Estonian band Minimal Wind captured our attention at Eesti Laul in 2022 with their unique blend of RnB, rock, pop and indie. Now, they return to the competition with ‘Armageddon’ – an ode to the chaos of modern life. 

How did the song come together? What can we expect to see on stage? We sat down with band members Taavi and Paula to find out.

First of all, congratulations on being selected for Eesti Laul 2025! Are you guys excited to be back?

Thank you very much! Of course, we are very excited and thankful for this opportunity.

You participated back in 2022 with ‘What to Make of This’, which finished the contest in second place. What was that experience like? Do you feel more prepared this time around?

It was a surreal experience – the contest had quarter finals, semi-finals and finals. We were truly a dark horse; the betting offices didn’t think we’d get through any of them. During the semi-finals we all got COVID and couldn’t participate. 

We got a chance to perform 30 seconds of our song through zoom. We later found out that the audience started giving us votes after the spontaneous performance. It was also a surreal moment when the international jury voted us first by a wide margin, it felt like our lives were going to change forever. 

This time we are ready. We have gained a lot of experience, developed our friendship, acquired both wonderful and awful experiences together, played the biggest and smallest stages in Estonia. We’d love to inspire more bands to make music and share our art with the world.

After participating in Eesti Laul, how has the platform impacted your music career? Do you feel like there are specific opportunities or challenges that come with it?

I think it’s very hard nowadays to get heard making music, because of the infinite feed and the ever growing nearly infinite amount of music uploaded online. Eesti Laul is one of the few platforms in Estonia that enables new artists/bands to have listeners outside of friends and family. All the members of our band have dedicated their lives to making music, and it was like night and day after Eesti Laul. It opened a lot of doors for us. 

There was constantly this feeling of wasting opportunities, even though every moment was spent trying to get further in our career. What exactly should we do? Should we follow trends or our unique taste? How can we ‘stay in the picture’? Should we perform a lot or do just a few bigger shows? Who are the right people to work with? 

This time around it feels less like a fluke – we did it once, we can do it again. I plan to enjoy it a lot more and let go of control, focus on making great art, something to be proud of.

We couldn’t help but notice: in 2022, your entry was ‘featuring’ the vocalist Elisabeth Tiffany. Now, we’re happy to see she is a permanent member of the band! How has the collaboration within the band changed? What does each member bring to the table that contributes to your sound?

You are right, ‘What to Make of This’ was our first song, and all of us were not officially a group yet at the time. But after Eesti Laul we decided to become a band. At first it was mainly us (Taavi and Paula), initiating songs, but now everyone brings ideas to the table. 

All of us have many versatile skills but if I had to sum it up, Taavi brings stadium rock vibes and interesting harmonies, Tiffany has a dark R&B background and likes to do vocal harmonies, Velle has a great producer’s ear and attention to details, Robin brings the groove with drums and I like to write lyrics and melodies. But I would say how we write is different each time.

Tell us a little more about the story of your song, ‘Armageddon’. What inspired it, and why did you decide to submit it for Eesti Laul this year?

I think Eesti Laul and Eurovision benefit from a strong visual theme and Armageddon suits perfectly. We started this song in 2023, at the time where the world felt like Armageddon, with the virus and war, so the theme was in our mind. 

At the same time try really hard to avoid moralising and being political in our music; I think people listen to music to escape from these things. So we tried to make Armageddon more about a fight with inner demons.

Armageddon’ has a powerful title. Can you give us some insight into the song’s themes? What message or feeling do you hope the listeners take away from it?

We all have our inner battles, in some form or another. Armageddon has a sense of longing to go back to the start, some melancholy, but ultimately facing the fact that some decisions are irreversible and the only way to go on is to go forward, with all the beautiful scars life has given one. 

That got a bit abstract…

Can you tease any elements of your performance?

We had an amazing meeting with the video and art teams and found something that both the band and the team were very excited to do. Without spoiling too much – our music video focused on the inner battle, but the live show will be more external, with a pinch of apocalyptic elements.

Finally, do you have any favourite Eesti Laul songs or moments that have inspired you?

This year Mick Pedaja (who participated for the 16th finalist spot) made an incredibly beautiful and sincere song. I love how it widened the boundaries of what you expect from an Eurovision song – it grabbed my attention with sincerity and artistic beauty, rather than gimmicks.

Can’t get enough of Minimal Wind? Re-listen to ‘Armageddon’ here – and tune into the Grand Final of Eesti Laul this Saturday, 15th February to see the live performance!