Estonia - Eesti Laul 2023 - Semi-final 1
Eesti Laul 2023 kicked off with Semi-final 1 on 12th January. It involved 10 songs battling it out for the first 5 positions in the Final to be held on 11th February. There are two rounds of voting with both jury and public being combined to pick the first four artists and then a further vote by the public to select an additional artist.
The hosts of the show were the returning Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld.
The first 10 contenders were (click on the titles to watch the performances:
Song 1 - Janek “House of Glass”
Some theatrical staging but an almost robotic performance by Janek. “House of Glass” was co-written by Mørland who represented Norway in 2015. A little bland.
At least Ellip brought some stage presence, unfortunately she didn’t bring much of a song. Douze points for attitude.
The audience seemed to enjoy Kaw’s song which was entirely in Estonian. Not the greatest vocally but not bad energy.
Song 4 - Merlyn “Unicorn Vibes"
Pretty familiar eastern European pop number but needed way more unicorn.
Song 5 - Mia “Üks samm korraga”
Mia previously took part in Eesti Laul in 2012 with “Bon Voyage” which came 8th in its Semi-final. Tonight she looked gorgeous and delivered a strong performance with an up-tempo ballad in Estonian. Definitely got everything that she could out of it.
Song 6 - Neon Letters and Maiko “Tokimeki"
A song in Japanese and English on Eesti Laul, go figure. The staging involved them being stuck in a light box and it felt like their performance wasn’t quite able to break free of it. Very flat.
Ollie gives us a competent rock song. All the usual camera cuts that you’d expect with this type of song. An attractive man that can somewhat sing…..it’s catnip to Estonians.
Song 8 - Andreas “Why Do You Love Me”
Andreas is a “sad boy” with floppy hair. Interesting hand-ography from the back up dancer. His song is not ground-breaking by any stretch.
Song 9 - Bedwetters “Monsters”
A monster on a hoverboard. Let the memes commence. Another “rock” song, but not up to Ollie’s standard. A very low-rent Lordi that isn’t filling anyone’s void.
Song 10 - Anett and Fredi “You Need to Move On”
Anett and Fred followed the monsters with a lounge number. Very laid back and classic staging.
So, getting through to the Final were:
First 4
Andreas - “Why Do You Love Me”
Ollie - “Venom”
Anett and Fredi - “You Need to Move On"
Bedwetters - “Monsters"
Next 1
Janek - “House of Glass”
True to form for Eesti Laul the men reigned supreme once again. Poor Mia. Let’s hope a few solo females win through in Semi-final 2.