"Interest in Eesti Laul has been especially high this year," head producer of the show Tomi Rahula said.

202 songs were submitted to the competition; 84 of them were in Estonian and 118 in other languages. Rahula said that besides offerings in stalwart Eurovision languages like Spanish, French, Italian and English, a song in a fictional, made-up language is also represented.

Well-known songwriters, as well as some new names, have submitted their songs. The same goes for the artists, where among others, seven names who have represented Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest over the past 30 years can be found.

40 songs will make it through; the participants will be chosen by a jury consisting of 17 experts. The songs will be assessed anonymously, and the jury won't have any information about the contestants and authors in the quarter-finals.

Eesti Laul will announce artists going into the semi-finals, as well as the jury members, in November.

As an update, the quarter-finals will take place in the Estonian Song Contest - starting from November 20, while one quarter-final each will reach spectators on four consecutive Saturdays, and ten music videos will be presented in each airing.

The participants of the first quarter-final will be announced on ETV daily magazine show "Ringvaade", on November 15.

The semi-finals of Eesti Laul 2022 will take place on February 3 and 5, and the grand final on February 12, in the Saku Suurhall, will determine the winner and with it, Estonia's song for Europe.

Estonia's entry has to also make it through the overall Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals, ahead of the grand final. These events are due to be held in Turin, Italy, after that country's victory in 2021.

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