Semi-final 2 of Eesti Laul 2020 involved 12 songs battling it out for the last 6 positions in the Final. There’s 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 two.
Song 1 Viinerid - “Kapa Kohi-LA”
Ah....that was a long 3 minutes!
Poor Janet has to follow whatever the hell that was at the start and she’s clearly in shock…the poor lady has forgotten how to sing. Luckily she’s met by her backups on the stage to help her get through her slow grind of a song.
Song 3 Uku Suviste - “What Love Is”
If only Uku’s vocal was as tight as his pants, he’s not great in the verses but better in the chorus when he gets some “help” from the backups. It’s the first “attack of the fluro lights” for the night and someone has purchased an awful lot of candles.
Inger is a very young man with a guitar. The kiss cam turns out to be a bit of a disaster, surely they should have cued up some willing participants before the show. We’ve heard this sort of cutesy stuff before though.
Song 5 Merilin Mälk - “Miljon sammu”
She must be the daughter of the producer or something.
Song 6 German & Violina - “Heart Winder”
This one falls in the category of “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”…..unfortunately everyone is too darn pretty to realise.
Song 7 Jaagup Tuisk - “Beautiful Lie”
Somehow this seems even slower when performed live. A touch over dramatic with the interpretive dance and I reckon he got about 70% of that falsetto. There was good use of the tech with the rain and controlling the rain drops. A bit of a fan favourite.
Song 8 Ziggy Wild - “Lean On Me”
Ziggy Wild puts some life into Semi 2 with a bit of dated pub rock. There’s a lot of affection shown to a microphone stand made of chain. It took till song 8 for someone who could sing.
Song 9 Uudo Sepp - “I’m Sorry I Messed Up”
Uudo is going for vulnerable but comes across as a bit terrified and wooden. He ambles through and gives us a good last 30 seconds with basically an Ed Sheeran-esq slow song. And ladies we could all “mess up” with the pianist...am I right ;)
Song 10 Traffic - “Üks kord Veel”
Traffic are huddled around the camera which spins around to make everyone just dizzy enough to forget about their bland song. However, once they break free of the camera and get on the main stage...we all start remembering again.
Song 11 SHIRA - “Out in Space”
A well placed piano lets everyone know that there is indeed some piano in this track but SHIRA is just using it as a seat to start her performance....perhaps there’s no need for pianos in space. SHIRA’s vocal works well enough in the very small range of her song but there’s no real excitement here.
Song 12 Mariliis Jõgeva - “Unistustes”
Mariliis has one of those cute girl pop songs which I love….yes I’m that basic;). The fluro lights make a surprise attack which her backup singers have to struggle through when they meet her on stage. Unfortunately, there’s nothing groundbreaking but definitely not the worst tonight IMHO.
And that concluded a very long show. A few songs too many I feel. Anyway, getting through to the Final were:
First 4
Uku Suviste - What Love Is
Inger - Only Dream
Jaagup Tuisk - Beautiful Lie
Traffic - Üks kord Veela
Next 2
Uudo Sepp - I’m Sorry I Messed Up
SHIRA - Out in Space
A bit “man heavy” if you ask me.
Now it’s up to Alan to bring this great big Estonian Euro show home in 2 weeks time.