3:35 sorry to get all political, but people really need to simmer down about cultural appropriation. We’re freaking EUROPE, we’ve been appropriating each others cultures for centuries, it’s basically a normalized thing for Europeans. America has a whole different situation and therefore I get that cultural appropriation is a big bad thing there, but let us Europeans just be Europeans and make stupid jokes about each others cultures please😅 Again, sorry for getting a bit political
Käärijä, Joost Klein and Tommy Cash feel like a trilogy to me. And I absolutely love it. I really want to see it happen, so I really hope Tommy Cash is going to be representing Estonia 😅 But also Espresso macchiato is the only one of the songs that is my type of music and that I could see myself actually listening to. Also knowing a little of what kind of a character Tommy is, I'm so wanting to follow his journey, wanting to see how he would do in live shows, interviews and all kinds of events.
Id also love to see him win, he is known for his visuals so I am 99% certain the staging would be amazing although I find the song a little bit too tame for him (I understand why he did it) but I wanna see it on the big stage so bad
Another great analysis, thank you!! I have been thinking since Tommy Cash announced he'd take part in eesti laul 2025 that Käärijä, Joost and Tommy should create a European Super Group one year and compete in ESC together. It would be so artsy and out there, but probably a bop, too. 🎉
Eesti laul is painfully underwhelming to me this year unfortunately 😭 I dont have a clear favourite. I do like the diversity in genres, so they r doing a good job regarding that as a prettu small country. I just wanna see Estonia winnnn
Great analysis. I will try Minimal Mind again. My favs are Expresso Macchiato, by far, after Ma ei tea sind and Külm. The last remembers me of Futurepop. Overall I loved Eesti Laul this year..
Keep in mind that the Discord top is mainly voted on by hardcore ESC fans who tend to rank all NFs (The "We love Aija and Ulveham" ones) while the MyESC top is voted on by more people, but i'd guess that they are a less involved, more "twitter hype" group (The "We love Loreen" ones). The truth will probably be somewhere in the middle, plus no poll accounts for casuals Besides that, i agree with most of what has been said
yeah, I think Sadzejot being first in the Discord Supernova ranking is another sign of this, considering it’s relatively unpopular outside of it (14th in MESC, I believe?)
Upon listening to the entries, Janek's Frozen had me seated and said, oh this is it for Estonia's redemption. All he needs a really good staging. I can really see it compete and finish in the top 10.
I fear i may be unlucky bc I loved Psycho, Solo Anthem and Eyes Don't Lie oops it's fine i can root for Ma Ei Tea Sind or Espresso Macchiato comfortably as well :)
My three favs are TC Elysa and Janek, but I'll definitely vote for Tommy, not because he's famous, but because his personality and music are so different in a good way, and I'm not sick of it yet... I was so so so deeply disappointed that Käärijä didn't win 😭in 2023, I was so disappointed that Joost Klein was just pushed aside, and now don't want to be disappointed that Tommy Cash didn't get his chance...go Tommy👈
Tommy (along with Little Big) collabed with this (American) artist named Oliver Tree that I only know of because of the H3 podcast (which I no longer watch lmao) and yes the song is a bop. Estonia has sent some very diverse entries in general. I think after their win/English scandipop phase in the early 2000s they kinda just did whatever they wanted. I believe a huge motivation for winning in 2001 and then hosting was to get EU membership and after they joined (2004) they just did whatever their heart desired. It's worked out sometimes and other times has crashed and burned. And if they did send Tommy it would be another quirky entry from them but both songs are still very different.
I don’t think that people realize that Tommy Cash is absolutely making fun of Eurovision with his song. Tommy is more than just a musician, he is a conceptual artist, and his participation in Eesti Laul and potential participation in Eurovision , with this song in particular, is meta commentary on the commercialization of European identities. This is why he is parodying Andy Warhol eating a cheeseburger, which is a video about the mundane aspects of consumer culture. It’s purposely bad, camp, and utilizing Italian stereotypes as a reflection of Eurovision and its history of exposing Authenticity vs. Artifice in popular culture through music.
props to him, but you know, purposely bad doesn't make the song necessarily good. His conceptual ideas and references are of very high standards, but you need a good song to accompany that. I get the cheeky approach, but it shouldn't be enough if you don't have the track to match that potential.
@ I mean… plenty of very “bad” songs have done very well at Eurovision… If you listen to his other music compared to this song, it’s clear that he is utilizing cliche and cheesy Eurovision tropes in this song. The trumpet part with the backing vocals at 50 seconds in is so tacky in the best way possible. Sure, Eurovision produces great songs, but it also equally celebrates irreverent, playful, and “bad” music too. I think Tommy (as well as writer Johannes Naukkarinen) understands this and is leaning into it.
@@TannerBowman not talking about how it will do at ESC, as it's certainly a sure left-hand side of the scoreboard finalist. It's just that i don't think a song like this has anything more to offer in the contest. As you said, we've seen countless purposefully cheesy numbers before, and the specific track on its own is rather ''meh'', filled with some cheeky connotations using a foreign language in a sarcastic way. And nothing more! I'll wait to see how he will bring this to life on stage as i'm sure he's cooking on stuff. But other than that, to me the entry as a song and only has no job in going to ESC this year, the only essence of it is... Tommy Cash. Without any other impactful layer, just a plain flex of his artsy-quirky personality. He could have done much much more sonically wise.
@ I hear you… but I am also saying that I think the point is that he could have done more sonically with the song and didn’t because he knows the context for the song and is making fun of Eurovision… that was my original point. You and anyone else are free to not like the song, or to be disappointed because your expectations of his music were not met by it, or feel that it could be better… I’m just simply suggesting that people are missing the meaning and artistic merit of it by not looking at that disappointment as an intentional choice made by the artist.
the eesti laul winner tends to be VERY predictable every year, it's usually just whoever's the most famous artist in the country at the time (I predicted that Alika would represent us in 2023 before the eesti laul contestants were even announced lol), so I'm having a hard time imagining a world where Tommy Cash doesn't win this tbh
I might be biased because I do really like it, but I don't really see how Joelle's entry is pop (?) It's fine if you don't like it and I can kinda understand the "X Factor Winner" comparison (although they usually go for safer genres than this), but "Eyes Don't Lie" is definitely more of an RnB/soul song than a pop song. Putting it in the same category as Sahlene and Elysa is quite odd. As far as the whole selection goes, I like it. I don't have super high hopes for Eesti Laul, generally I find it pretty generic, this year however I found 3 songs I quite like, which was more than I antecipated: 1. Minimal Wind - Armageddon 2. Joelle - Eyes Don't Lie 3. Andrei Zevakin ft. Karita - Ma Ei Tea Sind The rest of the selection is fine. Only 2 entries I don't really enjoy (Stereo Terror and Sahlene) and those don't actually stand a chance at winning. Having said that, my main qualm with EL is how predictable it is, Tommy Cash pretty much already won lol. Televote is in the bag and, after you go through to the Superfinal, you win if the Tele is on your side. "Espresso Macchiato" sounds like a parody of what some might think a Eurovision song is. The core melody is catchy, I'll give him that, but it feels lazy. I myself am not the biggest fan of this wave of Joost Klein/Windows95men-esque contestants that seem to be trying to replicate Kaarija's success, so it might just be me. It just feels too gimmicky and overdone now.
Honestly I wouldn't rule out An-Marlen yet. If she can give that "wintery" feeling on stage she could maybe even beat Tommy Cash. I think it's between TC, An-Marlen and Minimal Wind, if they came second in 2022 with a song whose name I don't even remember and now they have this in a weaker Eesti Laul...
Kinda sad to think that Tommy Cash has such a big chance to win, just cause he is famous. My personal favourite is Psycho, but I am afraid it's a bit too niche for the majority
I personally think Janek is also a possible winner. Just a standard pop song but it is memorable I believe and Estonia have sent victor Crone in 2019 so it’s in their history. I think it’s more impactful than his previous entry House of Glass. Although I think Ant has to flop for a real chance. I’d have to guess it’d get a similar result as victor crone, around 20th I believe if it was to go to Eurovision.
For me, this Eesti Laul is very strong! I'm a rather new Fan iin the Eurovision scene, 2024 was my first hype-year, so I've never seen any Eesti Laul before. Compared to Supenova and Monntewsoong, which I already listeneed to, I tthknk Eestk Laul is by faf tve stroongest, while Supernova is kknda ddissapointknv me, after Montesonv was really good. My favourites for our Eesti Laul 2025 are Tommy Cash on the one sside, but alsl Räpina Jack, Andrei Zevakin, and mabye Frants or ANT too
Yeah, I think I don't have a certain music style like rock or pop. I just like catchy songs, or songs with very much of action, like many different or same voices singing at the same time, or just loud songs. So I don't like those slow and quiet ballad songs like Portugal and Israel last year or To ljubav je (Đurđa) at Montesong
3:35 sorry to get all political, but people really need to simmer down about cultural appropriation. We’re freaking EUROPE, we’ve been appropriating each others cultures for centuries, it’s basically a normalized thing for Europeans. America has a whole different situation and therefore I get that cultural appropriation is a big bad thing there, but let us Europeans just be Europeans and make stupid jokes about each others cultures please😅
Again, sorry for getting a bit political
Minimal Wind feels like an underdog. My favorite song this in Eesti Laul this year!
Käärijä, Joost Klein and Tommy Cash feel like a trilogy to me. And I absolutely love it. I really want to see it happen, so I really hope Tommy Cash is going to be representing Estonia 😅 But also Espresso macchiato is the only one of the songs that is my type of music and that I could see myself actually listening to. Also knowing a little of what kind of a character Tommy is, I'm so wanting to follow his journey, wanting to see how he would do in live shows, interviews and all kinds of events.
Id also love to see him win, he is known for his visuals so I am 99% certain the staging would be amazing although I find the song a little bit too tame for him (I understand why he did it) but I wanna see it on the big stage so bad
Another great analysis, thank you!! I have been thinking since Tommy Cash announced he'd take part in eesti laul 2025 that Käärijä, Joost and Tommy should create a European Super Group one year and compete in ESC together. It would be so artsy and out there, but probably a bop, too. 🎉
That would be amazing but who would they represent? San Marino?
@ESCTom Australia would be the wildest choice, I think 😄 but San Marino was my first thought, too!
Oh, yes please! 🤩
It would be the ultimate entry for me, ever. I might not recover.
Eesti laul is painfully underwhelming to me this year unfortunately 😭 I dont have a clear favourite. I do like the diversity in genres, so they r doing a good job regarding that as a prettu small country. I just wanna see Estonia winnnn
My favourite 3 are:
- Andrei & Karita
- Minimal wind
- Tommy Cash
I'm a little disappointed there's less songs in Estonian than usual
My clear favorite is Armageddon, and I'm happy it seems to be quite well liked
Great analysis. I will try Minimal Mind again. My favs are Expresso Macchiato, by far, after Ma ei tea sind and Külm. The last remembers me of Futurepop. Overall I loved Eesti Laul this year..
Keep in mind that the Discord top is mainly voted on by hardcore ESC fans who tend to rank all NFs (The "We love Aija and Ulveham" ones) while the MyESC top is voted on by more people, but i'd guess that they are a less involved, more "twitter hype" group (The "We love Loreen" ones). The truth will probably be somewhere in the middle, plus no poll accounts for casuals
Besides that, i agree with most of what has been said
yeah, I think Sadzejot being first in the Discord Supernova ranking is another sign of this, considering it’s relatively unpopular outside of it (14th in MESC, I believe?)
something in the minimal wind - armageddon's melody sends me back to late 90's/early 2000's and i loooooove it
I'm obsessed with Ma ei tea sind right now. I would love them to win, but I think Tommy Cash will win (also a good choice)
Upon listening to the entries, Janek's Frozen had me seated and said, oh this is it for Estonia's redemption. All he needs a really good staging. I can really see it compete and finish in the top 10.
I fear i may be unlucky bc I loved Psycho, Solo Anthem and Eyes Don't Lie oops
it's fine i can root for Ma Ei Tea Sind or Espresso Macchiato comfortably as well :)
My three favs are TC Elysa and Janek, but I'll definitely vote for Tommy, not because he's famous, but because his personality and music are so different in a good way, and I'm not sick of it yet...
I was so so so deeply disappointed that Käärijä didn't win 😭in 2023, I was so disappointed that Joost Klein was just pushed aside, and now don't want to be disappointed that Tommy Cash didn't get his chance...go Tommy👈
Tommy is looking for revenge
Tommy (along with Little Big) collabed with this (American) artist named Oliver Tree that I only know of because of the H3 podcast (which I no longer watch lmao) and yes the song is a bop.
Estonia has sent some very diverse entries in general. I think after their win/English scandipop phase in the early 2000s they kinda just did whatever they wanted. I believe a huge motivation for winning in 2001 and then hosting was to get EU membership and after they joined (2004) they just did whatever their heart desired. It's worked out sometimes and other times has crashed and burned. And if they did send Tommy it would be another quirky entry from them but both songs are still very different.
1:55 That's funny 🤣 I shared this picture on the Eurovision Discord server. Didn't expect to see it here haha
Ant is my favourite by far 😍🤩❤️
I don’t think that people realize that Tommy Cash is absolutely making fun of Eurovision with his song. Tommy is more than just a musician, he is a conceptual artist, and his participation in Eesti Laul and potential participation in Eurovision , with this song in particular, is meta commentary on the commercialization of European identities. This is why he is parodying Andy Warhol eating a cheeseburger, which is a video about the mundane aspects of consumer culture. It’s purposely bad, camp, and utilizing Italian stereotypes as a reflection of Eurovision and its history of exposing Authenticity vs. Artifice in popular culture through music.
props to him, but you know, purposely bad doesn't make the song necessarily good. His conceptual ideas and references are of very high standards, but you need a good song to accompany that. I get the cheeky approach, but it shouldn't be enough if you don't have the track to match that potential.
@ I mean… plenty of very “bad” songs have done very well at Eurovision… If you listen to his other music compared to this song, it’s clear that he is utilizing cliche and cheesy Eurovision tropes in this song. The trumpet part with the backing vocals at 50 seconds in is so tacky in the best way possible. Sure, Eurovision produces great songs, but it also equally celebrates irreverent, playful, and “bad” music too. I think Tommy (as well as writer Johannes Naukkarinen) understands this and is leaning into it.
@@TannerBowman not talking about how it will do at ESC, as it's certainly a sure left-hand side of the scoreboard finalist. It's just that i don't think a song like this has anything more to offer in the contest. As you said, we've seen countless purposefully cheesy numbers before, and the specific track on its own is rather ''meh'', filled with some cheeky connotations using a foreign language in a sarcastic way. And nothing more! I'll wait to see how he will bring this to life on stage as i'm sure he's cooking on stuff. But other than that, to me the entry as a song and only has no job in going to ESC this year, the only essence of it is... Tommy Cash. Without any other impactful layer, just a plain flex of his artsy-quirky personality. He could have done much much more sonically wise.
@ I hear you… but I am also saying that I think the point is that he could have done more sonically with the song and didn’t because he knows the context for the song and is making fun of Eurovision… that was my original point. You and anyone else are free to not like the song, or to be disappointed because your expectations of his music were not met by it, or feel that it could be better… I’m just simply suggesting that people are missing the meaning and artistic merit of it by not looking at that disappointment as an intentional choice made by the artist.
Minimal Wind is my favourite but I’d be happy with Tommy Cash too
the eesti laul winner tends to be VERY predictable every year, it's usually just whoever's the most famous artist in the country at the time (I predicted that Alika would represent us in 2023 before the eesti laul contestants were even announced lol), so I'm having a hard time imagining a world where Tommy Cash doesn't win this tbh
I think youll be happy to hear that Khayat is back in Vidbir this year. I remember you loving 'Call for love' 😂
Just realised he is not confirmed yet, but it looks likely
Yea he’s in the long list but I’m still sooooooo excited 🤩
I sincerely hope that Tommy will win! ♡ He is the best.
I might be biased because I do really like it, but I don't really see how Joelle's entry is pop (?) It's fine if you don't like it and I can kinda understand the "X Factor Winner" comparison (although they usually go for safer genres than this), but "Eyes Don't Lie" is definitely more of an RnB/soul song than a pop song. Putting it in the same category as Sahlene and Elysa is quite odd.
As far as the whole selection goes, I like it. I don't have super high hopes for Eesti Laul, generally I find it pretty generic, this year however I found 3 songs I quite like, which was more than I antecipated:
1. Minimal Wind - Armageddon
2. Joelle - Eyes Don't Lie
3. Andrei Zevakin ft. Karita - Ma Ei Tea Sind
The rest of the selection is fine. Only 2 entries I don't really enjoy (Stereo Terror and Sahlene) and those don't actually stand a chance at winning. Having said that, my main qualm with EL is how predictable it is, Tommy Cash pretty much already won lol. Televote is in the bag and, after you go through to the Superfinal, you win if the Tele is on your side. "Espresso Macchiato" sounds like a parody of what some might think a Eurovision song is. The core melody is catchy, I'll give him that, but it feels lazy. I myself am not the biggest fan of this wave of Joost Klein/Windows95men-esque contestants that seem to be trying to replicate Kaarija's success, so it might just be me. It just feels too gimmicky and overdone now.
Eyes don't lie appreciation😍
It's very underrated and Idk why. I reckon she can do very well with EL juries too
My favorites are: Janek, Elysa & Ant
Honestly I wouldn't rule out An-Marlen yet. If she can give that "wintery" feeling on stage she could maybe even beat Tommy Cash. I think it's between TC, An-Marlen and Minimal Wind, if they came second in 2022 with a song whose name I don't even remember and now they have this in a weaker Eesti Laul...
Just watched Untz Untz 😳
looooooooool IKR 😂😭
The behind the scenes video is pretty interesting
Kinda sad to think that Tommy Cash has such a big chance to win, just cause he is famous. My personal favourite is Psycho, but I am afraid it's a bit too niche for the majority
Tommy is the best & the most talented to me. It shouldn't just be because he's famous.
Gimlo says it all the time but great analysis 💪 Agree that super finals should be abolished, Gimlo absolutely hates them 😤
Can't wait for this to end up runner up at Eurovision 2025 and everyone be mad about it.
hehe
I personally think Janek is also a possible winner. Just a standard pop song but it is memorable I believe and Estonia have sent victor Crone in 2019 so it’s in their history. I think it’s more impactful than his previous entry House of Glass. Although I think Ant has to flop for a real chance. I’d have to guess it’d get a similar result as victor crone, around 20th I believe if it was to go to Eurovision.
"We've only seen 50 per cent of his package." Oooh err missus!
😂
For me, this Eesti Laul is very strong! I'm a rather new Fan iin the Eurovision scene, 2024 was my first hype-year, so I've never seen any Eesti Laul before. Compared to Supenova and Monntewsoong, which I already listeneed to, I tthknk Eestk Laul is by faf tve stroongest, while Supernova is kknda ddissapointknv me, after Montesonv was really good. My favourites for our Eesti Laul 2025 are Tommy Cash on the one sside, but alsl Räpina Jack, Andrei Zevakin, and mabye Frants or ANT too
Yea I guess it depends on your taste in music. For many pop lovers, melfest is still the ultimate
Yeah, I think I don't have a certain music style like rock or pop. I just like catchy songs, or songs with very much of action, like many different or same voices singing at the same time, or just loud songs. So I don't like those slow and quiet ballad songs like Portugal and Israel last year or To ljubav je (Đurđa) at Montesong
Where can you find the discord ranking?
In the “rankings” channel on the ESC discord