National final season truly kicked off with the first quarter-final of Estonia’s national final Eesti Laul 2022. Ten acts competed for five places in the Eesti Laul semi-finals. Estonia’s Eurovision 2015 star Stig Rästa was among the five qualifiers.
It was a low-key round. Rather than have the acts perform their songs live, the songs were assessed on music videos. The first three places were decided by public televote, with the final two places decided by the jury vote.
Evelin Samuel – “Waterfall”
Evelin Samuel was the first televote qualifier with her song “Waterfall”. The uplifting love song includes ABBA-style vocal harmonies and a spooky solo played on a theremin.
Evelin previously represented Estonia at Eurovision 1999. She performed the song “Diamond of Night” which placed sixth in the Eurovision grand final.
Stig Rästa – “Interstellar”
Stig Rästa also qualified from the public vote. He presented the upbeat song “Interstellar”, which compares the wonders of space to the feeling of falling in love. The co-writers of “Interstellar include Estonia’s 2019 singer Victor Crone.
Stig is an accomplished songwriter and performer. He previously represented Estonia at Eurovision 2015 with the moody song “Goodbye to Yesterday” sung with Elina Born. The song placed seventh in the grand final.
Boamadu – “Mitte kauaks”
The final qualifier from the public vote was the Estonian rock band Boamadu with their song “Mitte kauaks” (or “Not For Long”).
Maian – “Meeletu”
The first jury qualifier was Maian with her song “Meeletu” (or “Crazy”). The song is a moody Estonian take on reggaetón, with lyrics in both Estonian and Spanish.
Maian previously competed alongside Karl-Kristjan and Whogaux at Eesti Laul 2017. They placed fourth in the final with “Have You Now”.
Jaagup Tuisk – “Kui vaid”
Jaagup Tuisk was the final jury qualifier with his electronic ballad “Kuid vaid” (or “If Only”). Jaagup was a big fan favourite at Eesti Laul 2020 with his “Arcade”-inspired ballad “Beautiful Lie”. He finished second in the contest.
Over the next month, three more quarter-finals will be held. They will decide the 20 acts that will compete in the two semi-final of Eesti Laul 2022.
The semi-finals are due to be held in early February 2022, with the grand final scheduled for 12 February.
Who are your favourites from the first qualifiers of Eesti Laul 2022?
Of tonight’s five qualifiers, tell us your favourites by voting in our poll. As always, you can vote for as many acts as you like, but you can only vote once — so make it count!
What do you think? Are you happy with these five qualifiers? Can any of these acts go on to win Eesti Laul 2022? Tell us your thoughts below!
Among the advancing entries, my favorite is Meeletu! I definitely loved the blend of Estonian with Spanish and the beat is cool.
As for the others, I’m glad Jaagup advanced as well. However, Stig’s entry was underwhelming.
Seems like only the jury have good taste
OK, Meeletu is absolutely amazing! Who would have thought Estonian and Spanish sounded so good together? I like parts of Kui vaid too.
Only Maian for me. Fiona and Me deserved to qualify instead of Stig/Victor Crone generic boring stereotypical radio track.
Jaagup Tuisk – “Kui vaid” was my favorite, I would love to see him in Italy next year.
This is a strong start with the return of two favorites, Jaagup and Stig. Boamadu was a nice surprise with their song “Mitte Kauaks,” featuring tight, synced musicianship, manic energy and a break-neck pace with a lot of skill on the drums and lead guitar especially. The lyrics make sense and have a rhythm and flow. Their song, music and performance is mesmerizing. The overall quality is right up there with Finland and Italy from 2021. I see them as a contender for the Eesti Laul Final. Jaagup Tuisk’s “Kui Vaid” (If Only) is mystical and alluring – it brought… Read more »
God, theremin solo! I’m a sucker for this instrument, so seeing my baby getting some mainstream recognition and usage in pop is always pleasing! Apart from this fact, song is rather mediocre. Vocal harmonies are good, but there’s no distinct vocal style. Lyrics are average. Staging is Ok. “Interstellar” is even more boring. Wish he could explore the space concept more in the staging. Boomadu is not bad, but I’m starting to have vitriol towards rock trend. You won’t win with the same thing twice. Overall, I’d go with “Waterfall”, but it’s choosing less bad out of bad. And while… Read more »
One quarter final down, three more to go. We’ve got an exiting three weeks ahead of us. Before I put down my thoughts on all ten entries, both the qualifiers and the eliminated ones, I want to say that I am actually pleased with the 3:2 ratio of Estonian and English language songs respectively. I hope we get somewhat close to equal balance with the two languages in the end, but we’ll see. Now, let’s dissect. Traffic. I know there’s some disappointment that this band didn’t make it to the semi finals, but I saw a recap of their previous… Read more »
Mainstream pop, a bit of rock, indie pop average songs in the first QF. Its only the first quarter final anyway and I am sure there will be some gems in there somewhere along the road to their final. I’ll give Estonian TV credit for having a series of shows to select a song and act. Results are predictable, they are choosing what is a popular act rather than the song itself. As long as every country doesn’t reciprocate and follow suite. I hope we don’t see too many rock songs in Turin. a good start though for the 22… Read more »
Only song I like out of these 5 is Maian’s. The rest are bland or very cheesy.
Maian is the only one I’m happy for. Every other song I’ve heard before, millions of times. Bland really.
evelin samuel can do very well in the final – i see & hear a theremin in the video – live on stage this could become very magical!:)
I’m so happy for Jaagup! I absolutely love his song and I really hope that he will win Eesti Laul. Stig was also pretty good. Well, when I saw the titile of his song for the first time, I thought that it will be more like Sergey Lazarev’s “Scream”, so I was a bit disappointed but “Interstellar” is not bad though.
Sorry but Interstellar and Waterfall are atrociously bad. The only reason these got through is their reknown performers. I really don’t get why ERR put so many public favorites in the very first 1/4. Traffic’s song was decent enough to give it another spin in the semi but alas. I liked the Spice Girls -ish sound of Little Mess, even though the video was a bit weird with the nakey stuff. I mean, Fiona and Me’s was just as nakey but at least cheesy (and I presume, included some random stock footage which was hilarious). Well, till next Saturday I… Read more »
never heard from evelin samuel before. 😀
Boamadu in semi! I’m happy!!
I really, really enjoyed the first 5 qualifiers. Love you, Estonia!
as always with Estonia, the jury has taste and the public has none.
As much as it is throwaway Scandi-pop, I can help but love Stig’s song. XD
Jaagup had the best song in this quarter, a very mystical and captivating song. Evelin’s song is already a guilty pleasure for me, Stig is so-so. Maian’s entry feels a bit messy and Boamadu sounds like numerous Rock bands we’ve heard before, they’re good but not special.
Surprised Traffic and Kéa didn’t make it, I do believe we’re yet to hear the best in Eesti Laul 2022!
I suspect the SMS (televote) was pretty low – so driven by which artist had the biggest name ID and following prior to the competition. I’m glad the jury salvaged some of the more deserving songs. Does anyone know how they determine the jury winners? If the jury also selects the same artist at the top of their ranking as the SMS vote, do they just put in the next one down the jury list to the semi?
Yeah, they clarified it in the quarterfinal that they removed the televote qualifers from the jury ranking list and then the top 2 qualified.
I don’t think it was the case. Boamadu is unknown band and Evelin Samuel has been away from the public eye for decedes. Traffic in the other hand is very famous and beloved band but didn’t qualify.
if the song of evelin samuel was sung by abba i am sure the whole ESC bubble going nuts! 😀
It does sound ABBA-ish
Hardly. Waterfall sounds like the kind of New Age, Enya-esque music That was really popular in the 90s and even showed up in Eurovision with songs like Den Vilda.
ABBA had something to do with that song too… in a way.
Sad for Traffic, happy for Maian.
i am pretty sure,that we have not seen the eesti laul winner here – from the 5 acts i like most boamadu and evelin “abba” samuel. :)third good song was that kinky beachsong but eliminated.
Jaagup’s song has some intriguing moments within its structure, but his vocals are the weakest part. Have to see how it plays out live. Great guitar from Boamadu, but a very dated song and the vocals are forgettable. Maian is very on trend, but hard to know how the Eurovision public would react to it. The other two songs made no impression on me.
4 from the 5 I would choose qualified and Evelin would be my 6th or 7th, so I’m glad with these results. A little worried that Jaagup and Maian depended on the jury, but with the live performances it may be a whole new game.
Maian is my favorite here! Its such a unique sound! Been a fan of her since “Have you now”
I would have swapped out Evelin, Boamadu, and Stig with Kea, Traffic, and Peter, but all the songs were actually enjoyable to varying degrees. Though none of them have screamed “winner” yet
Traffic and Peter 🙁
I’ve just heard all songs of quarter-final 1 and I like none of them. :/ Jaagup’s song is interesting in the beginning, but the rest of the song is boring.
Interstellar might be generic, but i can’t help it, listening to it makes me feel good/happy and makes me want to heart it again and again. I really like it.
I’m sad Traffic didn’t make to top5, i feel it deserved the spot more than some others.
I like all five songs, the session of 2022 could be very promising…..
My favourite are so far Maian with a touch of Spanish.
I’m sorry but in my opinion, Stig Rästa is being completely overhyped. The song wasn’t bad, but let’s be honest, Interstellar would not qualify for the final in Eurovision. It’s too generic…
Star-power certainly helped tonight, but I cannot blame Estonians for being curious how Jaagup, Stig, and Evelin will stage their performances. I am happy to see Evelin participating in a semi 23 years after she won. It will certainly be a special moment. I am sad for Peeter… He had one of the best songs, but not enough star-power. Hopefully he comes back another year. Jaagup feels like a contender!
estonians need to get over their “omg generic man with a generic pop song!!” craze PLZ!
The “generic” assessment applies to ALL National Final / Eurovision entries with a certain radio-play element, which may or may not be a good thing, compared to more original entries.
Boamadu could win the whole thing. They were excellent.
Yes, I agree.
Sad that Traffic and Peter missed out. Both have great songs. Happy for Boamadu and Evelin. Stig was good but nothing extraordinary. Jaagup reminded me a lot of Juri Pootsman from 2021 but not as amazing as that (I love Magus Melanhoolia). And I didn’t like Maian so much unfortunately. But overall it was a very solid quarter final and an amazing start to this year’s ESC season!
Evelin Samuel qualifying is proof that Estonians have bad taste.