Estonia: Elina Nechayeva – La forza

Shi: Estonia is sending a pretty girl in a pretty dress singing a pretty song prettily. In Eurovision this usually ends up translating to somewhere in the top 10, and I think that’s the destiny awaiting Estonia this year too. However, many believe Elina could actually be a candidate for the win. Do I agree? Not really. For one thing, every few years we get something operatic in a Romance language that captivates the imagination of fans to the point of believing it could win, but guess what: it doesn’t. While the previous cases are all different in some ways, they can still serve as a warning sign for why Estonia can’t take the victory in 2018.

The quality of the live performance of “Sognu” aside, it suffered from having a melody that wasn’t particularly easy to hum on first hearing, especially after listening to 25 other songs. Il Volo did much better on that front, but then they were also much more likeable and easy to connect with than Elina, and they were duly rewarded with a televote win. Too bad for them, then, that they only finished sixth with the juries. The music professionals placed “Sognu” 12th, and I have no reason to believe Elina will do much better than either in this respect. With a strong televote, that can still be enough for a good result – but not a win.

Martin: I was happy to bet against this early in the season, mainly because it’s not a song. I’m increasingly concerned that it might do a lot better than it deserves, though. Elina is good enough to wow the average Saturday night viewer, and even the jurors are only human.

Felix: Estonia is cold as ice. Awesome in theory, but causing zero goosebumps. Maybe a different singer, maybe a different production, would have resulted in a great Eurovision opera entry, but “La forza”? Nope. I predict a right-hand side of the table result in the final.

video and title image source: eurovision.tv