Today we head all the way to the pearl of the Baltic Sea, none other than Estonia, in our series of the 2014 Eurovision ESCToday Interviews. We land in the beautiful Estonian capital city of Tallin, where we catch up with the 2014 Estonian Eurovision representative Tanja. The 2014 Estonian Eurovision hopeful speaks to us about her forthcoming Eurovision participation, Eurovision entry Amazing and herself.

Firstly congratulations on winning Eesti Laul with 53% of the votes. Your song is somewhat a return to the pop genre for Estonia to the Eurovision Song Contest. Do you feel any pressure in following in the footsteps of such legendary Estonian Eurovision alumni such as Ines, Tanel Padar and Maarja in going forward to represent your country at Eurovision?

I do feel pressure but at the same time it’s a great opportunity to see how everything is organised, prepared – get a good look what is actually going on behind the stage at the ESC ☺ you have to admit it is the biggest international festival in Europe. It is a great opportunity to introduce and represent our small country Estonia on a big stage and to represent myself as an artist to all the viewers – that is one big responsibility for me.

Are you a Eurovision fan at all and if so who is your greatest inspiration from the history of the contest?

I’ve been a huge fan of the ESC past 23 years and I have always loved this contest. My all time favourite is “Nocturne” by Secret Garden and of course “Euphoria” by magical Loreen.

Your stage performance of Amazing is beautifully choreographed and extremely demanding. Will there be any adjustments or changes for Copenhagen? Can the Eurovision audience expect any surprises?

Thank you! For my performance in Copenhagen I have some “small” changes and surprises in my mind but if I’d tell you it wouldn’t be a surprise 😉

Please tell us the story behind your entry Amazing. How did you select the song?

I’ve been working together with Timo Vendt for 10 years now. We wrote all the songs for my album “Gemini” which was realised last year. We also perform, work at the studio and have a lot of fun together. That is why this year we needed something extra, a challenge, so we decided to try and write a song for the Eurovision Song Contest, of course in our favourite dance-pop style, we took part of the contest and here we are now☺

Tell us what is message behind your song Amazing. What would you like to communicate to your audience and to Europe through your song and performance in Eurovision?

It’s a song about my magical connection with dreams. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and in the middle of some very nice dream and usually I want to see how it ends, so I go back to sleep and I see the same dream 🙂 it’s like an amazing lie let you be who ever you want to be and do what ever you desire to do. And I want to show that you can tell a story through dance as well.

You will perform in Semi Final 1 which is shaping up to be an extremely competitive one. How do you feel about performing between the top two favourites Armenia and Sweden?

I think it is not important in which Semi Final you are and what order you will be performing. If the performer has a great song with a beautiful act, it will touch the hearts of viewers anyway. We all have to compete and the tension will be high up for all competitors. So the answer would be that I feel great performing between Armenia and Sweden

Is there an Estonian version of Amazing and if so would you sing in Estonian or English or even both at Copenhagen?

Probably I won’t be realising the song in other languages as well as in Estonian.

Tanja as you were originally born in Russia would you ever contemplate representing them one day at the Eurovision Song Contest?

I was raised in Estonia, I live, work and sing in Estonia but even though “Never say never” I would still preferred to represent my lovely country Estonia.

And finally apart from your own fantastic entry please tell us here at esctoday.com in your own words which is your favourite entry at this years’ Eurovision Song Contest 2014?

Unfortunately I haven’t managed to hear all the entries but there is one song that my sister is humming from day to day, it is Hungary. András  has a wonderful voice and his song has this catchy melody..

What message would you like to give to your European fans and our readers at esctoday.com?

Enjoy the biggest European Festival “Eurovision Song Contest” and support your favourites with the positive energy.

Thank you taking the time to kindly answer our questions and we at esctoday.com would like to wish you the very best of luck with your song Amazing at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen.

 

ESCToday would like to thank Tanja and wish her the best of luck for the Eurovision Song Contest!