EESTI LAUL 2025 WILDCARDS SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇪🇪🕸️📊
While 15 songs are already qualified for the final a 16th wildcard entry will be chosen from 20 candidates with voting closing today. Let's take a look at the candidates, 13 of which have familiar names (A thread 🧵)
This thread will be covering the 20 songs competing in the wildcard competition. For the 15 that are already qualified for the final, check out my original thread here. Now let's get to it
AG and Laura Põldvere - Pimepäev
A legend of Estonian Eurovision, Laura Põldvere is once again in the mix for Eesti Laul, this time with rapper AG. Helping them is Vahur Valgmaa, who fans may remember from Elysa's "Superlove" and Hans Nayna's "One by One"
Antsud Metal Project - Ei enam
Another incarnation of Antsud, a folk group centering around Aile Alveus, who also competed in 2018 as part of Etnopatsy
Carol Suurevälja - Purpose
One of two songs written by Claus Pener. He previously was behind 2023 superfinalist "Monsters", performed by the Bedwetters
Cecilia - Rollercoaster
Cecilia has already secured a spot in the final as a songwriter for Tuuli Rand's "REM". Now she's hoping to be there as an artist too. Last year she became a fan favourite with the energetic "FOMO". All three songs also have credits from Sander Sadam
Everfall - Stories We Hold
The second of two Claus Pener songs, this time for his own group, Everfall.
Felix Enghult - More than Innocent
Stig Rästa needs no introduction, being involved in numerous Eesti Laul submissions, including the winners of 2015, 2016 and 2019. Will "More than Innocent" survive the wildcard round and add another trophy to his cabinet
Gerli Padar - Võõraks jääd
Another veteran, Gerli Padar represented Estonia in Helsinki with "Partners in Crime". Now she is helped by songwriter duo Peter Põder and Allan Kasuk, who made the superfinal last year with "Käte ümber jää", and also wrote Inga's "Right Time" for 2020
Horror Dance Squad - The Rebel Reborn
Ian Karell wrote Kéa's "Lonely Boy" and provided writing and vocals for Close to Infinity's "Sounds Like Home". Meanwhile Henri Kuusk helped write Egert Milder and Liis Lemsalu's 2015 collab "Hold On"
Merwis - Aknal langevaid pisaraid
While Merwis is debuting as a band, multiple members were involved with the sausage themed "Kapa Kohi-LA". In addition, Peter Põder has participated as a soloist two times, in addition to writing songs for other artists
Mick Pedaja - Sound of Pines
In 2010 Mick represented Estonia in Oslo as part of Manpower 4. Six years later he followed it up, with the Eurofan cult classic "Seis", finishing just short of the superfinal. Can "Sound of Pines" give him another impressive result
Sarah Murray - High on Myself
Last year Sarah performed in a duet with Uudo Sepp. Now she's back as a soloist, with songwriting credits from "FOMO" writers Liis Hainla ("Wild"), and Sander Sadam ("Lõpuks muutub")
Silver Jusilo - Turn Back Time
Making his debut in the 2022 heats with "Elu rüpes", he returned last year with "Lately". Now he's back, again with the help of Markus Palo, who also wrote Inga's "No Dog On a Leash"
Synne Valtri - Butterflies & Bees
Synne made her debut in 2019, finishing 11th, and returned with Väliharf the next year finishing 9th. Now she's joined by Johannes Lõhmus, who made his Eesti Laul comeback last year as a writer for Laura Põldvere's "Here's Where I Draw the Line"
The remaining songs do not seem to have any connections to previous entries:
Bel-Etage Swingorkester - Mind kõikjal näed
Ela - Südamés
Elina Martinson - Sinitihane
Kozy - Jääb nii (tahan, et tead)
Marianne Leibur - Pluto and Mars
Marta Lotta - Tantsin veel
Sten-Olle - Noorex
And that's all! Hope you enjoyed reading this thread, and found it informative. If you did, make sure to follow me so you don't miss out on similar deep dives I will be making for all other national finals this season. Until then, take care!
BIG EUROVISION PREDICTION SURVEY 2026 RESULTS
After collecting the predictions of 327 fans and using them to simulate the contest 100000 times in a sophisticated model, here are the results. A full, high detail forecast of the contest based on our collective wisdom (a thread 🧵)
Before we start, a quick disclaimer:
While the model has proven relatively reliable before, being on par/better than the odds, it is not omniscient. There will be misses
The results are also not my personal predictions, as I am only responsible for one 327th of the models data
SEMI 1
While 🇫🇮🇬🇷🇸🇪🇮🇱🇲🇩 look like obvious safe qualifiers, 🇭🇷🇷🇸🇲🇪 also look likely, in part helped by strong support from each other. 🇱🇹🇬🇪 round off the top 10 with 🇵🇱 looking like a dark horse, and 🇧🇪🇵🇹 being outsiders. Chances look more bleak for 🇪🇪🇸🇲, but nothing is impossible
SANREMO 2025 SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇮🇹🕸️📊
Always a highlight of the Eurovision year, Sanremo is back for the 75th time. And as always, the songs feature many familiar faces from Sanremo past and present. Let's take a closer look at all the connections (a thread 🧵) #sanremo25
Sarah Toscano - Amarcord
"Amarcord" was written with the help of regular writers Federica Abbate and Jacopo Ettorre who previously collabed on "Due" and "Fino a qui", as well as a team of less frequent writers who worked on "No grazie" and "Furore"
Serena Brancale - Anema e core
Another Abbate/Ettorre song, this time with Nicola Lazzerin in the mix. Nicola is making a big debut in this years contest, being behind 4 of the original 30 songs. Serena herself competed in the Newcomers section back in 2015
POLSKIE KWALIFIKACJE 2025 SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇵🇱🕸️📊
After a brief experiment with internal selection Poland is back to giving us national finals. In the lineup we find multiple entrants and songwriters from the past. Let's take a closer look at all the connections (a thread 🧵)
Chrust - Tempo
"Tempo" was written with the help of Krzysztof Falkowski, who was behind Maciej Musiałowski's entry in last year's internal selection, finishing 9th, receiving Kasia Moś highest points
Daria Marx - Let It Burn
Daria made the superfinal back in 2022 with her hit song "Paranoia". Now she's back, this time with the help of veteran writer Peter Boström and DMGP 2025 entrant Maria Broberg. The two also collaborated on Xannova Xan's song for this year's Greek final
VIDBIR 2025 SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇺🇦🕸️📊
As always, #Vidbir is a highlight of the Eurovision season. This year, five out of the ten entries have connection to other entries in the Eurovision world. Let's take a closer look at all the connections (a thread 🧵)
A quick note:
As I source my database from different sources, different translitterations have to be harmonized for me to make these connections. Due to that some connections may have been missed. Please let me know if non-Ukrainian transliterations have been used in the plots!
Molodi - My Sea
The Mariupol group is making their Vidbir debut with the help of one of last year's winning songwriters, Anton Chilibi. On top of his "Teresa & Maria" involvement, Anton also wrote Carpetman's "Endless Fight"
EUROSONG 2025 SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇧🇪🕸️📊
Tonight is the night, where we'll once again witness a Belgian selection, after last years internal process. What really sets #Eurosong apart, is the fact the 5/8 were written by the same person! Let's take a closer look (a thread 🧵)
Leez - Perfectly Imperfect
Perfectly Imperfect was written by Will Knox, who was involved with Eurovision 2019 winner "Arcade", in addition to a few NF entries. Also in the mix is Loek van der Grinten, who helped write Netherlands 2023 entry "Burning Daylight"
Le Manou - Fille à papa
One of five songs written by Willem Vanderstichele, who is truly making an impactful debut in the Eurovision world
ETHNIKÓS TELIKÓS 2025 SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇬🇷🕸️📊
After many years of internal selections the Greek selection is finally back to our screens! Among the participants we see a few connections to former entries, both recent and older. Let's take a look (a thread 🧵) #EthnikosTelikos
Klavdia - Asteromata
One of the two big favourites, Asteromata was written by the writing team Arcade, who were also involved with Stefania's 2020 and 2021 entries. Will they be able to add another Eurovision participation to their resumé?
Constantinos Christoforou and Kostas Karafotis - Paradeisos
Constantinos is no stranger to Eurovision, having represented his native Cyprus three times (1996/2002/2005). Will he be able to at a Greek participation to his list? Rodoula was involved with two Cypriot entries as well