Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017


Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Verona" written by Sven Lõhmus. The song was performed by Koit Toome and Laura Põldvere. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling organised the national final Eesti Laul 2017 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine. The national final consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Ten songs competed in each semi-final and the top five 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 super final. In the super final, "Verona" performed by Koit Toome and Laura was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote.
Estonia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 17, "Verona" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.
They came 6th from the televoting which was not enough to qualify, Verona failed to qualify being one of the fan-favourite.

Background

Prior to the 2017 Contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-two times since its first entry in, winning the contest on one occasion in 2001 with the song "Everybody" performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the, Estonia has, to this point, managed to qualify to the final on five occasions. In 2016, Estonia failed to qualify to the final, placing last in the semi-final with the song "Play" performed by Jüri Pootsmann. The last time they had made the final was in 2015 with the song Goodbye to yesterday, where they were represented by Stig Rästa and Elina Born.
The Estonian national broadcaster, Eesti Rahvusringhääling, broadcasts the event within Estonia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. ERR confirmed Estonia's participation at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 12 April 2016. 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.

Before Eurovision

''Eesti Laul 2017''

Eesti Laul 2017 was the ninth edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul, which selected Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The competition consisted of 20 entries competing in two semi-finals on 11 and 18 February 2017 leading to a ten-song final on 4 March 2017. All three shows were broadcast on Eesti Televisioon as well as streamed online at the broadcaster's official website err.ee.

Format

The format of the competition included two semi-finals on 11 and 18 February 2017 and a final on 4 March 2017. Ten songs competed in each semi-final and the top five from each semi-final qualified to complete the ten-song lineup in the final. The results of the semi-finals were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a professional jury and public televoting for the first 4, then the final spot was decided in a second round of voting by televote only. 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 determined the winner solely by public televoting.

Competing entries

In early September 2016, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 1 November 2016. Eligible artists and songwriters were required to have Estonian citizenship or be permanent residents of Estonia. For the 2017 competition, foreign collaborations were allowed as long as 50% of the song authors were Estonians. Artists and songwriters were allowed to submit up to three songs each with an exception to this rule for songwriters who participated in songwriting camps organised by the Estonian Song Academy in spring and autumn 2016. An eleven-member jury selected 20 songs for the competition and the selected entries were announced on 8 November 2016. The selection jury consisted of Andres Puusepp, Erik Morna, Harri Hakanen, Ingrid Kohtla, Kaidi Klein, Kristel Aaslaid, Olavi Paide, Owe Petersell, Piret Järvis, Siim Nestor and Toomas Puna.
ArtistSong 'Composer
"Electric", Amiran Gorgazjan, Noah McNamara, Willie Weeks
Alvistar Funk Association"Make Love, Not War"Margus Alviste, Inga Kaare, Jürgen Urbanik
Angeelia"We Ride With Our Flow"Angeelia Maasik,
Antsud"Vihm" 'Aile Alveus-Krautmann
Ariadne"Feel Me Now"Margus Piik,,
Carl-Philip"Everything But You"Carl-Philip Madis, Carola Madis, Arno Krabman, Jaap Reesema, Leon Paul Palmen, Noah McNamara
Close To Infinity feat. Ian Karell"Sounds Like Home"Ian Robert Karell, Johannes Kanter, Sander Ulp, Tanel Kordemets
Daniel Levi"All I Need"Daniel Levi Viinalass, Ago Teppand
Elina Born"In or Out"Stig Rästa, Vallo Kikas,
Ivo Linna"Suur loterii" 'Rainer Michelson,
Janno Reim & Kosmos"Valan pisaraid" 'Janno Reim
Karl-Kristjan & Whogaux feat. Maian"Have You Now", Hugo "Whogaux" Martin Maasikas, Maian Lomp
Kerli"Spirit Animal"Kerli Kõiv, Brian Ziff
Koit Toome & Laura"Verona"Sven Lõhmus
"Hey Kiddo"Laura Prits, Andres Kõpper, Tara Nabi
"Hurricane"Leemet Onno, Ed Struijlaart
Lenna Kuurmaa"Slingshot"Lenna Kuurmaa, Nicolas Rebscher, Michelle Leonard
Liis Lemsalu"Keep Running"Liis Lemsalu,, Gustaf Svenungsson, Magnus Wallin
Rasmus Rändvee"This Love"Rasmus Rändvee, Ewert Sundja, Bert Prinkenfeld, Stewart James Brock
Uku Suviste"Supernatural"Uku Suviste, Oliver Mazurtšak

Shows

Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 11 February 2017. Ten songs competed for five spots in the final with the outcome decided upon by the combination of the votes from a jury panel and a public televote which registered 19,057 votes. The jury panel that voted in the first semi-final consisted of Metsakutsu, Kadri Voorand, Niko Nykänen, Eva Palm, Jüri Pihel, Maia Vahtramäe, Sten Teppan, Aleksandr Žedeljov, Ingrid Kohtla, Meisterjaan and Allan Roosileht.
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 18 February 2017. Ten songs competed for five spots in the final with the outcome decided upon by the combination of the votes from a jury panel and a public televote which registered 19,233 votes. The jury panel that voted in the second semi-final consisted of Metsakutsu, Kadri Voorand, Niko Nykänen, Eva Palm, Jüri Pihel, Maia Vahtramäe, Sten Teppan, Aleksandr Žedeljov, Ingrid Kohtla, Meisterjaan and Allan Roosileht.
Final
The final took place on 4 March 2017 at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn. The five entries that qualified from each of the two preceding semi-finals, all together ten songs, competed during the show. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a jury and public televote determined the top three entries to proceed to the super final. In the super final, the winner was selected entirely by a public televote. The running order was revealed on 21 February 2017. In the first round, a jury and public televote determined the top three entries to proceed to the super final: "Verona" performed by Koit Toome and Laura, "This Love" performed by Rasmus Rändvee and "Spirit Animal" performed by Kerli. The public vote in the first round registered 100,578 votes. In the super final, "Verona" performed by Koit Toome and Laura was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote. The public televote in the super final registered 80,360 votes. The jury panel that voted in the final consisted of Måns Zelmerlöw, Toomas Edur, Julia Bali, Harri Hakanen, Marju Länik, Valner Valme, Henry Kõrvits, Siim Nestor, Piret Krumm, Alon Amir, and Poli Genova.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Estonia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2017 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. Originally, Estonia was set to perform in position 18, following the entry from Lithuania and before the entry from Israel. However, following Russia's withdrawal from the contest on 13 April and subsequent removal from the running order of the second semi-final, Estonia's performing position shifted to 17.
It was later revealed that Estonia placed fourteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 85 points: 69 points from the televoting and 16 points from the juries.

Points awarded to Estonia

Points awarded by Estonia

Jury members

The following five members comprised the Estonian jury: