Tonight we got some more news about the upcoming Estonian national selection ‘Eesti Laul‘ set to take place in February 2020. The show will once again be used to choose the Estonian participant for Eurovision for the twelfth year.

The reveal took place on chat show ‘Ringvaade‘, where the first half of 2020’s competitors were confirmed. They are:

1. Stefan – “By My Side”
2. Kruuv – “Leelo”
3. Shira – “Out In Space”
4. Jaagup Tuisk – “Beautiful Lie”
5. Little Mess – “Without A Reason”
6. Ziggy Wild – “Lean On Me”
7. Uku Suviste – “What Love Is”
8. Traffic – “Üks kord veel”
9. Rasmus Rändvee – “Young”
10. Mariliis Jõgeva – “Unistustes”
11. Renate – “Videomäng”
12. Laura – “Break Me”

The first twelve revealed tonight include lots of familiar names from former contests

1. Stefan Airapetyan has finished 3^rd for the last 2 years, 2017 as part of Vajé with the song “Laura Walk With Me”, and last year as a solo artist with “Without You”
2. Kruuv finished 6^th in semi final 2 in 2015 with “Tiiu talu tütreke”
3. SHIRA appears to be a new contestant, her song is co-written by Karl Ander Reismann, who also co-wrote Rasmus’s song this year as well as all of Stefan’s previous entries, and the 2019 entries from Inger and Sissi, all of who finished in the top 6.
4. Jaagup Tuisk may be new to Eesti Laul, but is certainly well known having competed in Estonian Talent ( TV3 , 2010);”The Singing Capital ” (with Koit Toome , TV3 , 2011);” Song Carousel ” ( Estonian Television , 2015); and ” Estonia Seeks Superstar ” (5th place, TV3, 2018).
5. Little Mess are a three piece girl band with members Karmel Üksväravast, Johanna-Elise Kabelist and Viktoria Koljaginast. The band were put together after the split of the very popular band La La Ladies, when Tanja (EST 2014) and  Timo Vendt held an open competition which had over 150 entries.
6. Ziggy Wild is a band fronted by Laura Prits, who appeared in Eesti Laul 2017, where her song “Hey Kiddo” finished sixth in its semi final.
7.  Uku Suviste has appeared in Eesti Laul in both 2017 with “Supernatural” when he finished 7^th in the first semi, and last year’s “Pretty Little Liar” which finished 2^nd behind Victor Crone. Uku’s song this year is co-written by Sharon Vaugh who is very well known in Eurovision circles, most recently co-writer of Sergey Lazarev’s “Scream” which finished 3^rd in Tel Aviv this year.
8. Traffic are making a welcome return after appearing in Eesti Laul in 2009 with “See päev” and 2012’s “NASA”, followed by 2014’s “Für Elise” The band, of course, includes Eurovision alumni Stig Rasta, who writes most of their songs.
9. Rasmus Rändvee is another returnee.  He first appeared with his band Facelift Deer in 2013 where their song “Dance” came 6^th in the Final. As a solo artist, his song “This Love” came 3^rd in 2017.
10. Mariliis Jõgeva competed in 2015 under the name Mari, with her song “Kolm päeva tagasi” which sadly came 9^th in semi final 2.
11. Renate Saluste is another first timer to Eesti Laul. With her song being self written, we have little to go on at the moment, however she has released some proper bangers in the past – check out “Tsunami”!
12. Laura Põldvere – well, we all know Laura, most recently from her 2017 duet “Verona” which made it all the way to Kiev.   She was a member of Suntribe, who made it to the big Eurovision stage in 2005, and has also appeared in Eesti Laul as a solo singer in 2007, 2009 and 2016

The contest is schedule to air two semi finals on the 13th & 15th February 2020, with the final taking place two weeks later on Saturday 29th February 2020.

In 2019, Swedish singer Victor Crone teamed up with prestigious Estonian singer/songwriter Stig Rästa with the entry ‘Storm’ which quite literally stormed the televote at the national final, going on to place 20th in the grand final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.