ESTONIA 2023

The Estonian final "Eesti Laul" was held on February 11th at Tondiraba Jäähall in Tallinn, hosted by Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld. Previous to the final there were 2 semi-finals where 10 songs competed per show and 6 qualified from each. During the final, a top 3 was chosen by 50-50 televoting and international jury but in the second round the winner was chosen solely by televoting. Going to Liverpool is Alika with the song "Bridges"

Alika Milova is from Narva, a town right on the north eastern border of Estonia Alika has been singing since she was small and has participated in many of the singing competitions in the area such as Baltic Voice, New Wave Junior and Kaunas Talent to name just a few. However, she came to national prominence in 2021 where she won "Eesti Otsib Superstar" - the Estonian version of Pop Idol - which also won her a record deal with Universal Music.

Alika is on stage wearing what seems to be a normal off-white trouser dress but is actually made up of different layers and slightly different materials. She is onstage with a piano - which sometimes plays by itself - and later on we see a cellist at the side. The song begins with a solitary piano intro. Alika begins with a very soft first verse followed by what turns out to be a shortened chorus. The second verse flows straight after with Alika's voice being a little stronger than before. There then follows a full length chorus which really gets the repetitive tune into your head. Into the final minute we have a bridge then a final rendition of the full length chorus, which has a slightly different tune, and ends on a big ballsy high note.

This song is extremely catchy, which is rather an odd thing to say about a very heartfelt ballad. The verses show off the low and lyrical parts of Alika's voice then the chorus shows her ability do short quick lyrics and to belt notes out. The music accompanying this is very classical and the repetitive scales in the chorus makes this whole piece sound extremely familiar and endearing. Alika's overall performance is very convincing and the use of the self playing piano is an interesting touch although I am not so sold on the armography during the chorus. I feel like the embryo of a good staging idea is here but may need to be placed and shot differently when on the Eurovision stage.

In a sea of very nationalistic and cultural songs this definitely covers all the normal general bases. It has a touch of musical theatre about it although staging wise it is not at all set that way. If the staging and camera work focuses in on Alika's voice then this surely cannot go wrong. I think this is a nice straight down the line ballad, the problem is will people see this as a well sung traditional Eurovision ballad or will people think this is somehow old fashioned and boring?  

ARTIST - Alika

SONG - Bridges

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Wouter Hardy, Alika Milova, Nina Sampermans