Rule number one of Eurovision law states: “You can enter anything you like, as long as it’s good.”
Well, Ott Lepland and ERR have clearly read that rule and gone “yup, let’s have that”. Estonia’s entry for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku is Kuula (“Listen”), written by Lepland with lyrics by Aapo Ilves. It won Eesti Laul 2012 on 3 March, taking 67% of the superfinal televote against Lenna’s Mina jään.
It’s as simple as it gets: one man, one woman on stage, tearing my heart out. It once again proves the old adage that you don’t need a performance for a song to do well – a strong song is just as good – and blimey, this is a strong song alright.
He even hits all the high notes, which makes it better.
The staging is deliberately restrained, letting the song build and Lepland’s voice do the heavy lifting rather than burying everything under Eurovision spectacle. The background coming alive at the end just makes me cry and damn…
At the time of writing, Estonia still had to face the second semi-final on 24 May, so “sailing through” and a top-ten finish were predictions, not facts. But retrospectively, it did sail through: Estonia qualified fourth with 100 points, then finished sixth of 26 countries in the 26 May grand final with 120 points. So yes, the prediction was broadly right. ’nuff said.
