On Monday Estonia revealed the 15 finalists who will compete in Eesti Laul 2024. And on Tuesday they added more names to the mix by revealing the five finalists who have pre-qualified for the final.
Following the submissions period, a “broad-based” jury consisting of 41 people chose five finalists to compete in the final (thereby bypassing the semi).
They include Daniel Levi, an American-born singer who placed second in Eesti Laul 2015 with the song “Burning Lights.” He finished ninth with “All I Need” two years later.
Also included is Uudo Sepp, who placed 10th in 2020 with the song “I’m Sorry. I Messed Up.”
Eesti Laul 2024: The 5 finalists
Brother Apollo “Bad Boy”
Autorid: Erkki Sippel, Joseph Miettinen
Carlos Ukareda “Never Growing Up”
Autor: Carlos Ukareda
Daniel Levi “Over the Moon”
Autorid: Daniel Levi Viinalass, Victor Crone, Vallo Kikas
Nele-Liis Vaiksoo “Käte ümber jää”
Autorid: Peter Põder, Allan Kasuk, Nele-Liis Vaiksoo, Marek Sadam
Uudo Sepp, Sarah Murray “Still Love”
Autorid: Liis Hainla, Uudo Sepp, Joel Sundkvist, Aleksi Wiklund
Estonia: Eesti Laul 2024 reveals the 15 semi-finalists
Unlike last year — when Estonia had two semi-finals — this year there will only be one. The preliminary event will take place on January 20 in the city of Tartu.
And we now know which 15 acts will contest it. The same jury that chose the 5 finalists decided it wanted to watch these artists duke it out for a spot in the final.
Among them is OLLIE, who placed second in last year’s competition with his number “Venom.”
5miinust ja Puuluup “(nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi”, autorid Põhja Korea, kohver, Lancelot, Päevakoer, Marko Veisson, Ramo Teder, Kim Wennerström
Anet Vaikmaa “Serotoniin”, autor Sven Lõhmus
Antsud “Vetevaim”, autorid Aile Alveus, Antsud
Cecilia “FOMO”, autorid Cecilia-Martina Mägi, Sander Sadam, Liis Hainla
Ewert and The Two Dragons “Hold Me Now”, autorid Ewert Sundja, Erki Pärnoja, Ivo Etti, Kristjan Kallas
Inga “No Dog On a Leash”, autorid Inga Tislar, Markus Palo
Ingmar “Dreaming”, autor Ingmar Erik Kiviloo
Laura “Here’s Where I Draw the Line”, autorid Laura Põldvere, Johannes Lõhmus
Multikas, Ewert Sundja “Oblivion”, autorid Joosep Järvesaar, Hugo Martin Maasikas, Ewert Sundja
Ollie “My Friend”, autor Oliver Mazurtšak
Peter Põder “Korra veel”, autor Peter Põder
Silver Jusilo “Lately”, autorid Silver Jusilo, Markus Palo
Sofia Rubina “Be Good”, autorid Jason Hunter, Robert Stanley Montes, Renae Rain
Traffic “Wunderbar”, autorid Stig Rästa, Silver Laas
Yonna “I Don’t Know About You”, autorid Johanna Eendra, Jakob Kaarma, Semjon Greef
Which names excite you the most so far? And who do you hope has automatically qualified?
Ewert and The Two Dragons!
Ollie needs to win it ASAP. I hope he have an even stronger song than “Venom”.
Ohhhh Ollie, Ewert & Two Dragons, Brother Apollo, 5miinust ja Puuluup… Wow i’m si exciting by rock, pop rock, rock metal, folk & rap vibes !
Was there a lack of interest this year? Peter Poder has two songs in the selection (one as a songwriter, one a performer/songwriter), Ewert is competing twice, Stig and Victor both have written songs again and even Laura is back.
It is a bit underwhelming but hoping to be surprised.
These are just names. They give us nothing. If the name is a person you know or like, doesn’t mean they will do well, they can flop just as much as some newcomer. And even if the list was made up from totally unknown artists, it would still give us nothing until we heard the actual songs. So the morale of this story is…. just wait for the songs
This lineup sounds GREAT! I have reviewed some of the previous songs of some of the contestants and there’s some real potential here. What I love is that the organisers have realised that auto-qualifying well known names is going to damage their reputation, so instead, they’ve let some newbies go through, giving them a shot. But to me, that’s only a good thing as it confirms that these must be some VERY strong songs to beat SOME regulars, especially Ollie, who now has the momentum after last year’s edition. Venom has got to be one of the most popular entries… Read more »
The presenters said that the new song is vocally stronger than Venom. The only fear is that the title sounds like a relatable personal ballad rather than anthemic rock song
live on stage the vocals in the high notes of venom was a problem for the singer (studio version was good but on stage not really) – 2 possible reasons here – he was nervous or his voice range is limited. on the other way he will be in my opinium the big favorite. i think his song will be rock in nickelback with a little bit bryan adams style again. in 2023 venom would have been spanked from the jurys in liverpool because too much harder sounds available – look at bubblefavorite slovenia,lords ect. in 2024 no idea but… Read more »
So, Estonian euro fans, what do you think of this line up? Are you excited, disappointed, or mixed?
For me, while I do recognize a couple names, the proof is in the pudding when the competing songs are released next month. I’ll reserve judgement until then.
My predictions: Laura will give us a basic radio tune with no real potential Ollie will give us some TOP-5 potential but will not win due to lack of a strong and loyal support group of viewers, most of them leaning towards other rock entries this year. Mayb come 2nd or 3rd again Ewert and the 2 dragons will be the biggest surprise even though I think that their 2 songs will not sound innovative or very original, they have a potential of winning viewers hearts and going to Malmö Daniel Levi is the main contender this year. Mark my… Read more »
Among the jury members that select the 20 songs: Ott Lepland (Estonia 2012) Elina Nechayeva (Estonia 2018) The main vocalist of Rufus, the band that represented Estonia in 2003 Some singers that participated in the Eesti Laul a few times (Anett, who got to the superfinal in 2020, and some others) Among the participants of this year’s Eesti Laul: Victor Crone (represented Estonia in 2019. Participated in the Melodifestivalen at least twice. One of the songwriters of Daniel Levi’s song). Carlos Ukareda (Eesti Laul 2023). Stig Rasta (songwriter and member of the band Traffic. Represented Estonia as the songwriter and… Read more »
Peter Poder and Silver Jusilo both participated in the video-based quarter-finals in 2022, but neither passed to the semi phase. I actually quite liked both songs.
I wonder with what criterion where the 5 pre-qualified songs selected. Was it due to merit? Artistic variety?
I think those just got the most points at pre-selection jury
Could be most likely because I don’t recognize the names of the prequalifers.
I think it’s more of a good thing. These will be some of the strongest songs. Not the most well known artists.
A jury member has revealed that they were all asked to send the list of their top 5 entries separately and the prequalifiers were those who got mentioned the most. The same jury member also said that his favourite didn’t even make it to the semis. Well… As for the pq artists, all of them except for Brother Apollo and Sarah Murray are quite well-known for the Estonian audience. Uudo won Estonian Idol some years ago; Nele-Liis has been an established singer for long time already but is mostly known for singing in musicals; Carlos was also in the Idol… Read more »
Laura is back ?!?
She must have finally found her way back from Verona having been lost there for the last 7 years
She was spotted in Finland two years ago. Somebody must have put her on the correct ferry, I’m glad she is home safe and sound at last.
She now draws a line to find her way home, like Hansel and Gretel. This is what inspired her entry this year.
So happy to see Antsud back!
Fascinating season with Malta’s songs in November and Estonia’s in December.
Laura is participating, this is *great*!!
I recognize one of the Antsud members/songwriters from Etnopatsy (“Kulm,” Eesti Laul 2018). That was a cool song.
I love it! Maybe these news could have been the same 20 years ago with Laura and Traffic! But the lineup is exciting and I can’t wait knowing the last five contestants!
Be warned about the combination 5MIINUST & Puuluup 🙂 – very different, but both very popular bands in Estonia. 5MIINUST is a hip-hop and Puuluup nu-folk band.
yeah – seen some crazy stuff on youtube – they have live appeal.
Ollie’s song was my winner last year so I am looking forward to that! Though it worries me that he isn’t an automatic qualifier (maybe this year’s song isn’t as strong as Venom? ) . I remember Peter Poder from the quarter finals of 2022: he had a song I liked even if he didn’t qualify back then. Let’s also see who the 5 automatic qualifiers will be.
It’s more likely more of an indication that the pre-qualified artists have songs of exceptional quality.
I don’t get the point of having automatic qualifiers with this format of selection. I mean you have 20 participants, just make 2 semi finals of 10. Fair and square.
It’s because of budget reasons. Not enough money for two semis, but didn’t want to cut down on the amount of songs I guess. Hopefully we can get two semis again in the future.
They could have had one semi with all 20 in them like Malta did 2 years ago. Or just one 20-song finals in one night. Having AQs makes no sense, unless they are much more famous and wouldn’t participate otherwise. Still, with acts as big in the ESC community as Ollie and Laura Poldvere as semifinalists, I wonder who the AQs could be.
They should just do one final. Estonia isn’t a massive country anyway, so it would be representational of the nation.
Maybe the identity of the 5 would explain. It’s possible that they wanted to attract names that might have been intimidated from the possibility of not making it to the final with their brand’s prestige. Who knows.
I guess it’s good for newer artists like the ones listed here as they have to go up against some TITANS like Laura and Ollie. It’s also good when you consider there’s normally two semis, so we will probably only need one semi. We dont need a lot when Estonia is such a small country.
A good list quite diverse and interesting!
I am especially excited to discover the song of the group Ewert & Two Dragons but especially the group 5miinust ja Puuluup with their title potentially…. wacky ! xdddd
I’m so happy for the comeback of Ollie!
It’s nice that Eesti Laul offers a diverse roster of songwriters versus some other neighboring countries that have the same 4 people have 4-8 different songs in their national selections. But I really hate this “automatic qualifiers” approach that Estonia is taking this year. Norway did that few years ago and those songs were mostly meh and didn’t advance to the Gold Final with the exception of Ulrikke’s Attention who won the whole thing.
Um, Tix and subwoolfer were also pre-qualifiers who won MGP.
I honestly remember 2020 and forgot 2021 there were pre-qualifiers. Still not a fan.
Not the silent read on Latvia and Lithuania! XD
I think that Norway 2021 was one of the best selection finale I’ve ever seen and the automatic qualifiers contributed to that imo.
There’s only five auto qualifiers who are all new artists, so it’s good for the Estonian music scene. Norway’s songs that have qualified are all ones that are of quality. Give That Wolf a Banana was the favourite from the beginning and wouldn’t have been fair to pit up against other songs that deserved to go forward.
Will this article be updated with the five prequalifiers or will there be a new article? I can’t imagine doing two different articles on the same topic. In fact, I thought wiwi would hold off publishing until we had all 20 released.
I should take the lead of some other folks here and say something like “Ollie’s style of music doesn’t appeal to me” and leave it at that for the season.
But first, here’s a video of Ollie’s cover band playing some Bon Jovi and Backstreet Boys three years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDKctxEMvJ8