Running”+ Likewise for Liis. If she wins, they ought to put background vocalists on either side behind her. Alone on stage, she might be at risk of not qualifying for the Grand Final. 9.300 Rasmus Rändvee: “This Love”+ After watching his performance, I knew he was going to qualify. But like Liis, this song sounds like one… Read more »
I love Verona but that performance was disappointing Laura’s vocals were not very good and it lacked chemistry Hopefully they improve in the final because I wan’t to see this song in Kyiv
Rasmus all the way to Kyiv! Class act.
I predict Kerli. But honestly Estonia can place top 10 with four/five of the finalists
Verona is so overrated.
How, how how how how, HOW, can anyone like Verona? It is so horribly outdated and whiny, neither of them have particularly strong voices, I mean come on! That would maybe be acceptable in eurovision 2010, but not 2017.
Rasmus by a mile!
I love Verona, but I can’t see chemistry between the singers.
My favorite song, for now, is Keep Running, but the stage and choreography can be better…
Finally had a chance to check out the qualifiers from the second semi and here are my thoughts: Laura and Koit – 1) The staging borrows shamelessly from “Goodbye to Yesterday” which made me cringe a little. Nothing wrong with it per se, just would have preferred to see *some* original thought given how generic the song itself sounds. 2) Laura’s vocals were a little shaky. She is definitely one of the most confident performers in Estonia so this genuinely surprised me. Must have been the nerves, hope she gets her act together for the grand final. She could also… Read more »
Oh, Estonia… You keep dissapointing me! First Carl-Philip and now Angeelia 🙁 At least, they are making it to my IPod playlist…
RASMUS, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Verona would definitely become my #1, I’ve been hoping for it since I first heard it when the songs were revealed. Hoping Estonia picks it! 😀
Okay, so I just watched them all back. Here is what I felt in the order of the above article: Rasmus Randvee – Looking past the resemblance to myself at a younger age, this was a good one-man performance with great vocals, charisma and a good backing screen. I’m not a fan of shaky camerawork, however. Less of that in the final please! Rasmus has a quirkyness on stage that’s very endearing. He could be a potential overall winner this year. Koit Toome & Laura – Great staging, but the nerves were showing tonight. Laura in particular needs to work… Read more »
Charli Cheer Up
With her live vocals she wili stand with only to stay in semi final thanks to juries.
Koit for the win
Good for Kerli.
Kerli! I love her so much, she needs to win this.
Thank you, Estonia! Kerli, Laura & Koit and Rasmus all made ESC-winning worthy performances! Such a shame they are in it for the same country, as either would win in Latvia or Lithuania in a landslide if I’m concerned. Bit sorry for Angeelia, since she was stronger than Daniel, but overall everyone was from decent to great. Glad I decided to watch Eesti Laul! Top notch show. 🙂
Angeelia was robbed! Her song was perfection.
KERLI’s Spirit Animal will stand out at ESC which is filled with ballads
PACK YOU BAGS WE ARE OFF TO ESTONIA FOR NEXT YEARS EUROVISION. Yes I have been going on to everyone about Estonia and their song choices. What a brilliant selection and so varied in style, something to suit everyone, Estonia just made it a very exciting competition. Any song from the Estonian selection could beat any of the other Countries that have been chosen so far,. Huge disappointment so far on the choices including my own Country UK sorry to say.. My money goes on Verona to win and to even go for the title this year. Loved Kirli and… Read more »
I was watching from Antsuds, and I really enjoyed their charming act. They could pass through… I’m dissapointed for Angeelia elimination despite the fact that she didn’t improved her chorus, I still could put her and Antsud over Daniel Levi and Liis. I know they were good for pop but they weren’t flawless as well, and where’s Daniel team, they’re joyfull and would lift the song a bit, aren’t they? Hard to say about superduo, I could expect this staging but now it feels like it doesn’t match explosive mood of the actual song. I don’t see they’ve lowered chances… Read more »
Eesti Laul this year is amazing! I like almost all the songs! Looking forward to the final!
Kerli vocals were bad because she was sick, cmon dont be too harsh….
Kerli was sick during performance shootings.. so please wait for the finals before judging her.
Kerli vocals were bad because he was sick, cmon dont be too harsh….
The power of staging… I want to take whoever did Kerli’s staging and really give him/her a good shake. How can you take such a unique and powerful song and give it that banal interpretation? It’s my favorite song and I am so disappointed. They could do so much, go theatrical, colorful, interesting… there is nothing interesting about this. Verona was weird but better, though the 2015 copying was a little blunt for me. Rasmus with an absolutely great camera work had the best package for me. Daniel nice as well. Verona and Spirit Animal are two of my favorite… Read more »
I just cannot see “Spirit Animal” winning the ticket to Kiev.
The live performance especially near the end made my ears bleed, plus the melody seemed distracting/messy at times due to her bad vocals.
Only winner tonight – “Verona”
Verona is overrated so much!
On the other hand, Rasmus KILLED IT.
My top 3:
1. Verona / In or out
3. Spirit Animal
If anyone thinks Kerli was good, you need your ears checked. Her vocals were terrible, and by the end of it, she looked like a drunk karaoke singer.
I really enjoyed this semifinal! Kerli, Koit Toome & Laura and Liis Lemsalu are my favorites! It’ll be a hard final, there are many good songs!
Yes! Kerli rocked the house with the Spirit Animal performance! Go girl!
oh and foreigners who plan to watch internet broadcast, it will crash when they show Mans, Be prepared and send up your own satellite. perhaps Lena can help the german folk, dont know about the rest of you.
My TOP 3 in final after listen all song live
1.Elina Born “In or Out”
2.Koit Toome & Laura “Verona”
3.Ariadne “Feel Me Now” with better voice and better stage performance that wlil be my favorite song
No Angeelia, too bad 🙁 I’m happy for Kerli and Liis, my faves!
Verona and Keep Running are the most clich´e Eurovision ABC they just had a checklist like “Do this. Dont be original!”
glad for Rasmus, Daniel was predictable to get through, Angeelia didnt make it because people would prefer Andres Kõpper as NOEP performing himself. why was he in Indonesia????
Ian Karell, sweet guy and all but I felt like the band didnt hear each other and they were off tune. Still, coming back to your roots and becoming a kindergarten teacher!!! why arent there more people like him, why is everyone leaving instead? but learn to sing, man.
Verona to the final! Yes! So excited!
Koit Toome & Laura were amazing! Loved the black and white staging (reminded me of “goodbye to yesterday”)! They absolutely slayed!
“Spirit Animal” wasn’t my favourite song, to be honest. But the live performance was so good! I liked it!
I also like “This Love”.
“All I Need” and “Keep Running” are good songs, not a fan though!
For the final, my favourite songs are:
In or out
Feel me now
Verona
This love
Which song I think should win Esti Laul and represent Estonia:
Feel me now
Verona
@Hex, that’s great news! Definitely gonna watch the final now!
I’m not a fan of the studio version of Kerli’s song, but I think the live performance really elevated it. Koit & Laura disappointed me. Laura’s vocals in the high notes were not good. Antsud should have qualified. Regarding the quality of the entries, I think the first semi-final was much better.
Verona song and Koit voice reminds me on Magnus and his song from MF 2007 Live forever
I’m really dissapointed that Angeelia didn’t make it. Her vocals were flawless and I actually liked how it was staged. 🙁
Verona is sooo bad. So old-school and booooring! And I was not so impressed by Kerli’s live performance either.. Still better than that Verona!
@donut donut YEP! Mans is performing at Eesti Laul final this year. So great!
Kerli is this year Margaret , she is not good live and she wili not have chance to go to Eurovision.
Angeelia deserved to go through instead of Verona, otherwise it was a fair result
I would swap Daniel Levi for Angeelia, for the rest I agree.
By the way, did they announce that Mans would perform in the Eesti Laul final?
Whoop whoop! Kerli ftw! 😀
Kerli did it! I’m so happy for her and I’m sure she’s going to SLAY in the final bc her song is great.