Estonian opera princess Elina Nechayeva shined on the Eurovision stage in 2018 with her song “La Forza”. And more recently she was one of the stars of the Netflix comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
Meeting her fellow Eurovision friends again upped her nostalgia for the contest. That’s one of the big takeaways in her interview on “Letnyaya Studiya”, a Russian-language talkshow on Estonian public broadcaster ERR.
Would Elina Nechayeva consider a Eurovision comeback?
On the question of whether she’s interested in returning to the song contest, Elina said:
“To be honest, I watched that film and I remembered all those details, all those feelings when you participate in Eurovision… Oh my god, it was that great, that interesting… There were such interesting friendships and possibilities. And in that moment I thought, ‘if they write me a song this year… (laughs)”
She then told the host that she’s currently busy writing new songs and working on albums. However, if the right song were to come at the right moment, she would not rule out sending it to Eesti Laul — the Estonian national selection.
Elina’s appearance in the film almost didn’t happen. She revealed that she thought for some time that she was being fooled when she received the invitation.
“I received an email on my professional email address, in which they invited me to play in a film in which Will Ferrell [would also play]. They told me succinctly what the film was about. (…) I thought it was a practical joke, needed to Google the production company to see what they are doing. Where are they contacting me from? I saw on Google that they did serious things and they also worked with Hollywood. So I thought it might be true. When I inquired, they told me everything in more detail and in the email there was not just not one person, but also the director who was added. Then I realised it is an actual thing, not a joke!”
“I was honestly surprised that they invited me there. I thought they would invite all sorts of Eurovision winners. Apparently Will Ferrell liked my performance at Eurovision and so did the director of that film.”
The filming was very special for Elina and she really enjoyed the shoot in London. On top of that, she thinks that the film gives a realistic sense of the contest. She explained:
“My emotions were like ‘AH! Exactly! That’s exactly how it is!’ There are many moments which are very accurate that they emphasised, especially as for the fear that their country might win and the government representatives go ‘oh, a nightmare to our government’, like ‘our government will go bankrupt’, those kinds of jokes. As for everything that happens behind and on the stage, it’s of course a happy celebration. Eurovision, we say, it is so serious but on the stage you rarely see that. In that film, there are many jokes and it is laughing at Eurovision with good intentions.”
Did you like Elina Nechayeva’s appearance in Netflix’s Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga? Would you like to see her back at Eurovision in the future? Let us know in the comments below!
La Forza was one of my favorite entries of 2018 and I was glad it made top 10 (although it certainly should have come higher). Hopefully she can come up with something just as good or even better!
I think she performed a little too early in the running to do really well, though even if she performed 16th, I doubt she’d have managed to overtake Eleni and Netta. I don’t think popera tends to do well at Eurovision. But I agree, it’s a great song, one of my top picks from 2018.
She finished 8th, she did really well.
I would love to see Elina come back! I always love it whenever we have returning artists competing at Eurovision for a second time!
I love Elina. I have no problem with the idea of her coming back – I love returning performers, it undermines the idea that the contest is a talent show to launch newcomers. Something that will deter established acts. Nobody sees returning composers as a problem – Thomas G:son, Ralph Siegel, Boris Milanov, Philip Kirkirov must have about 1,234 entries between them.
I wouldn’t say nobody particularly when it comes to one of those names you mentioned lol
I do think some people see it that way, yeah. Countries like Spain or Israel have used TV talent shows for amateurs to select their act. I imagine this can only put established acts off and make people think the whole thing is for newcomers. As for songwriters, I agree with you. One attempt per year for the country you live in – that’s enough. Or the country of birth. Or anywhere you like – but just one! If Eleni had sang for Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria and Germany all on the same year, nobody would tolerate it. People are debating… Read more »
This is exactly what I thought. Except for Sergey Lazarev and Dima Bilan, I don’t remember any returning Eurovision contestant who managed to get a higher placing than in their first participation. It would be quite embarrassing if an artist, who got a good result, comes back and fails to qualify for example (like Hungary 2019, North Macedonia 2016 etc). That’s why a lot of artists are afraid to come back. For example, Ott Lepland, who came 6th in Eurovision, has said to Estonian press that he hesitates to come back because he is afraid that he may not reach… Read more »
Tamara from North Macedonia, Cheryl Baker, Linda Martin to name but a few.
But you’re right, for every Linda Martin, there’s a Thomas Forstner and I think by and large, second appearances do perform worse. Which is why I think Eleni needs to think VERY carefully about returning in 2021 as is the rumour.
“I don’t remember any returning Eurovision contestant who managed to get a higher placing than in their first participation”
Raphael ranked 7th when he represented Spain with “Yo soy aquel” in 1966. He returned the following year with “Hablemos del amor” and ranked 6th.
Back when I was getting into Eurovision, that first season I followed, obsessively checking on all the national finals, “La forza” was a song I was rooting for hardcore to get the ticket to Lisbon. I actually was at the Metropolitan Opera on a class trip to see Madama Butterfly (how fitting!) when I checked my phone at intermission and saw that Elina had won Eesti Laul and I was ecstatic. Hers was easily one of my favorite performances that year, and yet another example of a “truth is stranger than fiction” Eurovision act that was still amazing and beautiful.… Read more »
To be more specific: if I think an artist has more to offer besides their previous Eurovision attempt, I recommend their coming back. I’m not one of the people who thinks Eleni Foureira ought to come back because I never got the vibe that she had anything overly different to offer other than “Fuego.” That felt like a clear, complete artistic statement. Heck, cool as it would’ve been to get Loreen back in 2017, “Statements” wasn’t really going to make people forget about “Euphoria.”
2018 had Rybak, and that was fine, because even if it was never going to be another “Fairytale,” it was harmless enough and enjoyable. Meanwhile, Waylon definitely didn’t need to come back after the perfection he and Ilse achieved in 2014, and his comeback was terrible.
I wasn’t a fan of Alexander’s 2018 effort, but I kinda wanted him to win if only to knock Johnny Logan’s ego. He would have equalled the record both as a performer and songwriter.
Nah, he and Johnny are tight. They (and I) share a birthday! May 13 is a great day for me as a Eurovision fan since three of my all-time favorites won on contests held on that date (Nocturne, Fly on the Wings of Love, and Amar pelos dois). Also, not Eurovision-related, but Stevie Wonder also has that birthday and he’s responsible for my favorite song (Superstition).
Okay, maybe I was a little hard on Johnny. He just annoyed me when Cornald Maas introduced him on Songfestivalfeest as a three-time winner, and Johnny corrected “four!” which just confused poor Cornald.
I would love if the contest was on my birthday. I think. It might overshadow it!
I think he does it as a joke at this point and Cornald was a little slow at this point (because yeah, he’s only won it three times if you count Why Me as a victory for him as much as Linda Martin)
(Fly on the Wings of Love actually won on my first birthday!)
I just remembered, Stevie does (kinda) have a Eurovision connection – the 1999 interval!
Right! That happened a few weeks after I was born! (And then the Eurovision on my twentieth birthday was also in Israel!)
Unfortunately, Logan won three times as a songwriter, so he wouldn’t have equalled it.
Incorrect. He won twice as a performer and twice as a songwriter.
Huh. Indeed. I never knew he didn’t even write his best winning song himself. Still, Rybak was begging to not match his record with that song thing.
Maybe…but he did win his semi-final. Which had 18 songs, only one less than Johnny in 1980. If he’d been in the other semi-final of 19 songs, we could almost say he matched it. Almost…
True. It was a much different time and a lot easier for Logan to win than it is for anyone to win these days. Then again, Rybak’s semi final was a very, very weak one.
Yes to Elina. If Uku’s track record of Eesti Laul songs is any indication, anything she sends will already be righter than his entry.
no she got 8th, the highest estonia has gotten since they won is 6th with rändajad and kuula, 7th with GTY
also if elina has the right song then she could easily get a better place than 8th
i know many people want kerli but her live singing is just not that great, even though her music is good and she’s popular
yESSSSSS PLEASE IF SHE SENDS A SONG IN ESTONIAN I’LL STAN SO HARD
I know everyone hates on returning artists but y’all im ngl I would LOVE to see Elina back at Eesti Laul, especially since the quality is steadily decreasing for most of the songs spare a few and Elina would ramp the quality back up
I don’t mind returning artists at all, if they have a good song then who cares
I think that Eesti Laul 2020 (the average level) was much better than Eesti Laul 2019, even though in 2020 we didn’t have a clear favourite. 2019 and 2014 were the weakest Eesti Laul selections in my opinion. I didn’t like a single song in 2014.
in 2020 the clear favourite was Jaagup. No question.
Idk if it’s just me but Jaagup was way more popular outside of Estonia. Estonian middle-aged and elderly women didn’t like Jaagup at all and they have always been crazy for Uku Suviste for some reason, so “What Love Is” winning Eesti Laul wasn’t a big surprise in Estonia.
Yeah I could kinda see that. I think outside the Estonian bubble Jaagup was always the frontrunner, like how outside the Australian bubble it was always Jaguar for everyone (but as an Australian I knew it would be either Montaigne or Vanessa).