Plan your takeout, grab your scorecard and take to Twitter arguing about which of your faves is going to slay the pack! On February 19, Estonian broadcaster ERR unveiled the Eesti Laul 2018 final running order, which will have a significant impact in deciding which of the 10 competing acts wins the opportunity to represent Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Fan favourite and Eesti Laul 2017 host Elina Nenchayeva looks to be in pole position in the running order. She sings seventh, sandwiched between upbeat track “Laura (Walk With Me” and Frankie Animal’s moody indie song “(Can’t Keep Calling) Misty”, both of which should provide suitable contrast to her operatic effort, “La forza”.
FULL EESTI LAUL 2018 FINAL RUNNING ORDER
- Karl-Kristjan & Karl Killing (ft. WATEVA) – “Young”
- Eliis Pärna ja Gerli Padar – “Sky”
- Nika – “Knock Knock”
- Sibyl Vane – “Thousand Words”
- Stig Rästa – “Home”
- Vajé – “Laura (Walk With Me)”
- Elina Nechayeva – “La forza”
- Frankie Animal – “(Can’t Keep Calling) Misty”
- Iiris & Agoh – “Drop That Boogie”
- Evestus – “Welcome to my world”
SPOTLIGHT ON EESTI LAUL 2018 FINAL RUNNING ORDER
The Eesti Laul producers have tried to make a running order that will create the best possible show and keep viewers glued to their screens at home.
Karl-Kristjan & Karl Killing (ft. WATEVA) open the show with their upbeat number “Young”, Nika and Vajé keep up the tempo through the middle of the show, and Evestus close things out with their glam-rock showpiece.
Elina Nechayeva’s nearest challenger for the crown appears to be Estonia’s Eurovision 2015 act Stig Rästa. His acoustic track “Home” should be able to shine in between Sibyl Vane and Vajé’s louder performances.
Of course, as much as producers can shape the running order, it isn’t everything. “Verona” managed to win Eesti Laul 2016 from the graveyard second slot in the running order.
WHERE CAN I WATCH THE EESTI LAUL 2018 FINAL?
You’ll be able to watch the Eesti Laul 2018 through ERR and the liveblog of our partners DELFI on March 3.
Elina is the only potential winner I’ve seen from this Eurovision season so far. It’s so beautiful. Staging, song, voice, her. It’s purrfect.
Yes I agree , it could win …..I recognised Portugal as a winner last year and this one strikes a chord too !…France could win too
as a russian I really want this to win.) Great song & voice + Tallin is a great cheap place to attend Euro near my hometown :))))
????? ????????!
TALLINN not Tallin, do you know it?
I’m no hater, good for Elina is she wins, but I find opera at ESC so dated. Last different attemps didnt go well and this is kinda the same.
“Grande Amore” reached third in 2015. You can’t get any better than that.
Haha. Well, there is 2nd and 1st!
Actually my favourite opera entry so far has to be Cézar with “It’s my life”!! 🙂
Completely agree. I don’t think there is place for true opera at ESC anymore
Eurovision is a contest and generally, people don’t like it when the winner of a contest is obvious (consider just about any sport). I feel people knock La Forza more because they are scared of it than that they dislike it. Not that it matters much anyway. Good spot for Elina and some decent songs in this final but there are also some terrible ones, quite unlike Eesti Laul for that to happen.
The stronger contenders are in odd positions and the fillers in even positions.
La forza is not bad, but it’s not good either. With 10/12 songs being ballad so far, I see this being a borderline qualifier or could pull a blackbird
Which 10/12 songs bro? You are looking at songs from the wrong year it seems!
Only Spain, Belarus, Denmark(?) and Montenegro have come up with ballads!
Higher Ground is folk pop.
NOT.A.BALLAD!!!
Elina is an opera singer, so of course her vocals are going to be impressed, I’m impressed. But the song itself is average. I prefer Stig or Sybil Vane.
Forza its a awful Song. They not gonna Win whit that Song. I hope ITs not going to the final.
Elina is the reason for Estonia’s top 3 in the odds. Period. 🙂
Go Elinaaaaaa ! By far the best in the estonian preselection ! And of course i will vote for her in May …
PS: in 2001 the best entry was the greek and undoubtedly it was robbed! 🙂
Am I the only one who thought Estonia deserved to win that year?
No. Estonia were my winners in 2001 as well.
Roll the carpet from the floor!
2001’s best entries were Germany, Slovenia and France. Greece had a cute song but it was basic, My Number One was better.
Greece and Slovenia were overrated, Germany was good but pitchy, France was actually pretty great, so was Denmark. But I dunno, Estonia’s the song from that year I get stuck in my head the most.
sorry guys but that’ s my opinion! Greece was the best along with France that year! But ERT (and Greece in general) wasn’t ready to organise the contest! Germany and Slovenia was good and the top10 result was fair! Estonia was fun but dull!
Let’s not make it an ~EBU didn’t want Greece to win~ case, because it really wasn’t. The countries that used pure televote clearly showed that Estonia was THE public’s favorite.
Greece 2001 is the same chordal music as “Deeper Shade of Blue” by STEPS. Look it up. 🙂
Not plaigiarism, just coincidentally the same.
I agree that Greece should have won 2001 or France
Precious EL is about to be taken by a mixture of safety and tailoring. Expectation vs. Reality :s
Can’t say my favourites did nice staging and fulfilled visual side well, both Frankie Wilde and Aden Ray weren’t that nice and emotive. Elina though – can’t even watch performance till the end. A rare boredom thing that gives me cold lifeless impression.
“Forsa” is the kind of song you either love it or hate it. I personally found nothing special except Elina’s beautiful voice. However, the live performance was stunning! I’d like to see her in Lisbon but I don’t know how many fans she’ll have. I think only Stig can challenge her.
Elina’s pressed haters can stay shook at her talent and quality song.
Elina’s talent is great, but the song itself is barely there, it’s more of a vocal exercise before the actual song starts.
Wut? It’s 3 minutes of EARGASM.
Meh… I get more feels listening to Jamala. But again an opinion is an opinion.
3 minutes of ”I can shout but nothing happens”. Cezar was entertaining and had harder notes to reach in ”It’s My Life”, the key change, the transition. Elina’s ”La Forza” is blaaaaand
Elina fans will be shook when Eurovision juries inevitably give Estonia low marks. Provided that the song actually wins Eesti Laul of course.
Il Volo came sixth with the juries though…We’re not saying Elina will win, but she’s the one most likely to get a top 5 result.
And sixth place, compared to their televote and overall score was relatively low.
Welp, I’m not expecting those tasteless juries to vote for someone who can sing those notes while looking snatched. They’ll just back whatever formulatic pop song with an eye-catching performance they like the most, while the public will stay choosing talent.
I’m laughing at all the Elina fan-boys here. She is a good singer but her song so overrated. I want to see her flop just so I can see everyone’s reaction here… 😛
Agreed. The only special thing about her entry is that it’s of a genre that usually isn’t part of Eurovision. But tbh, it sounds like every second opera song. Also, it feels artificial.
Yey. It’s an excellent draw for Frankie Animal! Don’t count out “Misty” yet. 🙂
I count it out for the Eurovision final.
Just imagine going to Tallin next year ??
Elina is just perfect and she has to win!
If she wins Eesti Laul, she will climb up right to my #1 in my top
Good luck Estonia and please, don’t screw it ip
Tallinn is written with two n
Well they can use VPN if they screw the ip
Estonian here, For those who are afraid that the public won’t vote her, then don’t worry because people here absolutely LOVE HER. Literally everybody says she’s the right choice so for sure she’ll win the televote. The only obstacle is the jury. I personally don’t trust them, especially some of them who gave high points to the artists who they personally know. And also one admitted that judges by what she personally likes, not what is good for Eurovision (which is not the right way to judge IMO). So IF the jury will act like this next Saturday (I hope… Read more »
Estonian judges are corrupt because they will never give high points to a Russian.
Nah, nobody complains that she has a russian name. That doesn’t stop us from enjoying/loving her song. Music matters, not person’s national background.
Well said. 🙂
show proof. it is about songs, not nationality.
Tanja from 2014 is russian too, didn’t seem to stop her.
Thanks for your perspective, C, it’s always difficult to tell the mood around other’s selections!
Tanja from 2014 flopped so hard though
yeah, so I guess Russia hates russians, they didn´t give her a single point.
Great to see your perspective, I am personally not too worried about the judges just because of the superfinal in which they don’t have any saying.
True, but first she has to qualify from the 1st round which is 50/50 combined with jury and televoting. That’s the only part that I worry. In any case, Elina has already won the hearts of people so it’s all good.
Didn’t they scrap the superfinal ? I believe that this was mentioned when they presented the rules of Eesti Laul 2018
Really? I haven’t seen that mentioned at all. They didn’t announce the change of the finals’ voting system that much so I don’t know…
Ahh I love myself a TASTEFUL country, first Verona now La forza. The next big music force, Sweden needs to start gluing its wig real tight.
Verona was crap and the juries knew that. Sven Lohmus got stuck in the Modern Talking discography.
By the way: Has anyone the fabulous light work in this year’s Eesti Laul studio stage setting? It blew me away, especially in Elina’s and Girls in Pearls’ performances. I hope they can reproduce that on bigger stages, in case Elina wins.
*noticed
Yep, I noticed. It’s pretty good this year compared to previous years.
It’s offical. For the best National Selection of Europe. Estonia must win Eurovision very soon, if not this year. Personally my favourite is not Elina, but rather Frankki or Nika.
*official
Estonia won before though, in 2001. Bulgaria, on the other hand has never won before. Neither has Malta, Cyprus, Georgia, Armenia, Belarus, Australia, Hungary…
…Lithuania, San Marino, Poland, Czech Republic, Moldova, Romania, Iceland, and do the Balkan countries count (cos, 1989)? And did I leave anyone out?
🙂 It might be controversial but I would count 1989 as for Croatia… 1990 was organised by HRT… So, I would all the other ex-Yugoslave country.
🙂 Well… Don’t get me started with the Estonian win of 2001… Let me just tell you that I practically didn’t follow the ESC until 2008 because of that win… I am all for winners that have not yet won. But Estonia does deserve it so much for bringing so much home-grown talent into the national selection, which is more than we can say for many of those other countries.
Bulgaria, Australia, Hungary and many others still bring good songs and talented artists… “La Forza” is a bit more than meh, I’m not even the slightliest interested in opera, however Elina’s vocals are something else, definitely. Still, I wouldn’t give that song my top spot, that’s “Mercy” and it looks that’ll stay there until the concert.
I wouldn’t put Bulgaria in that group because their two good results were fabricated elsewhere, which is not the case for Estonia
Bulgaria is so interesting – they’ve only managed to make the final three times, and in all three cases they made the top 5. They’re very “all or nothing at all” aren’t they?
OMG! I adore Elitsa’s Water. I still listen to it today. Yes I suppose you’re right – all or nothing
Would you say Poli Genova and Kristian Kostov are not talented performers? You don’t have to be a songwriter to be talented. Plus, both Poli and Kristian did more on a stage than what Elina has done so far (not vocally but like movement). Plus Bulgaria is one of the most underrated countries in ESC.
Greetings. 🙂
Poli was good but Kristian wouldn’t have been that high in televote had Russia participated.
Yes, I think so too.
Yes I think Poli has talent and Kristian has potential. But what I am saying is that those entries were artificial, contrary to 2007 entry.
I’m praying to all the gods that Elina doesn’t win. I don’t know how people like that song.
Elina ftw! May La Forza be with her.
Elina good and best song in national final, but I think, she wili be flop in Eurovision, like France 2011.
I hope Elina doesn’t get “Tamar”ed.
Elina can actually sing live tho…
+1
lol
She can sing but what if she catches cold? The song is ruined then.
Evestus can rock even with the soarest throat.
Tamar’s vocals were good. Just look at the backing track’s volume on her performance! It was way too low and she sounded weird due to that
It’s definitely not the strongest Eesti Laul final ever, which is a shame given the fact this year marks the ten year celebration of the show. This show generally is one of the most interesting preselections throughout Europe and that’s a remarkable thing to achieve for such a small country. Anyway, my thoughts about this year’s final: Awful: Eliis & Gerli, Evestus Meh: Karl Kristjan, Frankie Animal, Iiris & Agoh Good: Sibyl Vane, Vajé Great: Nika, Stig And the absolute winner is Elina. This is the only song this year that has given me Eurovision winner vibes. Sure, it will… Read more »
Elina only gives me that Amaury Vassili ”overrated dull song with some nice vocals to polish the turd” feeling
Good luck to Elina anyways!
I agree , this can win Eurovision , so can France ; it seems to me that every year there’s always about five that will be suitable winners , but then the one that actually wins does so because of its originality , something that fits the zeitgeist , better than others …this would be a classy winner , but I’m not sure if the voters are sufficiently highbrow to appreciate it ..France has a very politically relevant song , but I’m not sure if voters are tired of immigrants
I want Frankie Animal or “Drop that boogie”.. anything but Elina really, cant stand it..
#metoo
Thinking about this selection gives me anxiety. Estonia could sweep Eurovision if they pick Elina. Please please PLEASE pick Elina.
I agree , this can win Eurovision , so can France ; it seems to me that every year there’s always about five that will be suitable winners , but then the one that actually wins does so because of its originality , something that fits the zeitgeist , better than others …this would be a classy winner , but I’m not sure if the voters are sufficiently highbrow to appreciate it ..France has a very politically relevant song , but I’m not sure if voters are tired of immigrants
I wasn’t a fan of Elina’s song when I first heard it, but the live act is STUNNING. It’s Estonia’s ONLY choice.