Teme Ära! Tonight Eesti Laul 2018 – Estonia’s national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 – returns. Ten acts will take to stage in Semi-Final 1, bidding to win one of five places at the final, which takes place in Tallinn on March 3.
Last December, we asked you who your favourite in Semi-Final 1 was and you gave an emphatic result: Elina Nersajeva, and her opera track “La Forza”. She won the poll with 31% of all votes cast.
Her nearest rival Stig Rasta trailed on 20% of all votes cast, over 10% adrift of Elina. Despite his illustrious record at Eesti Laul, that suggest Stig has more serious competition on his hands than he might have expected.
Etnopasty placed third with 14%, with their entry “Kulm”. Vajé took 11% in fourth and Desiree rounds out our readers top five on 9%. If our readers have their way, those are the five acts who’ll advance to the final tonight, giving a broad spread of genres and songs for Estonia to pick its Eurovision act from.
That means Iiris & Agoh, Aden Ray, Sibyl Vane, Tiiu x Okym x Semy and Miljardid have all been left out in the cold.
RESULTS: WHO SHOULD WIN EESTI LAUL SEMI-FINAL 1
- Elina Netsajeva — “La Forza”: 1,027 votes (31%)
- Stig Rasta — “Home”: 650 votes (20%)
- Etnopatsy — “Kulm”: 468 votes (14%)
- Vajé — “Laura (Walk with Me)”: 356 votes (11%)
- Desiree — “On My Mind”: 286 votes (9%)
- Iiris & Agoh — “Drop That Boogie”: 217 votes (7%)
- Aden Ray — “Everybody’s Dressed”: 111 votes (3%)
- Sibyl Vane — “Thousand Words”: 95 votes (3%)
- Tiiu x Okym x Semy — “Naita oma energiat”: 70 votes (2%)
- Miljardid — “Pseudoprobleem”: 30 votes (1%)
Total Votes: 3,310
Voting is split tonight. A jury will decide the first four acts to advance. The fifth act will advance based on public votes alone.
You’ll be able to watch Semi-Final 1 live, either on ERR or through the website of our partners Delfi.ee, from 20:35 CET. As with last year, tonight’s performances have been pre-recorded, so the only live element will be the voting itself after acts have performed.
Do you think that “La Forza” will be a winner in tonight’s semi-final? Or do you think Stig and “Home” have a shot? Let us know all your thoughts down in the comments section below.
Gee people. Estonias ‘La Forza’ is utter rubbish. You are killing the ESC by voting for this kind of pseudo classical music. This Forza song is awful beyond belief if you like Pop music. You guys who eventually vote for this crap will neither buy this song nor will put it in on your favourite streaming playlist. Be honest ! stop hyping stupid things just because it appears to you aß ‘different’. If you don’t buy IT Stop hyping it. And if any bookmaker tables is your main source of information you ought to get real.
Teeme ära! ?
Igatahes… ?
Igatahes teeme… ?
ok so I just learned the 1st act is from my 2nd home town best armenian cafe & people of VILJANDI haven´t even heard the song, but, dammit, people, if you not gonna vote 4them, imma turn into a zombie penguin
look at this all poor victims of bookmakers, so pathetic, get a taste by yourself!
I mean she single-handedly shot Estonia at the top of the betting odds…
It’s the only song that actually stands out and for all the good reasons! It’s like an epic anthem and with the right staging and (hopefully) with a strong voice this will just slay! As Italian mother tongue I can actually say her pronunciation is really perfect ( ~ for operatic Italian which is not necessary same as spoken italian).
I just want this to do well and not only to win the semi-final but also eestilaul final and arrive at the finals in Lisbon
Honestly as nice as La Forza is I much prefer Kulm, since La Forza seems more set around showing vocal talent rather than being a good song, either way I’m not expecting Estonia to do as well as bookies and Eurofans expect.
There is always a fan favourite that flops (Verona, Hear Them Coming) and I reckon La Forza is it for this year. It just seems like the type of song Eurofans will flock to but it’ll not appeal to the wider public
The “flop” song you just described screams Mercy, though. And Verona was never a good song, but it somehow attracted the Estonian public. Anyway, La Forza, if chosen, feels like it’d be one of the bigger contenders to win.
what’s your problem with Mercy? LA forza will be as France in 2011 , big favourite because opera and classic and out of top 10 at the final, so please shut up it’s better for everybody
La Forza is far better than France 2011 simply because it’s not boring af. And maybe try to listen to people and hear other opinions rather than shutting people down for not agreeing with you!
I haven’t seen anyone over rating France and if they have it’s because most of the selected songs are weak, once we have all the acts I doubt France will be in many people’s top 10’s Estonia is sitting in top of people’s rankings on the chance it could be this song and as a song it’s not good they are banking everything on a voice which if last year is any indication isn’t good enough for televoters (UK, Netherlands, Albania) and on a genre that’s risky with televoters Sognu and Cvet Z Juga came about mid-table and Il Volo… Read more »
Today’s heavy favorites are Elina, Madara and Gergely! They would possibly be my top 3 if chosen in their respective finals. Europe, make it happen!!!
Eesti Laul; my qualifiers are Elina, Etnopatsy, Aden and Stig.
Yeah, they’d also be my top 3! You forgot Denmark tho, they’re having their final in a few hours. Hyped af ^^
I know. My favorite to win there is Ramussen. Can’t watch all 4, so I am still deciding on who to watch. Maybe I can re-watch something on You Tube without spoiling it before? =-O
Rasmussen is my favourite aswell, I hope DEnmark doesnt fck it up. I wouldn’t even try to avoiding to be spoiled. Never freaking works :DD
Estonia is overrated. I can’t believe they are first in the odds with this poor bunch of songs.
It’s because of La Forza, everyone knows it’ll win eesti laul…
I’m so scared they’re gonna f*ck this up. Estonia, I’m begging you: listen to the bookies!
Yes. Estonia is currently 1st (!) in the betting Odds and the only reason for that is La Forza. Not sending it would be the biggest mistake ever made.
By the way, can anyone tell me why all the good Songs are in the first semi? That’s so dumb, why would you do this?
I know….my top 10 from Estonia has 8 songs from Semi 1 and 2 from semi 2!
And my top 6 is entirely semi 1
The only reason is Il Volo. I like La Forza and I hope Elina wins in Estonia, but this isn’t a ESC winner song.
Yes, she is.