And then there were the final 12! Estonia has just picked the last six Eesti Laul 2019 qualifiers, after tonight’s second semi-final. Amongst them are Uku Suviste and Sissi, the daughter of Eurovision 2001 winner Dave Benton.
But it was unfortunate news for Eesti Laul veteran Grete Paia, who was left behind for the first time in the semi-finals.
Eesti Laul 2019: Semi-Final 2 Results
Six more acts made the Eesti Laul final tonight, and they were: Kadiah with “Believe”, Sissi with “Strong”, Kerli Kivilaan with “Cold Love”, Uku Suviste with “Pretty Little Liar”, Inga & Lumevärv with “Milline päev”, and Synne Valtri with “I’ll Do It My Way”.
First, the four finalists of the jury and the televote combined were announced. Those were Kadiah, Sissi, Kerli Kivilaan and Uku Suviste. After another round of televoting (and a pinch of agony, of course), INGA ft. Lumevärv and Synne Valtri were added to the line up of the Eesti Laul Final.
Kerli Kivilaan – “Cold Love” at Eesti Laul semi-final 2
Synne Valtri kicked off the show, with her heavily 80s reminiscent pop tune “I’ll do it my way“. Next there was garage band Iseloomad, who took us to an open mic bar with their entry “Kaks miinust“. Then INGA showed her dance moves with her EDM track “Milline päev“.
Coming right after, Sissi proved her fierceness with a playful staging with lots of interactions with her backing vocalists and dancers, and then well.
There came “Parmumäng”. All you need to know is that there was a lady playing a weird instrument, and a man’s face displayed on it. They sang a song whose lyrics were mainly made of “tere, tere”, which means “hello, hello” in Estonian. Eesti Laul’s audience waved them goodbye, though.
Cätlin Magi & Jaan Pehk – “Parmumäng” at Eesti Laul semi-final 2
Kadiah brought all her sweetness delivering her lovely ballad “Believe“, which managed to convince the Estonian audience. But coming right after, camp took over the stage again and well… “Wo sind die kätzen”.
Cat costumes, weird BDSM onesies, a giant bear lying in the background, a woman dressed as the dark version of Alice in Wonderland and a man picked right from 1985. Judge for yourselves…
Kaia Tamm – “Wo sind die katzen?” at Eesti Laul 2019 semi-final 2
Kerli Kivilaan followed with her pop tune “Cold Love”. It might not be a “Spirit Animal”, but this woman gets it. She delivered her entry effortlessly – in stark contrast to the act that followed her, Grete Paia.
Coming into the show, Grete stood as one of the favourites, but tonight’s performance wasn’t fully polished. Whether it was the lighting or the odd man who seemed to loom over her at the start, it just didn’t click.
Grete Paia – “Kui isegi kaotan” at Eesti Laul 2019 semi-final 2
The two following acts, Lacy Jay and Around the Sun, didn’t manage to get the audience behind them either.
Closing the show was our readers’ favourite Uku Suviste, who brought all the drama and an interpretative dancer for his entry “Pretty Little Liar”. And boy, he can sing!
Uku Suviste – “Pretty Little Liar” at Eesti Laul semi-final 2
And with these, the line up of the 2019 Eesti Laul Grand Final is complete. Tonight’s six acts join The Swingers featuring Tanja and Birgit, Stefan, Victor Crone, Inger, Sandra Nurmsalu and Xtra Basic & Emily J and will battle it out on February 16 at Saku Suurhall in Tallinn to fly the Estonian flag in Tel Aviv.
Who’s your favourite to win Eesti Laul 2019? How many of the qualifiers did you get right? Who will be missed in the final? Sound off in the comment section below!
I think it should be Uku Suviste, please choose him Eesti ????!
RIP Wo Sind die Katzen, and Parmumäng. Obviously not surprised they didn’t qualify, but I don’t want to live in a world where that wonderful weirdness doesn’t feature in Eurovision season somehow!
We had those times at 2006-2008 but I kind of miss them now!
I’m sad for Grete Paia. I think 1st semi final was better.
I turn my back for five seconds to watch melfest and this is what happens! Half of these are good but no Grete Paia?!
Pretty little Liar is a great song but very difficult to sing live, that’s why there are so many backing vocals..to mask the main vocal. Might just get through on his looks alone though!!
So why did “Follow Me Back” not qualify?
Shaky and flat performance I guess? Both of their competitors in the same genre (Kerli, Inga) had more confident vocals, and three similar songs advancing was always going to be unlikely. I guess they were the ones to fall by the wayside.
The winner is probably gonna be uku suviste or Victor crone.
As a German, i am utterly shocked about Kaias performance, but irritatingly fascinated as well.
I can believe that rip-off song Cold Love qualified.
it was sang well tbh
I knew it reminds me of another song. Can you give me the tittle?
I’m actually really sad that Kaia didn’t qualify. At the very least, her performance was certainly iconic-
I don’t blame Estonians a bit for eliminating “Wo sind de Katzen” but I am so glad that performance exists in this world. Lolcat, indeed!
Do I need to get my head checked or is it ok that I actually really enjoyed that cat performance?
Seriously though, Sissi was the star of the night. That was a proper performance.
she is good, but that drop where the chorus should be is very disappointing.
Around The Sun didn’t qualify? I’m really devastated! They’re my favorite to win and Estonia wasted them like that.
Really, I’m lost at words! I just hope they’ll go again next year.
I disagree with “that boy can sing” – I don’t think we’re listening to the same boy sing…
Kadiah is my only favourite left damn! Pls WIN
Looking at the qualifiers the predictions of shared televotes would be : 1. Stefan, Uku, Inger and possibly Victor. I’m kind of worried about the televote rigging of this group since both Stefan and Stig was in the superfinal last year, Inger would probably be drowned. 2. Synne and Sandra, but I’m unsure about it. Both qualified from the second round but has quite big fanbases. 3. Inga and Emily would be the most potential since their style was the same, they can possibly cancel each other if put on the same half. Somehow, this could be an advantage to… Read more »
Uku and Victor will fight on whoever is bad in doing high notes
Where’s Grete? What’s wrong with you Estonia?
I think it will be Victor or Uku in the very end. None of the others have a real chance.
Kadiah saved a dreadful night for me. Hope she goes to Eurovision! The best song by far
Dare To Dream- Believe! Kadiah is the one I’ve been liking ever since the beginning and her performance didn’t let me down. She was one of the strongest of tonight’s show with her solid vocals and classy, yet simple staging. Also so happy for Inga, what a bop! Sad for Lacy Jay tho 🙁 I don’t get why people are so convinced with Victor Crone winning, is it because he’s Swede? Song written by Stig? That the song itself is generically radio-friendly? Not with those rough screaming notes so I’d scratch him out. If people blindly (or deafly in this… Read more »
Whaaat??? I was certain Grete would make it. Also, I was rooting for Kaia Tamm. I knew she wouldn’t win, but I was hoping for a qualification.
Wo sind die Katzen??
Ich habe keine Ahnung.
Considering that Cätlin & Jann and Kaia were playing on a separated league of their own, the other 10 acts weren’t very far from each other in terms of performance, so I’m not surprised that some fan favorites (including two that I really liked on the studio versions, Lacy and Around the Sun) were left behind. I guess Uku is the one to beat, but I wasn’t impressed by him. Maybe Victor can get his vocals right… maybe they can get some actual staging for Sandra… or maybe we’ll have a surprise. Stefan? Kadiah? Kerli?
Victor was sick. Thats why his voice was so… off on those “screaming” notes.
this edition of eesti laul is laughably bad to the point that uku suviste is the hot favorite to win…. i’ll take victrash crone at this point
well victor is most likely winning lol
I’m praying that Victor won’t win. Storm is OVERRATED!
Well, wasn’t “heroes” overrated in 2015? ?
nah heroes was good ,especially with that staging
Heroes was a bit overrated but Storm is much more OVERRATED.
I’m so happy for Uku, INGA and Kadiah
Kaia Tamm’s performance felt like a severe fever dream, yet I kinda enjoyed it… But I would really like her to explain, what was it about. Anyway I expect the most logical interpretation to be: meow!
The cats have gone out dancing to escape their routine check-up by the vets. Where have they gone? They need to be checked. Someone find them! Oh no, I am one of the cats! The vet is dragging me away. Nooooo! (End of dream.)
Possible indeed. But where did disco guy and those two strange men come from? I bet even Sigmund Freud wouldn’t be able to explain it.
2nd semifinal was way stronger than the 1st so I was expecting a shock NQ but not 3! Bye bye Greta Paia, Lacy Jay & Around the Sun ? not too surprised about Kaia Tamm not going through as her song and performance was seen as too weird and novelty, at least INGA, Sissi & Uku Suviste qualified I guess and especially Synne Valtri! I never thought she’d make it but I knew her song was slept on by the eurofandom!
I was hoping that it was a Semi 1 technical glitch but no the backing singers are just not right. They are too loud 95% of the time and honestly they’ve yet to sound good at all. Hopefully for the final they get all of that sorted out. Please.
Kadiah, Kerli, INGA and Sissi made it through and I’M SO HAPPY!!!!! But I’m sad about Kaia and Grete not qualifying.
I’m very happy for Kadiah, Sissi and Kerli. 🙂 Inga & Lumevärv did it the hard way, leaving Inga all on her own to do the performance – but it worked, so well done. Of course Uku Suviste qualified, so that leaves… Synne and her easily singable song. Non-qualifier surprises: Around The Sun – What went wrong here? Cute band, cute social media song, yet a cute flop? Explanations? Grete Paia – She was not in tune with the backing track, so I can only point towards lack of rehearsal time for this one. Lacy Jay – It wasn’t her,… Read more »
So sad for Lacy right now.. can not believe that her, Grete and Around The Sun were not in the top 2 televote after the judges picked their top 4. But now I am all for Kerli to win!! Cold Love to Eurovision!
Some of my favs didn’t make it but after watching the performances of the ones who qualified, I think the right ones went through. Kadiah and sissi were amazing live and I’m secretly rooting for kadiah to win, but I’d also be happy with Uku
Tbh even though Estonia is in the ‘weaker’ semi they are gonna struggle. Tbh I want Uku simply because…well looking at him ain’t too bad. An at least he could hold my attention with the song. Unlike my other choice Sandra.
Oh well…hopefully the final will blow me away.
Pretty decent line-up for the final. But I swear, if Victor Crone wins over Uku Suviste, I’m gonna sue! They should definitly turn down the volume of the backround singers tho…
Funny, I liked having the backing singers volume turned up. It felt more like a family of musicians. 🙂
It just really annoyed me during Uku’s performance, at times I was barely able to hear him at all.
Agreed 100%
I admire Kaia Tamm. It takes courage to do that on national televison.
Totally.
YASSS Synne Valtri made it to the finals. Im so happy. Such a bop. Love it!
Sorry but uku was not vocally on point at all tonight and lacy Jay was. Just clarifying
No surprise really though after the judges had Inger in their top 4 last week.
I think Uku’s vocals were fine?