After the submission period for Eesti Laul 2023 closed on 20 September, broadcaster ERR has been busy selecting the 20 acts who will get a chance to compete in the semi-finals. Now, the first ten have been revealed.
The announcements are taking place on TV show Ringvaade. Monday evening’s show saw Sissi revealed as the first confirmed act for Estonia’s Eurovision 2023 national selection. Sissi is the daughter of Estonia’s Eurovision 2001 winner Dave Benton. She previously competed at Eesti Laul in 2019 and 2021, making the grand final both times.
Tuesday’s programme added another nine names to the list.
Eesti Laul 2023: First ten semi-finalists
- Carlos Ukareda – “Whiskey Won’t Forget”
- Janek – “House Of Glass”
- Alika – “Bridges”
- Ellip – “Pretty Girl”
- Andreas – “Why Do You Love Me”
- Kaw – “Valik”
- Wiiralt & Ultima Thule – “Secret”
- Elysa – “Bad Philosophy”
- Meelik – “Tuju”
- Sissi – “Lighthouse”
The premier of the songs that have been selected for Eesti Laul 2023 will take place no later than 3 December 2022.
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In addition to Sissi, there are a few other familiar faces. Elysa competed at Eesti Laul 2022 with “Fire”, where she reached the superfinal and ultimately placed third.
Wiiralt were also part of last year’s contest, competing in quarter-final two but failing to qualify. They also appeared at Eesti Laul 2021 — then part of semi-final one, they also didn’t advance any further. For their third attempt in a row Wiiralt have brought in the help of Ultima Thule.
Eesti Laul 2023: Show format
Last year’s contest turned into a lengthy affair with the introduction of four quarter-finals. However, these have been ditched for Eesti Laul 2023 and we return to a three-show contest. Two semi-finals will be held on 12 and 14 January, and the grand final is set to be broadcast on 11 February.
Voting in the semi finals and grand final of Eesti Laul 2023 will once again involve a combination of professional jury as well as public televotes. Then the superfinal will use viewer votes alone to decide the winner and Estonia’s representative for Eurovision 2023.
Are you excited by the line-up for Eesti Laul 2023? Whose song are you most intrigued to hear? Let us know in the comments below.
Have the semifinal two participants been revealed yet? I’m Getting really impatient.
I was expecting more ESC or eesti laul veterans but Its nice to see new faces 🙂
Yes, Alika Milova! She won the latest season of “Eesti otsib superstaari”, and I’m excited to see her in Eesti Laul. She’s just 20 years old, but she’s a musical powerhouse and sings melodiously.
If the pattern which happened since 2009 continues, Estonia will either not qualify or get into the bottom 10 of the grand final. I hope the pattern stops, because I really like Estonia as a Eurovision nation.
Pattern was broke with Uku and Stefan actually 🙂
The pattern is 1 year a great entry, two years a meh entry.
2009: Top 15
2010: Not Qualifying
2011: Bottom 10
2012: Top 15
2013: Bottom 10
2014: Not Qualifying
2015: Top 15
2016: Not Qualifying
2017: Not Qualifying
2018: Top 15
2019: Bottom 10
2020: Doesn’t count because of the cancelation
2021: Not Qualifying
2022: Top 15
If the pattern continues, Estonia will either get bottom 10 or a NQ this year.
Good to see Mørland as a co-writer for JANEK!
I have found Sissi’s songs to be a bit cringe…Strong…Time…and now Lighthouse…so cliched…she has a nice voice…but the lyrics are so basic and expected…I can already imagine “i’ll be your lighthouse, guiding you to me, keeping you safe” enter chorus
When I think of “lighthouse,” I think of Croatia’s 2016 entry:
‘Cause there is a light
Guiding my way
Keeping me safe when oceans rage
There in the sky
Hiding away
Never to die and fade
I know that I’ll find your
Your lighthouse
Croatia has left the chat
The televote-only superfinal needs to be ditched in order to try avoiding amateur hour acts like Uku…
Ailika is gonna win this!!! And maybe even whole Eurovision ?
idk if the whole ESC bc next year looks like it’ll be packed with great entries, but I’m sure she’d at least get Estonia back to the top 10 if the song’s right.
Regardless, I just heard her and searched her up and she looks promising!
Janek’s song is produced and co-written by MØRLAND!
As an Estonian, I’m most excited about Alika Milova. She won the Estonian version of American Idol and has been very successful ever since.
Has she ever been to Eesti Laul before or is this her first time participating? I recognize three names as previous participants, but I don’t know about the rest, At least for semifinal one.
First time. She js gonna win 100%%% 😉
If she has a great song or if the Estonian public vote for her if she makes the super final. I’m reserving any judgment until the songs are out next month.
The second part of the announcement is yet to come but so far EL has a nice lineup as usual. I love (and I’m also impressed) that a country as small as Estonia is always able to pull up a great and diverse selection every year!
I just hope Estonians just choose the best song for once 🙂
i’m always perched for eesti laul. they have actual diversity in everything so i always end up loving something from their selection.
Out of this list of 10 so far, I recognize three names from previous editions. The rest are unfamiliar to me but I don’t know if any of the remaining seven have been at eesti laul Before and the names just aren’t registering with me, Or if they are all newcomers. I wonder if I’ll recognize more names when the semifinal two artist list drops tomorrow.
I hope Elysa has a bigger bop than Fire. She would be my winner if so
Nobody is talking about Alika, though her song is produced by the producer of Arcade and Tout l’Univers. Even the judge who picked and announced the contestants got emotional even thinking about it.
Eesti Laul always has the trendiest-looking acts with the coolest songs.
There are always a handful of gems every year, but the Estonian public never chose the right song.
You didn’t like “Hope”?
It was a good entry and it did way better than expected, but it wasn’t the best in Eesti Laul, in my opinion.
What did you think was the best entry? I really loved hope and I was glad it won.
Ott Lepland and Maian.
Maian’s song was my favourite, but the staging killed it completely.
Ariadne and Merilin Mälk also had great songs.
Alika’s song is produced by the same person who made “Arcade” and “Tout l’Univers” (Wouter Hardy) and one of the judges who picked the songs got emotional even thinking about the song. My hopes are high for this one. Don’t really feel hyped about Elysa, but let’s see.
Oooooh, sounds promising. But I’m not going to make any kind of Judgments until the songs are released in December. I wanna keep an open mind and moderate expectations.
Maybe they think she’s a contender? I don’t know, but we’re not gonna know until the songs are released in December. Then we’ll see if this will be a good or bad selection for Estonia.
The broadcaster should still be neutral and treat all contestants equally.
That’s a good point. I don’t know why Sissi was announced first But what’s done is done. Now we will wait tomorrow for the semifinal two artists.
I agree, that move was very unprofessional
In other news, a Nobel Prize for Literature laureate is publishing an essay on a Eurovision song. That doesn’t happen every day, so worth a Wiwi article maybe.
Which song?
Volare. Bon Dylan has a new book out next week, “The Philosophy of Modern Song”, about 66 of his favourite songs.
Bob
THE Bob Dylan?
Yes, Mr. Zimmerman himself.
Is Eesti Laul going to be a snoozefest again this year like it has been in the past few years?
Sounds good for some of them, Sissi and Elysa are the least interesting
Ellip finally did it! Very happy for her
Is this her first time participating? I take it you’re a fan of her.
honestly after checking them out… it’s quite a good bunch of artists.
Carlus Ukareda, Alika, Ellip, Andreas, Meelik and Kaw all have something going for them.
Sissi and Elysaare both overrated imo. Not a lot of artistry going on when it comes to them.