5Miinust x Puuluup: 10 Facts about Estonia’s Eurovision 2024 representatives

Bring out your talharpa, and do your stretches – it’s time to dance! Today we’re talking about Estonia’s Eurovision 2024 representatives, 5Miinust x Puuluup. The double act brings together two established artists with very different styles to make one of the quirkiest entries of the year, breaking a Eurovision record in the process.

One is a rap group, the other a folk duo – so what could their song possibly be about? Well…you’ll have to see in our 10 Facts about 5Miinust x Puuluup, of course!

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10 Facts about 5Miinust x Puuluup

1. How they came together

The groups joined forces when 5Miinust fell in love with Puuluup’s performance at the Estonian Music Awards a few years ago. Speaking to Wiwibloggs about getting the call from 5Miinust, Marko from Puuluup said it was “too unexpected, and too much out of [their] comfort zone, out of logic”. Whilst the idea of a rap group working with a folk duo does sound odd, it certainly works!

2. They just released an album together

The two acts worked together on an album and released it just before rehearsals started. In keeping with having a long song title (more on that shortly), the album is also a mouthful. It is called ‘Kannatused ehk külakiigel pole stopperit’ – translating in English to “Suffering, or the village swing, has no stopwatch”. It has 13 tracks, and you can listen to it now on all major streaming platforms.

3. Who are 5Miinust?

5Miinust (viis miinust) – in English: Five Minuses – are a hip-hop/rap group from the coastal settlement of Võsu in Estonia. The group are hugely successful in their country, with 200k monthly listeners in a country of only 1 million people. They’ve had six number one singles in their home country, and were beloved at their national final Eesti Laul. They each have a nickname/stage name, so the band is made up of Kohver, Päevakoer, Põhja-Korea and Lancelot.

4. Who are Puuluup?

Puuluup are a folk duo who describe themselves as “A pinch of surrealism, modern folklore and talharpa revival!”. The talharpa is the string instrument we see in the performance, originating from northern Europe. They combine the old and the new, by using traditional musical pieces, and mix in loopers and effect blocks. Marko is the member with the beard, Ramo has the longer hair.

5. Breaking a Eurovision record…sort of.

Their Eurovision song is called “(Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi”, translating to “We (really) don’t know anything about (these) drugs”. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s The Drug Song, but even more interestingly? It is the longest song title ever in Eurovision history. Well…if you don’t include Spain’s effort in 2011, “Que Me Quiten Lo Bailao (They can’t take the fun away from me)” by Lucia Pérez. Since it’s just a translation in brackets, Wiwibloggs are taking the executive decision to crown 5Miinust x Puuluup!

6. The song’s meaning

Oh gosh, here we go. Essentially this song is about getting raided by the police for drug possession. Well, it’s certainly a first for Eurovision. They claim the only bag they have has deposit bottles in, and like the song title suggests they really don;t know about these drugs! They’re innocent, of course! Except there’s lots of jokey references throughout which come across as silly or panicked defences to the police which aren’t super convincing.

The mention of class hints at how wealth can impact the way police perceive people. If they were rich it would be OK for them to have drugs, but because they’re poor, they need to defend themselves and deny everything. Or it could just be a glorious piece of intelligent humour.

7. The songwriting process

Once the two acts had agreed to collaborate, there was music to write! When asked how it was working together, Marko from Puuluup said “If you look at our image, we’re quite different. But when we work together, it happens very fast, the same energy, the same atmosphere. It’s very good”. Kohver and Päevakoer from 5Miinust went on to say the song only took an hour to write and was their very first song they wrote together. It was meant to be!

8. The choice to go to Eesti Laul

5Miinust member Päevakoer (whose vocal we hear in the first verse) was the mastermind behind taking their song to national final Eesti Laul. Speaking to Wiwibloggs, he said “I told the guys this would really fit in at Eurovision, which they all laughed about!”. Põhja-Korea then goes on to explain when they came around to it they realised it was a perfect mix of instruments, energy and dance.

9. Their favourite Eurovision entries in 2024

At the London Eurovision Party, the groups told Wiwibloggs with no hesitation that Ireland’s Bambie Thug was their favourite of the year, with their witchy oujia-pop anthem “Doomsday Blue”. They also mentioned Croatia’s Baby Lasagna.

10. Taking the Talharpa back to Sweden

As we mentioned before, Puuluup play the historic talharpa instrument on stage. However, the instrument has history on Vormsi Island, where Puuluup’s Marko’s father is from. The talharpa died out, but Puuluup are bringing it back. Marko told Wiwibloggs that the island was largely made up of Estonian-Swedes, but most left and moved to Sweden to escape during World War 2. 

Back in the 1870’s the Swedes belived the talharpa was “the devil’s instrument” and they conducted ceremonies to burn them, so the badn wanted to bring it back to Sweden. As we know, they were successful at Eesti Laul, and they will be doing exactly that in Malmö!

Will you be going crazy to “(nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi” at Eurovision? Have you been practising the dance ready for Semi Final 2? Let us know what yuou think of 5Miinust x Puuluup in the comments below!