Estonia are favorites this year, again. The song is co-written by Stig from last year’s entry.
The staging is really original on this. The song’s title is “Play” and the staging is Las Vegas chic. I instantly started thinking about gangsters and the mob… In a good way! Jüri is alone onstage much like his performances before. At this point, everything seems to be working for the young singer.
Did I mention he was young?
Jüri was clearly nervous. This is the big leagues and perhaps his youth will work against him. I have to call out his backing vocalists because they are serving background vocal realness. Perhaps it isn’t a good thing I’m pointing the backing vocalists out. Hmm…
Overall, I really liked this entry, and I feel like it will perform well. I was not sure if it would qualify for the finals, but maybe it will. Semi final 1 is really tough and the retro feel may turn off young voters.
This rehearsal actually surprised me. Juri went through the songs 3 times and by the end I was humming it and the imagery was stuck in my head. Those are the things that make Eurovision voters VOTE! Estonia had no problem qualifying last year and I’m sure they’ll get a solid combo of jury and televotes.