Estonia: Eesti Laul 2023 presenters revealed!

Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld will host Eesti Laul 2023.

Grete Kuld and Tõnis Niinemets are no strangers to the Estonian national selection.  They met for the first time on the stage of Eesti Laul in 2021.  Two years later, they are once again taking part in this event, this time as the presenters of Estonia’s biggest music competition.

According to Tõnis Niinemets, when they were asked to host the competition they accepted without giving it a second thought since presenting Eesti Laul is a kind of privilege.

Eesti Laul is one of the most exciting projects and, to be honest, the biggest celebration of Estonian music. The atmosphere created in the hall during these live performances is indescribable. It is a privilege to be a part and participate in the process.

Although the hosts cannot reveal any details of the selection, Grete Kuld shared that she is getting ready to take her role as presenter.  Moreover, she seems very excited about what we will see in the competition:

There will be a strong competition because the songs are really really good – you can hear that the songs have been worked on and there are both old and new artists and it’s exciting for me. From pop princesses to rockers. Can’t wait for the live shows!

In December 02, the presenters on ETV will reveal the songs during the program “Eesti Laul 2023.  Start”.  The recordings for this special show already took place.

The semi-finals of Eesti Laul will take place on January 12 and 14 at Saku Grand Hall with the Grand Final on February 11. Five artists will advance from each semi-final which are decided by the public and jury votes. The ten remaining artists will fight for the ticket to represent Estonia in Liverpool.

The participants of Eesti Laul 2023:

  • Alika  – “Bridges”
  • Andreas  – “Why Do You Love Me”
  • Carlos Ukareda  – “ Whiskey Won’t Forget
  • Ellip  – “Pretty Girl”
  • Elysa  – “Bad Philosophy”
  • Janek  – “House of Glass”
  • Kaw  – “Valik”
  • Meelik  – “Tuju”
  • Sissi  –  “Lighthouse”’
  • Wiiralt & Ultima Thule  – “ Salalik
  • m els  –  “So Good At What You Do”
  • Robin Juhkental  –  “Kurbuse matused” (Funeral of sorrow)
  • Neon Letters & Maiko  –  “Tokimeki” (Palpitation)
  • Bedwetters  –  “Monsters”
  • Anett x Fredi  –  “You Need to Move On”
  • OLLIE  –  “Venom”
  • Linalakk & Bonzo  –  “Aeg” (Time)
  • MERLYN  –  “Unicorn Vibes”
  • MIA  –  “Üks samm ermäch” (One step at a time)
  • Inger  –  “Awaiting You”

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun formore news about Estonia’s participation in Eurovision 2023!

Source

Estonia: This is the final line-up of Eesti Laul 2023!

Earlier today, during the TV show “Ringvaade”, the names of the last ten artists, their song titles and the composers of their songs competing the Second Semi-Final of Eesti Laul 2023 were revealed.

The final composition of the semi-finals is now revealed, as the remaining contestants were announced today, after the announcement of the first ten contestants yesterday at the TV show “Ringvaade”.

The 20 artists competing in Eesti Laul 2023:

In the list below, you can see the first ten artists, that were announced yesterday, and their songs for Eesti Laul 2023:

  • Alika – “Bridges”
  • Andreas – “Why Do You Love Me”
  • Carlos Ukareda – “Whiskey Won’t Forget
  • Ellip – “Pretty Girl”
  • Elysa – “Bad Philosophy”
  • Janek – “House of Glass”
  • Kaw – “Valik”
  • Meelik – “Tuju”
  • Sissi – “Lighthouse”’
  • Wiiralt & Ultima Thule – “Salalik

Today, once again through the TV show “Ringvaade”, the names of the 10 remaining artists were revealed, alongside their songs titles and the composers of each song:

  • m els – “So Good At What You Do”
  • Robin Juhkental – “Kurbuse matused” (Funeral of sorrow)
  • Neon Letters & Maiko – “Tokimeki” (Palpitation)
  • Bedwetters – “Monsters”
  • Anett x Fredi – “You Need to Move On”
  • OLLIE – “Venom”
  • Linalakk & Bonzo – “Aeg” (Time)
  • MERLYN – “Unicorn Vibes”
  • MIA – “Üks samm korraga” (One step at a time)
  • Inger – “Awaiting You”

Robin previously represented Estonia as part of Malcolm Lincoln in 2010. There are also artists that have taken part in previous versions of Eesti Laul, namely: Anett & Freddy and Inger.

The National Final

Ten songs will compete in each of the two semi-finalsfive of which will advance to the Grand Final. Three songs will be chosen by the public vote and two from the jury

The Grand Final, is divided in two rounds of voting. In the first round, that consists of 50% public vote and 50% jury vote, will determine the songs that will advance to the Superfinal. Then, the Estonian representative will be decided by 100% public vote.

We remind you that these are the dates announced for Eesti Laul 2023:

  • First Semi-Final – January 12th
  • Second Semi-Final – January 14th
  • Grand Final – February 11th

The previous winner of Eesti Laul and Estonia’s representative in Eurovision 2022 was Stefan with the song “Hope“,  who ended up in 13th place in the Grand Final, while on the same time he brough his country back to the final after a non-qualification in 2021:

https://youtu.be/GdTpQmMem8U

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Estonian participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Source: Etv.ee

Estonia: These are the first 10 artists competing in Eesti Laul 2023!

During the TV show “Ringvaade”, the first ten names, their song titles and the composers of their songs competing the First Semi-Final of Eesti Laul 2023 were revealed earlier this afternoon.

Estonia’s public broadcaster, ERR, chose the 20 best songs among the 217 songs submitted, to compete in the national final, in order to claim the country’s representation in Eurovision 2023.

The final composition of the semi-finals will be revealed by Wednesday evening, when the remaining contestants will be announced in “Ringvaade”.

The first 10 artists competing in Eesti Laul:

In the list below, you can see the first ten artists and their songs for Eesti Laul 2023:

  • Alika – “Bridges”
  • Andreas – “Why Do You Love Me”
  • Carlos Ukareda – “Whiskey Won’t Forget
  • Ellip – “Pretty Girl”
  • Elysa – “Bad Philosophy”
  • Janek – “House of Glass”
  • Kaw – “Valik”
  • Meelik – “Tuju”
  • Sissi – “Lighthouse”’
  • Wiiralt & Ultima Thule – “Salalik

There are also artists that have previously taken part in Eesti Laul, such as Sissi, Wiiralt and Elysa!

The National Final

Ten songs will compete in each of the two semi-finals, five of which will advance to the Grand Final. Three songs will be chosen by the public vote and two from the jury

The Grand Final, is divided in two rounds of voting. In the first round, that consists of 50% public vote and 50% jury vote, will determine the songs that will advance to the Superfinal. Then, the Estonian representative will be decided by 100% public vote.

The schedule of Eesti Laul 2023

We remind you that these are the dates announced for Eesti Laul 2023:

  • First Semi-Final – January 12th
  • Second Semi-Final – January 14th
  • Grand Final – February 11th

The previous winner of Eesti Laul and Estonia’s representative in Eurovision 2022 was Stefan with the song “Hope“ who ended up in 13th place in the Grand Final, while on the same time he brough his country back to the final after a non-qualification in 2021:

https://youtu.be/GdTpQmMem8U

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Estonian participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Source: Etv.ee

Estonia: Eesti Laul 2023 artists to be announced in the next days | Who is the first confirmed singer?

After the announcement of the artists for Albania’s and Spain’s national finals, now is Estonia’s turn to reveal the artists that are going to compete in Eesti Laul 2023. ERR, Estonia’s public broadcaster, announced some time ago that they received 217 songs to take part in Eesti Laul 2023, from which only 20 will advance and compete in the two semi-finals.

The names of the artists that will be chosen, will be announced tomorrow and the day after, in November 1 and 2, through the TV show “Ringvaade”, while the 20 songs will be released about a month later, in December 2.

However, there is one singer that is already confirmed to participate in this year’s Eesti Laul, in the first semi-final to be exact. Some hours ago, the producer of Eesti Laul, appeared in “Ringvaade”  to announce to Sissi, that she is one of the 20 artists that are going to compete in this year’s national final.

Sissi is no stranger to the fans of the contest as she has competed in Eesti Laul twice, in 2019 and in 2021. She qualified for the final both times, getting fourth place in 2019 and second place in the Superfinal in 2021, so fans expect a lot from her and her song.

We remind you that these are the dates announced for Eesti Laul 2023:

  • First Semi-Final – January 12th
  • Second Semi-Final – January 14th
  • Grand Final – February 11th

The previous winner of Eesti Laul and Estonia’s representative in Eurovision 2022 was Stefan with the song “Hope“ who ended up in 13th place in the Grand Final, while on the same time he brough his country back to the final after a non-qualification in 2021:

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Estonian participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Estonia: 217 songs submitted for Eesti Laul

Today the Estonian broadcaster gave more details about their national selection.  A total of 217 songs were submitted for Eesti Laul.  The competing acts for the semi-finals will be announced at the beginning of November.  Further, we will listen to the songs for the first time in December!

Eesti Laul 2023

The list of wishful candidates for Eesti Laul is very diverse.  According to chief producer Tomi Rauhula there are 92 songs in Estonian and 125 in other languages.  There will be brand new artists who are starting in the music industry as well as artists familiar in Estonia and even some with former Eurovision experience.

“An exceptionally exciting competition is coming …  The choice is fierce and the jury will be difficult.”Tomi Rauhula

The next step in the competition will be deciding which songs will make it to the Semi-Finals.  A panel of jurors will take this difficult decision.  The jury of 16 members includes people well-versed in the music landscape and trends, from singers to radio hosts.  We will get to know the name of the jurors together with the name of the competing acts the same day.  However, the jury votes will vote anonymously.

These are the dates announced for Eesti Laul 2023:

November 1 and 2, 2022: The names of the 20 semi-finalists are announced during “Ringvaate”

December 2, 2022: The songs will be revealed during a special ETV program

January 12, 2023: Eesti Laul Semifinal 1

January 14, 2023: Eesti Laul Semifinal 2

February 11, 2023: Eesti Laul Final

Stefan represented Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Turin.  His song Hope finished in 13th place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdTpQmMem8U&ab_channel=EurovisionSongContest

Source

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun to know more news and updates on Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest!

Eurovision 2023: 37 countries will join the 67th contest in Liverpool!

Just moments ago, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced the countries that will take part in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool37 countries will be present in the contest, with three countries withdrawing, in contrast with the 40 countries last year in Turin.

These countries  withdrawing are Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia, which after their participation in Eurovision 2022, all three of them withdraw for financial reasons.

Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, shared his thoughts on the line-up:

“We’re looking forward to welcoming artists from all 37 countries to Liverpool, the city of pop, next May. Next year’s competition promises to be an extra special one and we’re working hard with the BBC right now to ensure that hundreds of millions of viewers will enjoy the best Eurovision Song Contest yet, with Ukraine at the heart of the event.”

In detail, the countries that are going to take part are:

  • Albania – RTSH
  • Australia– SBS
  • Armenia– AMPTV
  • Austria – ORF
  • Azerbaijan – Ictimai TV
  • Belgium – RTBF
  • Croatia – HRT
  • Cyprus – CyBC
  • Czech Republic – CT
  • Denmark – DR
  • Estonia – ERR
  • Finland  – YLE
  • France – FT
  • Georgia – GPB
  • Germany – ARD/NDR
  • Greece – ΕΡΤ
  • Iceland – RUV
  • Ireland– RTE
  • Israel – IPBC/Kan
  • Italy– RAI
  • Latvia – LTV
  • Lithuania – LRT
  • Malta – PBS
  • Moldova – TRM
  • Netherlands – AVROTROS
  • Norway – NRK
  • Poland – TVP
  • Portugal – RTP
  • Romania – TVR
  • San Marino – RTV
  • Serbia – RTS
  • Slovenia ​​- RTVSLO
  • Spain  – TVE
  • Sweden – SVT
  • Switzerland – SRG / SSR
  • Ukraine – UA: PBC
  • United Kingdom – BBC

Martin Green, BBC’s Managing Director of the Eurovision Song Contest added:

“We are incredibly proud to be hosting the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine and welcoming delegations from 37 countries to Liverpool next year. The BBC is committed to making the event a true reflection of Ukrainian culture and showcasing British creativity to a global audience.”

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Eurovision 2023: National broadcaster participation window closing today!

The national broadcasters from the countries having an active EBU membership, have a deadline until today (15/9), in order to confirm their participation in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.

We might not know the city at United Kingdom that we are going to travel to for Eurovision 2023 yet, but today is the deadline for the national broadcasters-EBU members to confirm their participation in the contest.

Until October 11th, according to the rules, the possibility of withdrawal is provided without the imposition of a fine. From this date on, the broadcasters that applied for participating and are willing to withdraw, are going to face the imposition of a fine, which is varying, depending on the time of withdrawal (before or after the semi-finals draw etc.).

31 countries, with one way or another, have announced their will to participate in Eurovision 2023. Among them there’s Greece, and Cyprus too. Those countries are:

  • Albania
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Cyprus
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Malta
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • San Marino
  • Serbia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • The Netherlands
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom

The number from the countries above is expected to grow, because nine countries that participated in this year’s contest, haven’t clarified their intentions yet. Those are:

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Moldova
  • Montenegro
  • North Macedonia
  • Slovenia

There’s always a chance, although slight, for a country to return or for another one to debut. The participating countries and their exact number will be confirmed through EBU’s official announcement. The respective announcement for Eurovision 2022 was made on October 20th.

 

Estonia: ERR announces various dates for Eesti Laul 2023!

Yesterday, the Estonian national broadcaster ERR announced the opening for the song submission window, which will be open until 12:00 at the noon of October 20th.  20 songs will be selected to compete by a professional jury and will be revealed at early December.

The show dates are the following:

  • First Semi-Final – January 12th
  • Second Semi-Final – January 14th
  • Grand Final – February 11th

The participation fees vary in price. Until October 17th, the participation fee for a song in Estonian is 50 euro while the price is doubled to 100 euro for a song in a foreign language, including English. At the final phase of the competition both prices double to 100 euro and 200 euro respectively.

The songwriters and artists eligible for participating in Eesti Laul can be either Estonian citizens or just residents in Estonia, or even non-residents. The same applies for the artists. However, a song may be able to have one non-resident songwriter but they should definitely be accompanied by other songwriters that hold the Estonian residency.

The winner of Eesti Laul 2022 was Stefan with the song “Hope”, with which he represented Estonia in Eurovision 2022. He finished 13th at the Grand final.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdTpQmMem8U

Source: Eurovoix

Eurovision 2023: The new season has just started!

For many, including us on Eurovisionfun, Eurovision never ends! However, September 1st is a special date. Any song that is released after that date is eligible to be chosen to take part in the next years contest. Therefore, any song from now on can be a potential Eurovision 2o23 entry!

What we know so far

After the landslide victory of Ukraine and Kalush Orchestra in Turin, EBU has already announced that due to the ongoing war since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the contest will be held in the United Kingdom instead, to ensure safety of everyone involved in the production.

During August, BBC announced a shortlist of seven cities that will compete to host the contest next year, while the deadline to submit the finalized bids is set for September 8th. BBC and EBU representatives will visit these cities to inspect the facilities and discuss with local authorities on the proposed bids.

Around late September/early October and after there is potentially a dialogue with the British government, BBC and EBU will announce the Eurovision 2023 hosting city.

The shortlisted cities are:

  • Birmingham
  • Glasgow
  • Leeds
  • Liverpool
  • Manchester
  • Newcastle
  • Sheffield

Betting odds are every year a topic of discussion within and outside the Eurovision fandom. As of the time of writing, the odds about which city will host Eurovision 2023 predict Glasgow as the hosting city, with 65% chances, indicating a one-horse race for the hosting of the contest next year.

Participating countries

As of now, 27 countries have officially or unofficially confirmed that they will take part in Eurovision 2023. These are:

  • Albania
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Cyprus
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Iceland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Romania
  • San Marino
  • Serbia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom

Within the next months more countries are expected to confirm their participation, with the goal to have 40 countries as in 2022. Russia and Belarus are not eligible to take part in the contest, since their broadcasters are not EBU members anymore.

Certain countries have already announced that they will not take part in Eurovision 2023, with some of them extending their long-lasting absence from the contest. Andorra, Monaco, Luxemburg, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, Maroco and Hungary will not be present in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest, while Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina are yet to announce their plans but the chances to see them returning are low for various reasons.

Until March 14th the announcement of all the entries

It won’t be before March 14th until we know all competing artists and entries for 2023, since on that day is the meeting of the Head of Delegations where all entries will be officially submitted. However, Israel has already selected its artist and its Noa Kirel, a local superstar with many of her songs conquering the charts.

Albania and Ukraine will be the next to select their entries before the end of 2022, unless there is a surprise as with Czech Republic last year.

Join us on the road to Eurovision 2023!

Eurovisionfun will bring you Eurofun-tastic news throughout the season, while you should be ready for exclusives and surprises! Our 24/7 coverage in Greek and English includes articles, reactions, discussions and many more!

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Let the Eurovision 2023 season begin! Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun!

 

 

 

The most successful Eurovision countries in the 20s!

Eurovision is heading to the third decade of the 21st century and it has clearly changed not only in comparison with the past, but also with the recent years. In this article we investigate how countries scored during the first 2 years of the 20s, as well as their average score.

As you can see below, we cannot identify a group of 5-6 performing performing always well, as it used to happen the last years. Only a few countries are consistently doing well, despite the fact that the scores studied are only of the last 2 years. Tougher competition, the success of the contest on social media (TikTok had a business partnership with the contest this year featuring exclusive clips of the first rehearsals on the platform), as well as the high interest by record labels are only some of the reasons why it is harder to perform consistently well, since entries are of higher lever than the past.

Lets see in detail the average score of the countries during this decade:

Country        2022   2021    Average

  1. Ukraine           1          5             3
  2. Italy                 6          1            3,5
  3. Greece             8         10            9
  4. Sweden           4         14             9
  5. Russia             –           9             9
  6. Switzerland    17        3             10
  7. Moldova          7        13            10
  8. Serbia              5         15            10
  9. Portugal          9         12           10.5
  10. Lithuania       14         8             11
  11. France            24         2             13
  12. Spain               3         24           13.5
  13. Iceland          23          4            13.5
  14. Finland          21          6            13.5
  15. United Kingdom 2     26           14
  16. Norway           10         18            14
  17. The Netherlands 11     23          17
  18. Azerbaijan     16          20            18
  19. Belgium          19         19             19
  20. Armenia         20          –              20
  21. Malta               35          7             21
  22. Estonia           13         31             22
  23. Poland            12         33            22.5
  24. Cyprus            29         16            22.5
  25. Romania        18          28            23
  26. Israel              30          17           23.5
  27. Albania          28          21           24.5
  28. Australia        15          34           24.5
  29. Bulgaria         38          11           24.5
  30. Germany        25          25            25
  31. Croatia           26          27           26.5
  32. St. Marino     33          22           27.5
  33. Czech Republic 22     36             29
  34. Denmark        31         29             30
  35. North Macedonia 27 35             31
  36. Austria           36         30             33
  37. Ireland           34         37            35.5
  38. Latvia             32         39            35.5
  39. Slovenia         40        32              36
  40. Montenegro   37         –                37
  41. Georgia           39       38             38.5

As you can see in the table above, there are very few countries where the average of their positions in these two years is below 10. This proves how difficult it has become to be in the top ten. It is even more difficult to have continuous results within top 10, since only three countries have achieved this, Ukraine, Italy and Greece!

It is evident that Italy and Ukraine are the two powerhouses of the competition for this decade (so far). Sweden remains high on the list, but far from the first place it was in the last decade. Greece is recovering dynamically since it is in third place, when in the previous decade it was out of the 20s. Cyprus gets lower scores year by year, unfortunately making us believe that 2018 was just a coincidence and is currently in 24th place!

Regardless of personal taste and opinions, the numbers speak themselves and is clear that Ukraine, Italy and Greece are doing great during this decade. The new strategy of the management of ERT to chose the artist and the song internally, is proven to be successful, after years of bad results and 2 NQ (2016,2018).

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun because the journey to Eurovision 2023 has already begun!