The fourth song of Uuden musiikin kilpailu (UMK) 2021 is now released. You can listen to the song Play by Laura here:
Laura Põldvere is an Estonian jazz-, blues-, soul-, pop- and improvisational singer, who started her career already as a teenager in the mid 00’s. Her big breakthrough was in 2005, when she participated in Eurolaul, former Estonian national selection for Eurovision, both as a solo artist and as a member of the band Suntribe. Eurolaul 2005 was a big success for Laura, since Suntribe won the contest and Laura’s solo song Moonwalk finished second. Suntribe represented Estonia in Eurovision 2005 in Kiev with their song Let’s Get Loud, finishing 20th in the semifinal.
After her Eurolaul debut Laura has participated in Estonian national selections for Eurovision five times: in 2007 with Sunflowers (3rd place), in 2009 with Destiny (3rd place), in 2016 with Supersonic (2nd place), in 2017 together with Koit Toome and their song Verona (1st place) and in 2020 with Break Me (11th place). In Eurovision 2017 in Kiev Laura and Koit Toome were a big fan favorites, but because of the jury votes they failed to qualify to the final, even though they finished 6th in the televoting of the second semifinal.
Laura is a very popular artist in Estonia. She was the most-played artist on Estonian radio-waves in the past decade, and her debut album Muusa from 2007 was one of Estonia’s most popular albums for the decade.
According to Yle, Laura has spent a lot of time in Finland ever since she was a little girl. Nowadays Laura lives partly in Estonia and partly in Espoo, Finland, where she does music and also works in the field of human resources management. Laura thinks that participating in UMK is a natural step forward in the music business of her second home country. The last spark for participating in UMK was lit last spring when she was a member of UMK’s international jury.
Laura’s UMK-song Play is a combination of pop and country. The song is about on-off-relationship, where one person has got tired of always coming back and forgiving to the other. Laura tells Yle the following about the song: ”I want my audience to open their hearts and find the power and support they need to move on in their lives and relationships.”
What is Your opinion of the song Play by Laura? Would You like to see it carrying the Finnish flag in Rotterdam? Let us know in comments or our social media channels!
