Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Country	Estonia
National selection
Selection process	Eesti Laul 2019
Selection date(s)	Semi-finals: 31 January 2019 2 February 2019 Final: 16 February 2019
Selected entrant	Victor Crone
Selected song	"Storm"
Selected songwriter(s)	Stig Rästa Vallo Kikas Victor Crone Fred Krieger
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (4th, 198 points)
Final result	20th, 76 points
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2018 • 2019 • 2020►

Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Storm" written by Stig Rästa, Vallo Kikas, Victor Crone and Fred Krieger. The song was performed by Victor Crone. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) organised the national final Eesti Laul 2019 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. The national final consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Twelve songs competed in each semi-final and six from each semi-final as determined by a jury panel and public vote qualified to the final. In the final, the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a jury panel and a public vote selected the top three to qualify to the superfinal. In the superfinal, "Storm" performed by Victor Crone was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote.

Estonia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2019. Performing during the show in position 14, "Storm" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 18 May. It was later revealed that Estonia placed fourth out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 198 points. In the final, Estonia performed in position 18 and placed twentieth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 76 points.

Background

Prior to the 2019 contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-four times since its first entry in

The Estonian national broadcaster, Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR), broadcasts the event within Estonia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. ERR confirmed Estonia's participation at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest on 3 September 2018. Since their debut, the Estonian broadcaster has organised national finals that feature a competition among multiple artists and songs in order to select Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The Eesti Laul competition has been organised since 2009 in order to select Estonia's entry and also on 3 September 2018, ERR announced the organisation of Eesti Laul 2019 in order to select the nation's 2019 entry.^[2]

Before Eurovision

Eesti Laul 2019

Eesti Laul 2019 was the eleventh edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul, which selected Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The competition consisted of twenty entries competing in two semi-finals on 31 January and 2 February 2019 leading to a twelve-song final on 16 February 2019. All three shows were broadcast on Eesti Televisioon (ETV) and on ETV+ with Russian commentary as well as streamed online at the broadcaster's official website err.ee. The final was also broadcast via radio on Raadio 2 with commentary by Erik Morna, Margus Kamlat, Bert Järvet and Kristo Rajasaare.^[3][4]

Format

The format of the competition included two semi-finals on 31 January and 2 February 2019 and a final on 16 February 2019. Twelve songs competed in each semi-final and the top six from each semi-final qualified to complete the twelve song lineup in the final.^[5] The results of the semi-finals was determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a professional jury and public televoting for the first four qualifiers and a second round of public televoting for the fifth and sixth qualifiers. The winning song in the final was selected over two rounds of voting: the first round results selected the top three songs via the 50/50 combination of jury and public voting, while the second round (superfinal) determined the winner solely by public televoting. In addition to winning the right to represent Estonia at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, the winning songwriters and producers were also awarded monetary prizes of €3,000 and €1,000, respectively. The Estonian Authors' Society and Estonian Performers Association also awarded a monetary prize of €1,000 to the top three entries.^[6]

Competing entries

On 1 October 2018, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 6 November 2018 through an online upload platform. Each artist and songwriter was only able to submit a maximum of five entries. Foreign collaborations were allowed as long as 50% of the songwriters were Estonian. A fee was also imposed on songs being submitted to the competition, with €25 for songs in the Estonian language and €50 for songs in other languages.^[5] 216 submissions were received by the deadline. A 12-member jury panel selected 24 semi-finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced during the ETV entertainment program Ringvaade on 15 November 2018.^[7] The selection jury consisted of Ivar Must (composer), Lenna Kuurmaa (singer), Kaupo Karelson (television producer), Leen Kadakas (Universal Music Baltics manager), Vaido Pannel (Raadio Sky+ music editor), Allan Roosileht (Star FM presenter), Laura Põldvere (singer), Karl-Erik Taukar (singer), Dagmar Oja (singer), Rolf Roosalu (singer), Renee Meriste (music manager) and Sten Teppan (Vikerraadio music editor).^[8]

Among the competing artists were previous Eurovision Song Contest entrants

Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Estonia was set to perform in position 14, following the entry from Iceland and before the entry from Portugal.^[13]

The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Estonia on ETV with commentary in Estonian by Marko Reikop and on ETV+ with commentary in Russian by Aleksandr Hobotov and Julia Kalenda.^[14][15] The Estonian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Estonian jury during the final, was Kelly Sildaru.

Semi-final

Estonia performed fourteenth in the first semi-final, following the entry from Iceland and preceding the entry from Portugal. At the end of the show, Estonia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Estonia placed fourth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 198 points: 133 points from the televoting and 65 points from the juries. At Eurovision, Kaire Vilgats, Dagmar Oja, Kaido Põldma, Lars Gunnar Säfsund and author Stig Rästa joined Crone off-stage as backing singers during the live performance. The actress and singer Saara Kadak, who supported Crone on stage during the Estonian national final, withdrew due to her wedding day and upcoming premiere of the musical West Side Story at the Estonian National Opera.

Final

Shortly after the first semi-final, a winner's press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Estonia was drawn to compete in the second half. Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Estonia was subsequently placed to perform in position 18, following the entry from Iceland and before the entry from Belarus. At the conclusion of the voting, Estonia finished in twentieth place, scoring 76 points: 48 points from the televoting and 26 points from the juries.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.^[16]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Estonia and awarded by Estonia in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Estonia

Points awarded to Estonia (Semi-final 1)[17] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Belgium  Portugal  Belarus 10 points  Finland  Israel  Israel 8 points  Czech Republic  Georgia  Hungary  San Marino  Slovenia  Georgia 7 points  Australia  Cyprus  Iceland  Poland  Belgium  Iceland 6 points  Belarus  Spain  Finland  Hungary 5 points  Portugal 4 points 3 points  Greece  Serbia 2 points  Montenegro 1 point  France  France  Serbia  Slovenia  Spain

Points awarded to Estonia (Final)[18] Score Televote Jury 12 points 10 points  Latvia  Sweden 8 points  Denmark  Finland  Israel 7 points 6 points  Serbia 5 points  Italy  Latvia 4 points  Lithuania 3 points  Iceland 2 points  Norway  Denmark 1 point  Czech Republic  Ireland  Slovenia  Croatia  Czech Republic

Points awarded by Estonia

Points awarded by Estonia (Semi-final 1)[17] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Finland  Czech Republic 10 points  San Marino  Belarus 8 points  Czech Republic  Cyprus 7 points  Slovenia  Poland 6 points  Iceland  Serbia 5 points  Australia  Hungary 4 points  Belgium  Greece 3 points  Hungary  San Marino 2 points  Poland  Iceland 1 point  Belarus  Australia

Points awarded by Estonia (Final)[18] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Russia  Sweden 10 points  Norway   Switzerland 8 points  Netherlands  Czech Republic 7 points  Slovenia  Netherlands 6 points  Denmark  Russia 5 points  Iceland  Azerbaijan 4 points   Switzerland  Serbia 3 points  Sweden  France 2 points  Australia  Denmark 1 point  Azerbaijan  Belarus

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Estonian jury:^[16]

• Kaupo Karelson (jury chairperson) – television producer
• Reet Linna [et] – TV host
• Sandra Sersant – artist manager
• Mikk Targo [et] – chairman of the Board of the Estonian Authors' Society
• Uku Suviste – singer-songwriter, future Estonian representative in the 2021 contest

Detailed voting results from Estonia (Semi-final 1)^[17]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		K. Karelson	R. Linna	S. Sersant	M. Targo	U. Suviste	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Cyprus	3	3	3	4	7	3	8	14
02	Montenegro	11	14	8	7	14	11		16
03	Finland	12	12	12	11	11	15		1	12
04	Poland	1	5	2	5	12	4	7	9	2
05	Slovenia	10	13	10	9	13	12		4	7
06	Czech Republic	2	6	1	1	1	1	12	3	8
07	Hungary	9	15	5	2	6	6	5	8	3
08	Belarus	7	2	4	3	2	2	10	10	1
09	Serbia	8	1	14	12	4	5	6	13
10	Belgium	14	11	11	8	15	14		7	4
11	Georgia	13	10	13	14	8	13		11
12	Australia	16	4	16	15	5	10	1	6	5
13	Iceland	6	9	9	6	9	9	2	5	6
14	Estonia
15	Portugal	15	16	15	16	16	16		15
16	Greece	5	7	6	13	3	7	4	12
17	San Marino	4	8	7	10	10	8	3	2	10

Detailed voting results from Estonia (Final)^[18]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		K. Karelson	R. Linna	S. Sersant	M. Targo	U. Suviste	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	21	17	14	7	23	18		16
02	Albania	23	23	23	17	11	23		25
03	Czech Republic	6	10	3	2	10	3	8	13
04	Germany	15	16	24	18	8	19		23
05	Russia	5	6	8	14	1	5	6	1	12
06	Denmark	2	13	12	15	21	9	2	5	6
07	San Marino	20	25	22	9	25	22		12
08	North Macedonia	17	18	16	19	2	11		18
09	Sweden	3	1	1	1	3	1	12	8	3
10	Slovenia	11	19	9	8	7	12		4	7
11	Cyprus	10	20	7	10	13	13		19
12	Netherlands	7	5	2	20	4	4	7	3	8
13	Greece	18	22	19	21	15	24		22
14	Israel	24	21	20	22	20	25		24
15	Norway	22	14	15	11	17	20		2	10
16	United Kingdom	19	15	10	12	6	15		21
17	Iceland	14	11	6	13	22	16		6	5
18	Estonia
19	Belarus	16	12	13	3	18	10	1	15
20	Azerbaijan	13	2	5	4	9	6	5	10	1
21	France	9	8	11	5	16	8	3	17
22	Italy	12	7	17	23	12	17		11
23	Serbia	4	9	18	25	5	7	4	20
24	Switzerland	1	4	4	6	14	2	10	7	4
25	Australia	25	3	25	16	19	14		9	2
26	Spain	8	24	21	24	24	21		14

References

External links

• Eesti Laul official site