Estonia has begun its selection for Eurovision 2023. Semi-final 1 of Eesti Laul 2023 got underway with ten acts vying for five qualification spots to the grand final.

Held in Viimsi Artrium, the show was hosted by Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld.

Eesti Laul 2023 semi-final 1

Results

Voting was done over two rounds. The first four qualifiers were determined by a 50:50 split of jury and public voting:

  • Andreas – “Why Do You Love Me”
  • Ollie – “Venom”
  • Anett x Fredi – “You Need to Move On”
  • Bedwetters – “Monsters”

An additional qualifier was chosen by a second round of purely public voting.

  • Janek – “House of Glass”

Non-qualifiers

  • Ellip – “Pretty Girl”
  • Kaw – “Valik”
  • Merlyn – “Unicorn Vibes”
  • Mia – “Üks samm korraga”
  • Neon Letters & Maiko – “Tokimeki”

Running order

  1. Janek – “House of Glass”
  2. Ellip – “Pretty Girl”
  3. Kaw – “Valik”
  4. Merlyn – “Unicorn Vibes”
  5. Mia – “Üks samm korraga”
  6. Neon Letters & Maiko – “Tokimeki”
  7. Ollie – “Venom”
  8. Andreas – “Why Do You Love Me”
  9. Bedwetters – “Monsters”
  10. Anett x Fredi – “You Need to Move On”

Do you agree with the semi-final 1 results? Did your favourites make it? Let us know in the comments below.

@wiwibloggs_official Full results at wiwibloggs.com 🇪🇪 #EestiLaul #EestiLaul2023 #Eurovision #ESC2023 #Estonia ♬ original sound – Meehall

119 Comments
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Nikos
Nikos
1 year ago

I really hope Ollie wins the whole thing! I’m really surprised people claiming that Venom is “dated” or “heard this before”. Literally Blind Channel and AWS and perhaps O.Torvald are maybe the closest in style, in no way an overrepresented genre in the contest!

Thanos
Thanos
1 year ago
Reply to  Nikos

I think people claim that it is dated in general not just in terms of the contest. Venom is a typical song from the early 00s rock revival, so in a way one can maybe say that it’s “dated”. Nevertheless it is by far my favourite song in Eesti Laul and will perhaps be in my top 5 of this year’s Eurovision if it gets selected!

elif
elif
1 year ago

i was soo relieved when they announced the fifth qualifier and it was janek i didn’t think he had beated ellip in televote but you never know congrats!!

expected these exact list to go through and they did, it was pretty obvious tho. but andreas is the one im rooting for. he puts his emotions into the song and it sounds great. he looks pretty nice on the stage while singing and what can i say more he is the sweetest! best of luck??

Ricooric
Ricooric
1 year ago

Neon Letters & Maiko where my winner. It was something different. To bad they didn’t got through.

GojoSatoru
GojoSatoru
1 year ago

The Bedwetters are good, but their looks aren’t scary/badass enough to make me wet my bed.

Eurovision fan
Eurovision fan
1 year ago

I’ve just seen on IG Bedwetters member having a back massage, I already fell in love lol

Eurovision fan
Eurovision fan
1 year ago
Reply to  Eurovision fan

Kaspar Koppel

Zanoni
Zanoni
1 year ago

Not wild about what qualified, but I knew that was coming. Boy, I really did not like most of the video effects they were doing. Ukraine looked much better, and, you know, bomb shelter.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
1 year ago

Ollie was my personal winner, and he could do well at ESC as well.
In my opinion, the surprise of the night was Andreas, who gave a touching performance that added much emotion to the song.
All five qualifiers I personally agreed with, so it was a good night for me. Both Mia and Ellip were unlucky not to qualify.

Sabrina
Sabrina
1 year ago

“House of Glass” sadly does nothing for me, but I’m very happy with the other 4 qualifiers.
Ollie and Bedwetters have an immediacy that would make them stronger contenders in Eurovision, but I appreciated also the quality that Anett & Fredi brought to the table and I couldn’t take my eyes from Andreas, he has such an interesting face and a voice that cuts like butter.

If Ollie is the frontrunner, I’m more than fine with that. I think Estonia can fight for big things in Liverpool and I hope the superfinal won’t ruin all this prospect.

Tibor
Tibor
1 year ago
Reply to  Sabrina

“House of Glass” must be the first Mørland composition you don’t care for, am I right? In my opinion, he has his moments but there is always the danger lurking to topple into something utterly predictable. I already wasn’t too enthusiastic about “Attention” and “Made of Glass”, but to my ears it’s getting worse every year. “House of Glass” and “Tårer i paradis” are both pleasant, but nothing more than inoffensive feelgood pop.

Theresa May
Theresa May
1 year ago
Reply to  Tibor

Did Morland do Ulrikke’s attention? bcs i was thinking how theres this clearness in both studio versions that i found similar

Tibor
Tibor
1 year ago
Reply to  Theresa May

If I’m not completely mistaken, he wrote it, yes. But I’m not sure, if he was involved in the production as well.

Sabrina
Sabrina
1 year ago
Reply to  Theresa May

Yeah, he was behind “Attention”!

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
1 year ago
Reply to  Tibor

Mørland I think is the Tchaikovsky of pop music, because he makes emotive pop music sound effortless and easy to write, as well as familiar.

Tibor
Tibor
1 year ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

Bringing out the big guns, PM, are we?
I remember sitting through an utterly boring Tchaikovsky opera once. I think it was “Evgeny Onegin”. So it kind of fits. Love his orchestral stuff, though.

Sabrina
Sabrina
1 year ago
Reply to  Tibor

Had no idea Morland was behind this one, but wasn’t him behind that weird song Rein Alexander had a couple of years ago? So sometimes he fails (and with that song, he REALLY failed). But I’m still crazy about “A Monster Like Me” and think he came up with great songs to Ulrikke and Rebecca, even if they weren’t exactly inventive. And I also think his second attempt to go to Eurovision was a gem. But I have to agree that his efforts this year aren’t very creative. Though I like the Norwegian hopeful more than the Estonian one.

Tibor
Tibor
1 year ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that, not the Viking thing but the musical theatre piece, right? I have only blurred memories of it …
“A monster like me” is actually the one I think is really great, too. Had this won in 2015, I would have been over the moon. “En livredd man” in 2019 (or whenever that was) just wasn’t my thing, but I could see the merit. But after that, he kind of seems to have lost his ambition to create something more out of the box.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
1 year ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Ahaha, that was “Eyes Wide Open.” Rein made that song his own, I think it’s a great interpretation of it. 🙂

Sabrina
Sabrina
1 year ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

I still have no idea what they were trying to do there!

Esc addict
Esc addict
1 year ago

Ollie made a very good perf, his rocker voice works very well, the song is nothing revolutionary but it’s good. I’ve never seen so much camera shots during a performance, it’s cool it gives energy for the viewers but it was a little bit too much for my taste and my eyes, moreover I like to see the eyes of a singer when he is performing, it is through the eyes that emotions pass, but the overall act I must say is really promising, if nobody is better than him in the 2nd SF, I can see him easily in… Read more »

Esc addict
Esc addict
1 year ago
Reply to  Esc addict

Not IN the Eurovision stage lol but ON of course.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
1 year ago

No surprises here. I think they actually got the five qualifiers pretty close to correct based on the live performance. Best news, of course, is that there were few of the usual Eesti Laul semi final 1 audio “issues”. Everyone sounded pretty good!

Theresa May
Theresa May
1 year ago

Ollie or Janek – i love Ollie’s song tho!

Thanos
Thanos
1 year ago

Ollie’s performance was better than what I even expected. His song is my favourite of this ESC season so far. It deserves to represent Estonia this year. Estonia rarely disappoints me so my hopes are high!

Zach
Zach
1 year ago

ollie should definitely win, it was absolutely incredible

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago

I would not be surprised if Ollie won this semi final. He killed it.

Tommm
Tommm
1 year ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

It was the young guy who sang after Olie

Roro31
Roro31
1 year ago

I’m so happy for Bedwetters, Anett x Fredi & Janek ! Andreas its not my cup of tea

Roro31
Roro31
1 year ago

I’m so happy for Ollieeeee ! Very good voice (finally, he can sing very well), good charisma (and hot xd) man, good rock song and its a potential top 10 for Estonia !! Please vote for this one !! But Alika i Say its a beautiful and dramatic ballad (I dont understand why the people dont like it because its the same thing with Gala Dragot for Belgium ….) And Alika its a good and potential winner for Estonia !! With the juries xd ! Ollie VS ALIKA = this match !!!! OMG But my favorite its Ollie, with rock… Read more »

Panna
Panna
1 year ago
Reply to  Roro31

To me Alika’s song sounds rather amateur-ish, something one would perform in a local town singing contest.

Ollie gives big industry plant vibes, does not feel genuine at all. And he kinda talks like one of those tiktok boys trying hard to be hot. Still waiting for the day when Eurovision will have a rock (or at least punk pop?) song as good as Midnight Gold.

For me it is Anett x Fredi or Sissi, if the live performance is good.

Polegend Godnova
1 year ago

happy for ollie and bedwetters, my favorites!

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago

I was afraid that they would be canceled out, but they both made it

UmBv
UmBv
1 year ago

Predictable qualifies

lets have a good time
lets have a good time
1 year ago

omg – Tokimeki and Mia are out – both such great songs and vocals… thats strange… Annett & Fredi are qualified.. well they re technical good but the song…how boring… omg.. as well Andreas…

just an esc fan
just an esc fan
1 year ago

there were supposedly 6 qualifiers, yall remember correctly. every major ESC site mentioned that. have no idea what happened but I’m going to tell you something.

if kaw finished 6th, I’m gonna be really angry. my baby didn’t make it 🙁

just an esc fan
just an esc fan
1 year ago

ideally I’d switch Andreas with kaw and all my top5 would be through. good for him tho.

Tommm
Tommm
1 year ago

Kaw was vocally off. I was also thinking that 6 will go to the final but maybe bc of the crisis they has changed their minds – it might be expensive to have long NF selection in 2023

Snufkin
Snufkin
1 year ago

7.2 Ten (10) songs will compete in both semi-finals. Twelve (12) songs will compete in the grand finale.

I don’t know what happened here

Ell
Ell
1 year ago
Reply to  Snufkin

There will be a 6th, its just some added suspense. In the rules ”If the ERR deems necessary, user statistics from online environments shall be added to the votes to determine the results of the first round.” so it probably be some sort of a poll.

Go_A Stan
Go_A Stan
1 year ago

love these qualifiers, I think they made the right choices, rip Ellip though. but where’s the 6th qualifier? I’m a bit confused…

Sanne
Sanne
1 year ago

I thought there were 6 qualifiers?

Colin
Colin
1 year ago

I was working, so I haven’t seen the semi, but I surely will see the performances on YT. Thankfully, Oliie and Janek both made it. I hope they were vocally good, and that one of the will be the winner. Hopefully Ollie (I can see Estonia in my top 5 again with Ollie)! But Janek’s entry is also really good. Also, good luck to Sissi and Alika next time.

Colin
Colin
1 year ago
Reply to  Colin

Heard Ollie now, and he was excellent! Please, Estonia, vote for him in the finals!

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
1 year ago
Reply to  Colin

Janek was vocally good, too!

Rusty Ralston
Rusty Ralston
1 year ago

I’m not mad that my fav song didn’t make it to the finals (this is the guy whose fav songs in Eurovision last year were Disko and Lock Me In so I’m not exactly “mainstream”) but this Semi Final was jampacked and honestly I would not be mad seeing any of the qualifiers here make it to Liverpool.

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago
Reply to  Rusty Ralston

Which one is your favorite song that didn’t make it out of the semifinal?

Rusty Ralston
Rusty Ralston
1 year ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

Neon Letters and Maiko. Mainly because I am a huge sucker for their sound and also it’d be cool to see a country send a song at least partially in Japanese.

Tommm
Tommm
1 year ago
Reply to  Rusty Ralston

But she was dead on the Stage and nervous too, i like it but some of them were weird on the Stage

Nils
Nils
1 year ago
Reply to  Tommm

Her singing was good, though.

Tommm
Tommm
1 year ago
Reply to  Nils

Good but not amazing – It was karaoke bar performance

Stian F
Stian F
1 year ago

Anett and Fredi is such a boring song… Its my definite last of all the 20 entries… Should not have qualified. Neon Letters and Maiko should have been through instead of them.

Tommm
Tommm
1 year ago
Reply to  Stian F

They will be in Superfinal bc of Juries 🙁

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
1 year ago
Reply to  Stian F

Could not disagree with your take more.

Zach
Zach
1 year ago

ok janek qualified in the second round televote… but only him
why did they switch it to only 5 qualifying at the last moment?

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago
Reply to  Zach

Yeah, I thought there was going to be six qualifiers. But I like all five choices for the final.

Panna
Panna
1 year ago
Reply to  Zach

Was it ever said by ETV that there will be 6 qualifiers?
I feel like Eurovision blogs just solely based it on previous years.

Rusty Ralston
Rusty Ralston
1 year ago
Reply to  Panna

That might be it.

Heyoo
Heyoo
1 year ago
Reply to  Zach

After 2nd semifinal there Will be one Extra darkhorse voting for the finals. So in the finals Will be 12 acts

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
1 year ago

For a second there, I thought Bedwetters and Janek weren’t gonna get through. BEDWETTER SQUAD UNITE!!!

ESC Serg
ESC Serg
1 year ago

Why did only one additional qualifier was chosen by the televoting only? Did they change the rules last minute?

Rusty Ralston
Rusty Ralston
1 year ago
Reply to  ESC Serg

Seems like it, looking at the Wikipedia article, they seemed to go back and forth between having a 5th qualifier or a 5th and 6th qualifier.

Seems like we have the makings for a nice controversey.(Probably not, but I just wanted to link that song. My fav didn’t make it, humor me.)

Kalla
Kalla
1 year ago

Did I miss the 6th qualifier at the end then, I saw Janek and then it ended all of a sudden??

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago
Reply to  Kalla

I thought there was gonna be a sixth qualifier to call, but it looks like they’re just going with five.

Ritoli
Ritoli
1 year ago

Ollie has qualified for the finals! It’s great! Thanks Estonia! Don’t forget to vote for him again in the final!

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago

OK I was checking the wiki for eesti laul and we got four qualifiers so far. Ollie, Andreas, bedwetters and Anett & Fredi are through. I guess the last two qualifiers will be televote only. Good for them, but it does for me that Janek didn’t make it in the first round. Will televoters help him through?

Kalla
Kalla
1 year ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

I hope so, he definitely deserves to be in the final, kind of sad how they announce it, I wouldn’t be feeling very confident if I know I’d only placed 5th/6th in a 10 act semi final

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago
Reply to  Kalla

Janek is through! One more qualifier to go.

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

Well that aged well. There are five qualifiers. Still, this is a nice collection of finalists. Now I need to check which song Gala Dragot chose to compete with for Belgium.

Kalla
Kalla
1 year ago

I wish these shows would making the voting/results more clear for international viewers, we must be quite a large viewing proportion?

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
1 year ago

A lot of these songs were let down by the small stage and lack of stagings. I guess that’s what you get from such a small country but I remember last year the stage being much bigger. We will probably get a big suprise by who qualifies.

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago

I saw a recap of the semifinal and yes, the stage is a lot smaller this year. Budget issues?

Rusty Ralston
Rusty Ralston
1 year ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

Most Likely. Budget reasons was why we have 37 countries in Eurovision this year.

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago
Reply to  Rusty Ralston

Yeah, probably some cost cutting and reserve the money for the eurovision staging. We should probably go a little easy on the national final staging’s if they’re a little cheaper than normal. Ukraine managed to pull off a good staging even though it was set in a metro station.

Panna
Panna
1 year ago

It might be due to the rising costs, especially electricity.

Snifkin
Snifkin
1 year ago

Semi finals always are staged in a different an d smaller arenas and this time was no exception, however this year’s final will not be in Saku Suurhall, but in an ice rink, so it will be somewhat different, yet bigger from what was seen today.

Eurovision fan
Eurovision fan
1 year ago

I think Bedwetters will win this, or perhaps it will be Ollie vs Bedwetters vs Allika in the final.

Panna
Panna
1 year ago
Reply to  Eurovision fan

Looks like the juries might kill Bedwetters chance of getting into the superfinal.

Eurovision fan
Eurovision fan
1 year ago
Reply to  Panna

I hope not. The jury in the final will be different from the one in the semi. I think Uku also wasn’t TOP 4 jury in the semi (6 out of 12 points) in 2020, but still managed to qualify and win in the final.

Ritoli
Ritoli
1 year ago

Estonia you have only one task, you have to send Ollie to Eurovision! please! Until there’s a song I really like this Eurovision season, please don’t ruin it for me!

Doggy Bark
Doggy Bark
1 year ago

0 good songs

Tommm
Tommm
1 year ago
Reply to  Doggy Bark

Taste stayed in Croatian or Maltease National selection i guess

Panna
Panna
1 year ago
Reply to  Tommm

Dora is my second favorite selection after Benidorm at the moment, many interesting songs there – some for the wrong reasons (odd lyrics), but I rather have that than Norway’s selection, which has the same songs every year. It is good for people who like those type of songs, but I am not one of those people, so I am waiting for Norway to finally include something different in their selection.

Zach
Zach
1 year ago

FOUL ???

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago

Okay, who did well and who flopped.

Kalla
Kalla
1 year ago

Janek was a good performance and easy song to listen to. Feel like I’ve heard it lots of times in national selections though.

Tibor
Tibor
1 year ago

Tough semi. Ollie and Anett x Fredi are safe, I’m not worried. Andreas should be safe, too, and Bedwetters will probably get a huge boost from the televote. That leaves two spots. One should go to Ellip, but her sound could prove to be too divisive, some people could perceive it as try-hard, but the live performance was good, so I say she’ll get the fifth ticket. I would love to give the last ticket to Maiko & Neon Letters just for the song, but I doubt that this vocal was enough. My money’s on Janek, the melody is just… Read more »

Rusty Ralston
Rusty Ralston
1 year ago
Reply to  Tibor

I agree, this semi was jam-packed with good songs. I’m seriously hoping Maiko and Neon Letters will get it, but I won’t be mad or anything if Janek just barely squeaks by.

Kalla
Kalla
1 year ago

Does anyone know what they were announcing when they were opening the gold envelopes, was very confused haha

Addie
Addie
1 year ago
Reply to  Kalla

Yeah I thought they were announcing the finalists and started freaking out! If someone could clarify??

Escfan
1 year ago
Reply to  Addie

Theres a break for a bit and I think after this programme, they’ll return to the selection and announce the results.

Mike
Mike
1 year ago
Reply to  Kalla

The Jury 12 points

Tiriake
Tiriake
1 year ago
Reply to  Kalla

This time they announced who got 12 points from judges like that. One envelope per judge.

Kalla
Kalla
1 year ago
Reply to  Tiriake

What the hell, really? Very bad judging then!

Tiriake
Tiriake
1 year ago
Reply to  Kalla

Yes, but they showed only half of those so far. We don’t know all 12 points. Just who were the favorites overall.

Ritoli
Ritoli
1 year ago

But, why don’t they upload Ollie’s performance to YouTube? I have to watch it again!

Tibor
Tibor
1 year ago

I am not the biggest fan of “Monsters”, to my ears, it’s a rather pedestrian song. It’s not really difficult to sing, but the headbanging choreographie was effective. Still, not really for me.
Anett sounded just like the studio cut and this was overall extremely professional. This was always going to qualify, but after hearing it live, this is definitely a contender for the win. And I wouldn’t be mad about it at all, although this is usually not my kind of music.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
1 year ago
Reply to  Tibor

Yeah, I had to explain this to my cousin at home, who doesn’t understand the appeal of their live slow jazz. It is the live music aspect that is popular, and Anett x Fredi are really good at it. Going off on a tangent, about a month ago, I bumped into a group of people who spent more than a few hours on the train to and from London just to go to experience live jazz in a pub. We got stuck together in the train chaos that has been happening in the UK recently, but they were loving every… Read more »

Addie
Addie
1 year ago

Surprisingly I loved Anett & Fredi’s performance!! It was really good and I loved Anett’s voice. I hope they qualify along with Ollie and Bedwetters.

Teddie
Teddie
1 year ago

A great semi, loved almost all the songs! Pity about the stage, where are my LEDs??

just an esc fan
just an esc fan
1 year ago

Neon Letters & Maiko: the good vocals will prob not be enough for it to qualify..staging was predictable.
Ollie: im just gonna say that Alika should start getting worried..
Andreas: this isnt among my favs, but it will qualify as i see it. good voice.
Bedwetters: clearly something was off in the performance. still, i dont think its in danger.
Annet x Fredi: the vocals are simply stunning. honestly, its almost identical to the studio version. this is qualifying.

Tibor
Tibor
1 year ago

Ollie was my other favourite going into this semi, and he did well. Strangely, he seemed to get more nervous with time, but he made some smart choices to cover it up and avoid a possible bum note. The song is still damn catchy and this should be more than enough for the final.
Andreas also performed very well. I’m not the biggest fan of the chorus of “Why do you still love me?”, but I like the minimalistic approach that puts his vocal front and centre. This was very effective.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
1 year ago
Reply to  Tibor

Speculation: The “rock scream” can sometimes destroy the voice, so Ollie was probably just making sure that he didn’t overdo it at the end of the song, which is where most of the actual screaming is.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
1 year ago

Ollie could go to Eurovision right now. So far, he’s the only one that has had that impact on me.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
1 year ago

Question from my cousin: What are the drinks that the hosts are drinking in the Green Room?

Tiriake
Tiriake
1 year ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

They said that it was boiled water and onions. Tiktok thing apparently.

Canyonmoon
Canyonmoon
1 year ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

It was boiled water with garlic!:)

Helen
Helen
1 year ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

They tried the TikTok trend that suggests drinking heated water with onions, should have a lot of benefits to your health.

Zisk
Zisk
1 year ago

I am so glad Venom was a killer live