Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019


Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Storm" performed by Victor Crone and written by Victor Crone together with Stig Rästa, Vallo Kikas, Fred Krieger and Sebastian Lestapier.

Background

Prior to the 2019 Contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-four 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 2004, Estonia has, to this point, managed to qualify to the final on five occasions. In 2018, "La forza" performed by Elina Nechayeva allowed Estonia to qualify to the Grand Final for the first time since 2015, in which the song placed eighth.
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 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. Before that, the Eurolaul format had been used.

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 24 entries competing in two semi-finals on 31 January and 2 February 2019, leading to a twelve-song final on 16 February 2019.

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 would qualify, completing the twelve-song lineup in the final. The results of the semi-finals were determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a professional jury and public televoting for the first five entries, then the final spot was decided in a second round of voting, 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 and the second round decided the winner from those three songs, televote only.

Competing entries

In early September 2018, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 6 November 2018 through an online upload platform. Foreign songwriters were also eligible to submit songs for the first time. A fee was imposed on songs being submitted to the contest, with 25 Euros for Estonian language songs and 50 Euros for songs in other languages. From all 216 songs submitted to ERR, a jury panel selected the 24 songs for the competition, with the selected entries being announced on 15 November 2018. These entries were then revealed on 1 December 2018 as 1-minute clips on TV, and later as full videos on the ERR MENU portal. The selection jury consisted of Ivar Must, Lenna Kuurmaa, Kaupo Karelson, Leen Kadakas, Vaido Pannel, Allan Roosileht, Laura Põldvere, Karl-Erik Taukar, Dagmar Oja, Rolf Roosalu, Renee Meriste, and Sten Teppan.
ArtistSong 'Composer
Around the Sun"Follow Me Back"Daniel Rukovitškin, Georg Eessaar
Cätlin Mägi & Jaan Pehk"Parmumäng" 'Cätlin Mägi, Jaan Pehk
Grete Paia"Kui isegi kaotan" 'Grete Paia, Mihkel Mattisen, Timo Vendt, Kerli Puusepp
Inger"Coming Home"Inger Fridolin, Karl-Ander Reismann
Iseloomad"Kaks miinust" 'Vilho Meier, Siim Randveer
Jennifer Cohen"Little Baby El"Chris Hierro, Jennifer Marisse Cohen, Luisa Lõhmus
Johanna Eendra"Miks sa teed nii?" 'Johanna Eendra, Joosep Eendra
Kadiah"Believe"Kadi Poll
Kaia Tamm"Wo sind die Katzen?" 'Kaia Tamm
Kerli Kivilaan"Cold Love"Kerli Kivilaan, Egert Milder, Andres Kõpper
Lacy Jay"Halleluja"Ago Teppand, Lacy Nicole Jones, Hugo Martin Maasikas
Lumevärv feat. INGA"Milline päev" 'Margus Piik, Kermo Hert, Jana Hallas
Marko Kaar"Smile"Marko Kaar, Egert Kanep
Öed"Öhuloss" 'Tuuli Rand, Kristel Aaslaid, Bert Prikenfeld, Egert Milder
Ranele"Supernova"Marek Rosenberg, Lauri Lembinen, Marco Margna, Anne Loho
Sandra Nurmsalu"Soovide puu" Priit Pajusaar, Sandra Nurmsalu, Aapo Ilves
Sissi"Strong"Karl-Ander Reismann, Sissi Nylia Benita
Sofia Rubina-Hunter"Deep Water"Sofia Rubina-Hunter, Janika Tenn, Oljana Kallson
Stefan"Without You"Stefan Airapetjan, Karl-Ander Reismann
Sünne Valtri"I'll Do It My Way"Sünne Valtri
The Swingers, Tanja & Birgit"High Heels in the Neighbourhood"Tanja Mihhailova, Timo Vendt, Mihkel Mattisen
Uku Suviste"Pretty Little Liar"Uku Suviste, Oliver Mazurtshak
Victor Crone"Storm"Stig Rästa, Vallo Kikas, Victor Crone, Fred Krieger
xtra basic & Emily J"Hold Me Close"Andrei Zevakin, Igor Volhonski

Shows

Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 31 January 2019 in University of Tartu Sports Hall. Twelve songs competed for six spots in the final with the outcome decided upon by the combination of the votes from a jury panel and a public televote. The Swingers, xtra basic & Emily J, Stefan, Sandra Nurmsalu, Victor Crone, and Inger qualified to the final.
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 2 February 2019 in University of Tartu Sports Hall. Twelve songs competed for six spots in the final with the outcome decided upon by the combination of the votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Final

The final took place on 16 February 2019 at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn. The six entries that qualified from each of the two preceding semi-finals, all together twelve 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 the televote.

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 28 January 2019, 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 first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.
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 preceding the entry from Portugal.

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.

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 will be released shortly after the grand final.
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 by Estonia

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Estonian jury: