The race to Rotterdam continues in Estonia. On Saturday, 12 more acts competed in the second semi-final of Eesti Laul 2021. But only six made it through.
Uku Suviste, Suured tüdrukud, Kadri Voorand, Jüri Pootsmann, REDEL and Sissi are all one step closer towards representing Estonia at Eurovision. And with that, the final lineup is complete.
Eesti Laul 2021: Semi-final two qualifiers
A 50/50 combination of jury votes and public votes determined the first four qualifiers. Uku Suviste, Suured tüdrukud, Kadri Voorand and Jüri Pootsmann all made it through after the first round of voting.
Then, the fifth and sixth qualifiers were determined solely by the Estonian public in a second round of voting. The final two qualifiers were REDEL and Sissi. Fan-favourites Gram-Of-Fun and Heleza failed to make it through.
Uku Suviste – “The Lucky One”
The bookies’ favourite is through. Hoping to make it a double is Eesti Laul 2020 champion Uku Suviste, who qualifies for the final after an electrifying performance of his pop-rock anthem “The Lucky One”. Will he finally get to the Eurovision stage in Rotterdam?
Suured tüdrukud – “Heaven’s Not That Far Tonight”
The disco queens are through! Suured tüdrukud advance to the final following a fierce performance of “Heaven’s Not That Far Tonight”. The duo also appeared on stage with Sissi as backing vocalists on “Time”.
Kadri Voorand – “Energy”
A vision in white, Kadri Voorand advances to the final. The balladeer showcased killer vocals with a moving performance of “Energy”.
Jüri Pootsmann – “Magus Melanhoolia”
A favourite with wiwibloggs readers and one of the bookies’ choices to win, Jüri Pootsmann advances to the final. He wowed Estonia with a magical performance of his electro-pop soul track “Magus Melanhoolia”.
REDEL – “Tartu”
The ever-flamboyant EDM-rap duo REDEL make it through to the final with their tribute to Estonia’s second largest city. “Tartu” was the first qualifier in the public-only second round of voting.
Sissi – “Time”
The final qualifier of the night. Sissi kicked off the evening with a suitably soulful performance of “Time”. In 2018, Sissi placed fourth at Eesti Laul with “Strong”, narrowly missing out on the superfinal. Could she make it all the way this year?
Eesti Laul 2021: Semi-final two results
- Uku Suviste – “The Lucky One” (Round one qualifier)
- Suured tüdrukud – “Heaven’s Not That Far Tonight” (Round one qualifier)
- Kadri Voorand – “Energy” (Round one qualifier)
- Jüri Pootsmann – “Magus Melanhoolia” (Round one qualifier)
- REDEL – “Tartu” (Round two qualifier)
- Sissi – “Time” (Round two qualifier)
- Helen – “Nii kõrgele” (NQ)
- Gram-Of-Fun – “Lost in a Dance” (NQ)
- Alabama Watchdog – “Alabama Watchdog” (NQ)
- Uku Haasma – “Kaos” (NQ)
- Heleza – “6” (NQ)
- Rahel – “Sunday Night” (NQ)
Tonight’s top six acts advance to the final along with the qualifiers from semi-final one. The Eesti Laul 2021 final takes place on Saturday 6 March at 18:30 CET.
What do you think of the semi-final two results? Is the winner amongst the qualifiers? Did your favourite make it through? Let us know in the comments below.
Follow all of our Estonia Eurovision 2021 news.
I like also Kadri Voorand – “Energy” and Jüri Pootsmann – “Magus Melanhoolia”
I don ‘t like REDEL – “Tartu”
Uku Suviste is my favorite. I hope he ‘s winning in Estonia and take his second chance to represent Estonia in Rotterdam.
Jüri is a great singer and I just love his song. I will definitely vote for him.
Me too. So much better than Uku with another mediocre and generic song.
So can anyone explain to me why there were 3 announcements? At first I thought Gram-of-Fun were in and Uku Suviste was out so I was quite happy about that. But then there were more announcements and finally Gram-of-Fun were out. Didn’t understand a thing
Indeed. ETV please take note. The Semi Final system is indeed confusing. (I can’t even properly explain it here.)
N.B. It also doesn’t make much sense to have two audience-only wildcards when they didn’t do enough to be in the top four, since they get to the final knowing that they weren’t in the top 4 and are not favoured by the jury. Don’t sow seeds of doubt, credit what is there. Thanks for reading.
First one was just the jury´s favourites, the second one was the one that announced the artists who went through the first round, jury and public vote combined. The third one was the last two who got through only on public vote. Separate voting for that.
Juri just blown me away. In falling for the song and his voice! Magus Melanhoolia!
Tartu qualified lol ok!
I am crying my eyes out for Gram-of-Fun. They really deserved the final.
My thoughts on this semi: Stream was laggy (again) so I ended up watching the performances on Youtube, and then went to watch part 2 on ETV. I don’t know if the stream is laggy for everyone, but is there anyway to fix it? TBH, I’m only happy with Uku (The Lucky One) qualifying, as he is my favourite out of the now 12 songs and contestants. It was easily the best performance and song for me and he should totally get his shot at Eurovision. I like Juri’s song, but my main issue with it is that its only… Read more »
I hate to admit it, but Gram-of-Fun vocals were bad, really bad. That’s a fact, not my opinion.
ERR streams have unfortunately never been good enough. This is not just an issue during Eesti Laul but in general throughout the year. I have the least amount of problems when I use Firefox.
Kristel Aaslaid from Gram-of-fun has never had great live vocals. The song was great but her live performances are most of the time poor (for example, Immortality in 2016). I also remember her saying how she doesn’t like to sing a few years before starting her singing career.
Not Redel qualifying over Gram of Fun ?
at this point I’m hoping for Juri. But it’ll be Uku….
Aksel didnt win in Finland so u never know
It will happen like last year. Uku will be number 1 in votes with a chaotic difference between him and the other contestants. In the first round that doesn’t matter a lot, but in the final three the decision belongs totally to the audience.
The only possibility to not win is if he doesn’t proceed to the superfinal, and that will happen only if the Judges keep him low on their scores and the rest of their results agreeing with the audience, which is not an easy task.
But the people there also love Koit and Juri. So i dont think Ukus win is that certain at all, especially after seeing Aksel placing 5th out of the 7 performances in Finland. I thought he would be at least in top 3.
In the odds Uku was just surpassed by Koit. I personally hope they choose Uku, because he deserve it and his song is good, but he need to try and work on his shaky vocals and fix his staging, because it looked very underwhelming. It would be interesting final.
Very happy that sissi qualified. Game of fun were my favourites when the video clips were out but they diserved not to qualifie whith that kind of live performance
Everybody is SLEEPING on Kadri. Vocally, she blew everyone else out of the water tonight and the song isn’t bad – especially live, which is what it will be in May. I think she could go far
Quite shocked by the result tonight, gram of fun and heleza were firm qualifiers for me, and will be missed. Uku Suviste confirmed to me that he actually struggles to sing live. Happy to see Kadri Voorand through, although I was anticipating her breaking into ‘walking in memphis’ all through the performance!
I’m am blown away every time I hear or watch Kadri Voorand – “Energy”. I’m really puzzled why no one mentions it ever. It just stands out as unique and wow – what a captivating and talented performance,
for me their are lots of acts I like in this years Estonian Selection.
Yeah, that killed Gram-of-Fun maybe. Such an amazing performance after a rather weak on by Gram-of-Fun. So they (GOF) never had a chance.
tartu is king now!
i get always a knot in my ears from this cool song. 🙂
Suured tüdrukud is lowkey good tho
do not underestimate these 2 ladies in the final – they can win it(same with the old man from other semi).
I don’t know why people keep underrating them. Without them, both Koit and Sissi probably might not have qualified. They are established singers, and they are finally getting the reaction they freaking deserve.
I somehow expected it that Gram-of-Fun are knocked. Their live performance was very weak. Such a pity for this great great song.
So I have to cheer for Ivo Linna and Sissi now.
Uku’s performance gave me headache..
I’m not really into any of the finalists this year in Estonia..they might struggle at ESC this year..
I think Uku’s song is much better than last year’s. I suspect he will win in the end.
I’m just so relieved REDEL made it through, Kaia Tamm would’ve been proud.
Yaas! I was explaining the song “Wo sind die katzen” to my cousin earlier! 🙂
Guys can someone tell me who qualified in the jury voting (I missed it for MGP final)?
I guess Uku, Juri, Sissi and Kadri qualified with the juries
Kadri Voorand, Juri Pootsmann, Alabama Watchdog and Gram-Of-Fun, if I remember and understand you correctly.
I try to explain myself better: before tha annuncement of the first 4 qualifiers, the jury top 4 is revealed in random order, so Gram of Fun did actually qualify with juries but televorers put them out? Now, this is a plot twist
Sorry, I am tired and totally destroyed by MGP results (even though I expected them), so my english skills are really poor tonight.
Anyway, not surprising jury results, except for Gram of Fun.
good choice
Gram-of-Fun not qualifying takes a lot of my enthusiasm for Eesti Laul’s final. I’ve listened to “Lost in a Dance” hundreds of times and I still love it as much as I loved right away. It doesn’t help also that I’m believing even more on Uku’s victory two weeks from now. He did a good job with his vocals, the staging was fine, but the song does nothing for me. Though it will be probably enough for him to win, since he already did it last year with a much weaker package. My biggest surprise tonight was Kadri. I confess… Read more »
The problem was her vocals. As much of we love this song here too it was painful to listen her as she was so off tune
I don’t think it was that bad. But yeah, her vocals faced strong competition tonight. Kadri, Sissi, Jüri, Uku, Suured. I was expecting the televote-only round to save them, but they went with REDEL instead and I can’t stand their song.
Gram-of-fun is a radio pop to jam to in the car, not for Eurovision. I don’t understand why everyone was wishing for it to make it.
I disagree, I think we could jam to this one anywhere, including on Eurovision. The only disadvantage they would have in Rotterdam is that bands may sound out of place when just the vocals are live. But I guess it’s a matter of allowing the illusion to take you. Some great entries have people pretending they’re playing live.
Lost in a dance was so good, I can’t believe its out 🙁
Gram of Fun was more deserving of the final instead of Redel in my humble opinion. In saying that, sadly Kristel’s voice was as flat as a tire and it really took away from the whole performance. The band’s instrumental part, vocal backing was there 100% and the song is killer catchy but you can only get so far with a set of three full and one empty- it just skidded off the road. She has become better in time with her voice but I think her strenghts lie in writing great songs and doing music production. I was dissapointed… Read more »
I think we now have a three-way battle between Uku, Koit, and Juri. After last year’s miserable song by Uku last year, I am curious to see if the Estonian public will back him again.
Lost in a dance it’s my favorite from this selection, so sad…
I hope that Uku or Koit win this…
Norway and Finland took my attention tonight so I am only just catching up with the sad news that Gram of Fun and Heleza didn’t make it. I thought Gram of Fun did really well so this result surprises me. I am also not ashamed to admit that I really enjoyed Redel’s Tartu. Of course it is completely bonkers, but a small amount of bonkers is always welcome in my book. All my energy is now going to Koit and Andrei/Pluuto for the final, they are my last remaining favourites now, although there are a few others that I wouldn’t… Read more »
Heleza out?! She was my favourite of the whole NF… I will admit that the performance wasn’t really good but I’m still sad :/
Jüri needs to win now, nothing else.
Fun fact 1: Redel’s khm .. singer, works with Jüri Pootsmann on the same radio station where they do the morning program together.
Fun fact 2: Koit Toome’s girlfriend Kaia has been doing make up for Eesti Laul artists for years, including to hosts.
Fun Fact 3: Suured tudrukud’s singers are the backing vocalists for Eesti Laul almost every year.
Congrats Estonia for left the best song out!! OMG. Gram-of-Fun, so sad!
Devastated for Gram-Of-Fun but that staging was horrendous.
Give the ticket to Jüri because we can’t have Estonia send Uku and his rubbish songs two years in a row.
now all we need is Jüri to win, by far the most original and modern package
Modern doesn’t = good.
Your taste is not good
I am so happy that my personal favourite (“Energy”) made it to the final, despite not being to most people’s taste. Kadri is hugely talented and deserves that place. I am also happy with the other qualifiers; roll on the final. 🙂
She had arguably the best vocals of the evening (along with Juri). Congrats!
Yeah, that’s the hottest he has ever looked. 🙂
Great vocals too, lol
What many non-Estonians don’t understand is that Heleza lyrics are quite poor and fairly stupid. And not knowingly stupid like with Redel’s song.
I would rather say not French-speakers since her song is in French…?
The verses are in Estonian and the chorus is in French. That said, I looked-up the translation and I actually like it altogether. It’s a song about accepting yourself as you are right now, acknowledging your past baggage, but not letting it define you, and not feeling pressure by what’s about to come.
So Juri was on the top 4 of judges but Uku wasn’t?
Come on Juri!!! You deserve it.
P.S. Suured tüdrukud were awesome on this stage… Age doesn’t matter when you can win the stage.
i agree about suured tudrukud.. they were fantastic
I will miss Heleza in the final but the staging and live could’ve been better.
I thought Heleza was in with a chance of NQing but never did I think Gram-of-Fun were going to miss out on the final. Can’t say I agree with that, even when considering vocals.
Bookies were right about Kadri. I really don’t get it. That song is just not good. At all. Tartu was always going to get one of the 5th-6th spots so I won’t even get upset over that.
This is my theory on why Gram-of-fun didn’t do well with televoters: the vocals were bad many times during the song. And she was very energetic and was jumping around. And it’s of course a good thing to be energetic when you’re performing an upbeat song – but it was kind of too much and seemed a little forced.
Although I don’t particularly like Redel (uff) and Sissi, I’m happy with all of today’s finalists – the best stage performances went on. Gram-Of-Fun and Heleza were weak live.
Shocked by Gram-Of-Fun’s NQ, not so much for Heleza’s, as she didn’t have staging at all and her dress was quite weird
On the other hand, I’m surprised for REDEL, and I’m so happy for Sissi as it’s one of my favs of this selection!
agreeeeeed 😉
So glad for Koit Toome!!! go go go!
Amazing Jüri! Love it!
What did I miss? At first they announced 4 qualifiers with Alabama Watchdog and Gram of Fun in. Then they did the same process but with different qualifiers. Someone please explain to me what the f*** happened.
Biggest robbery of the season goes to Gram of Fun. How on Earth someone choose Suured tudrukud over Gram of Fun or any of the other. I can’t get it. I just can hope Uku don’t win and Estonia gets stuck in the SF. You have such a range of styles and goes for the same dull ballads… So so disappointed.
It’s a little odd, but the first four names they announce are the favourites of the juries. It’s supposed to encourage more televotes. The actual qualifiers aren’t announced until later. If it were juries only, Alabama Watchdog and Gram of Fun would have gone through. The televote dragged them down.
So, juries would actually have AW *in*??? Geez…
Why not? They sounded great. The jury wasnt aware of the lyric drama probably and were objective. They deserved the final.
Juries who don’t translate the content they are rating shouldn’t be in charge of that responsibility. I am unsure whether they were lazy or dismissive of the content, but either way, I am somewhat disappointed. Still, to each their own. I’m not holding it against anyone personally.
Oh, thanks! A little confusing when you don’t speak Estonian. I thought the the jury would drag Gram of Fun down because there were some notes out of tune, but I expected the televote to vote for them.
I still can’t get over the fact they preferred those ladies with such a tacky and bland song.
the first with gram of fun were just the jury favorites 🙁 i agree gram-of-fun got robbed
Congrats to Juri and Redel! 🙂
Sad for Gram-Of-Fun and Heleza. 🙁
I guess this glass is still half full! 🙂
However the national final offers modern unique songs, the public always go for the most mediocre ones.
Gram of Fun 100% deserved a spot in the final! The best song in whole selection to be honest ?
The best song yes, but the performance was weak to be honest. A pity
Gram of fun biggest robbery ever. I am heartbroken.
!!! Gram-of-Fun and Heleza were myh favorite and i thought it would be in the final top 5
Big mistake Estonia…..