Estonian expat's vocal group seen by millions on BBC competition show
Estonian Kerli Peetsalu, who has been living in London for the past four years, competed before millions of viewers with her vocal ensemble Vocalities on the premiere season of BBC One's singing competition program "Pitch Battle," where they reached the semifinals before being eliminated from the competition.
"'Pitch Battle' is a new show on the BBC, where 30 choirs from throughout the country compete against each other," Peetsalu explained in an interview with Vikerraadio morning show "Vikerhommik." "There is a total of 30 choirs from all kinds of genres."
Peetsalu, who has lived in the U.K. for four years and graduated from the British and Irish Modern Music Institute (BIMM) London Music College with a degree in singing, founded the ensemble Vocalities, originally a duo, with a classmate. The group expanded in size upon making it onto the show.
The Estonian singer described participation in the show, which was recorded at a television studio in Manchester, as intense. "When we arrived there, our choreography was changed, some songs were changed," she recalled. "Learning was very intense."
While Vocalities reached the "Pitch Battle" semifinals, they did not make it into the final round. Nonetheless, Peetsalu was grateful for the experience, which she described in positive terms. "The size, the studio and a team of 350, this massiveness was completely different from what I had imagined — this was all much bigger and more powerful," she described.
Vocalities competed on the BBC program with Adele's "Send My Love" and Julia Michaels' "Issues."
According to Peetsalu, while this was the premiere season of the show, it netted an average of two million viewers per episode, and she expressed hope that it would be renewed for a second season.
The expat singer also hopes that the exposure will provide a boost to Vocalities' future activity, as she plans on remaining in London in order to continue to create music.
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Vocalities publishes new videos of covers on their official Youtube account. See below for their cover of Dua Lipa's "Be the One."
Editor: Aili Vahtla