Birgit from Estonia has sent us the following interview. She will be taking to the Eurovision Song Contest stage as song number 2 in the second semi-final on 16 May in Malmö.
Could you first introduce yourself briefly?
I was born in the small Estonian town called Kohila. I have quite a big family – parents and three sisters. My professional career began in 2007, when I won Estonia’s first ‘Pop Idol’ contest. Six years later I have recorded 3 albums, had a lot of concerts, different TV shows and musicals, such as I have played the role of Maria in the ‘Sound of music’ etc.
What does it mean for you to represent Estonia in Eurovision 2013?
First of all I am truly honoured to represent my beautiful home country Estonia in Eurovision 2013 and I can’t wait for the experience to perform for such a huge audience and in such an important competition, this is really big thing for me!
Et uus saaks alguse will be your song for the festival. Can you tell us about the song, the composers …?
‘Et uus saaks alguse’ composer is my very good friend, Estonian singer and pianist Mihkel Mattisen. Lyrics are written by Mihkel and the poet Silvia Soro. The song is a beautiful country-pop ballad, whose story is about new beginnings. ‘Et uus saaks alguse’ is really close to my heart and means a lot for me, especially at this point of my life.
How did you feel when you were selected in the Eesti laul as Estonia’s representative for Eurovision 2013 and what made you to participate in Eesti laul for the second year in a row?
‘Eesti laul’ is the only Estonian song contest which takes place every year and the winner of this song contest will represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest. The experience to win such a competition is of course great, as basically the whole of Estonia is watching this TV show, as this is the biggest event in Estonian music life. I was surprised in a good way, because that song wasn’t the biggest favourite in ‘Eesti laul’ competition, but I was sincerely happy and flattered and really thankful for all the votes, which Estonians gave to me.
Was the decision of singing in Estonian clear right from the beginning?
Yes. Estonian people love to hear music in their own language and I like to sing in Estonian, it’s a beautiful language and I really hope that other countries at the Eurovision Song Contest will like our language, too!
Will you be releasing an English version of the song?
Yes, hopefully we manage to record an English version and some other language versions – such as Spanish, Russian and Swedish before Malmö.
Will your stage performance in Malmö look pretty much the same as in Eesti laul?
Our song is quite slow, so we can’t promise a huge show with fireworks and acrobats jumping out from a piano, but we are planning to do it very pretty, keeping it simple and clear, keeping the focus on the artist and the beautiful song.
Are you a follower of Eurovision? What is your favorite song in the history of the festival?
I’ve been following the Eurovision Song Contest since I was a little girl. My absolute favourite song is of course the Estonian Eurovision winning entry back in 2001, called ‘Everybody’. But I have a lot of favourites, for example ‘Is it true’ by Yohanna from Iceland or ‘Seventh wonder’ by Ira Losco from Malta.
You have already won the Estonian Pop Idol and starred in musicals and now heading for Eurovision, what dreams are still to be achieved in your career? What are your future plans after Eurovision? When can we expect a new album?
I am a person living more in the current moment, than making huge and long-term plans, I could say I go with the flow… In the nearest future, the most important thing is to do a perfect performance in Malmö, in summer I have a lot of concerts and also recording my new album. In autumn there is going to be very huge change of my life – I’m having my first baby!
The esctoday.com team would like to wish Estonia and Birgit the best of luck in Malmö!
