Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Eesti Laul 2017 was the eighth edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul, which selected Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The competition consisted of twenty entries competing in two semi-finals on 11 and 18 February 2017 leading to a ten-song final on 4 March 2017.[3] 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.[4] The final was also broadcast via radio on Raadio 2 with commentary by Margus Kamlat, Erik Morna, Kristo Rajasaare and Karl-Andreas Kalmet.[5]

The format of the competition included two semi-finals on 11 and 18 February 2017 and a final on 4 March 2017.[6] 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 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 qualifier. 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.[7] In addition to winning the right to represent Estonia at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, the winning songwriters were also awarded monetary prizes of €3,000. The Estonian Authors' Society and Estonian Performers Association also awarded a monetary prize of €1,000 to the top three entries.[8]

On 6 September 2016, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 1 November 2016. All artists and composers were required to have Estonian citizenship or be a permanent resident of Estonia and each artist and songwriter was only able to submit a maximum of three entries with an exception for composers who participated in songwriting camps organised by the Estonian Song Academy in spring and autumn 2016. Foreign collaborations were allowed as long as 50% of the songwriters were Estonian. A record 242 submissions were received by the deadline—breaking the previous record of 238, set during the 2016 edition. An 11-member jury panel selected 20 semi-finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced during the ETV entertainment program Ringvaade on 8 November 2016.[8] The selection jury consisted of Andres Puusepp (DJ), Erik Morna (Raadio 2 head of music), Harri Hakanen (Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu music manager), Ingrid Kohtla (music editor), Kaidi Klein (screenwriter), Kristel Aaslaid (musician), Olavi Paide (producer), Owe Petersell (Raadio Elmar chief editor), Piret Järvis (ERR journalist), Siim Nestor (music critic) and Toomas Puna (Raadio Sky+ program director).[9]

Among the competing artists were previous Eurovision Song Contest entrants Ivo Linna, who represented Estonia in 1996 with Maarja-Liis Ilus, Koit Toome, who represented Estonia in 1998, Laura, who represented Estonia in 2005 as part of the group Suntribe, Lenna Kuurmaa, who represented Switzerland in 2005 as member of the band Vanilla Ninja, and Elina Born, who represented Estonia in 2015 with Stig Rästa who also co-wrote her entry. Daniel Levi, Liis Lemsalu and Rasmus Rändvee have all competed in previous editions of Eesti Laul.

The two semi-finals took place on 11 and 18 February 2017, hosted by Ott Sepp and Märt Avandi. The live portion of the shows were held at the ERR studios in Tallinn where the artists awaited the results while their performances, which were filmed earlier at the ERR studios between 2 and 5 February 2017, were screened. In each semi-final ten songs competed for the first four 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 in the first semi-final and 19,233 votes in the second semi-final; the fifth qualifier was decided by an additional televote between the remaining non-qualifiers which registered 14,490 votes in the first semi-final and 12,366 votes in the second semi-final.[10] The jury panel that voted in the semi-finals consisted of Metsakutsu, Kadri Voorand, Niko Nykänen, Eva Palm, Jüri Pihel, Maia Vahtramäe, Sten Teppan, Aleksandr Žedeljov, Ingrid Kohtla, Meisterjaan and Allan Roosileht.[11][12]

The final took place on 4 March 2017 at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, hosted by Ott Sepp and Märt Avandi. The five entries that qualified from each of the two preceding semi-finals, all together ten songs, competed during the show.[13] The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a jury (50%) and public televote (50%) determined the top three entries to proceed to the superfinal. The public vote in the first round registered 100,578 votes. In the superfinal, "Verona" performed by Koit Toome and Laura was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote.[14] The public televote in the superfinal registered 72,518 votes.[10] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Jüri Pootsmann, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, Swedish singer Måns Zelmerlöw, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, and the band Beyond Beyond performed as the interval acts. The jury panel that voted in the first round of the final consisted of Måns Zelmerlöw (singer), Toomas Edur (ballet dancer), Julia Bali (Raadio 4 chief editor), Harri Hakanen (Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu music manager), Marju Länik (singer), Valner Valme (music critic), Henry Kõrvits (musician), Siim Nestor (music critic), Piret Krumm (actress), Alon Amir (music manager) and Poli Genova (singer).[15]

Koit Toome and Laura during a rehearsal before the second semi-final

Koit Toome and Laura took part in technical rehearsals on 3 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May. This included the jury show on 10 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Estonian performance featured Koit Toome in a black suit with sequin embellishments and Laura in a white dress performing on stage which displayed black and white colours and holograms of Toome and Laura appearing on the LED screens, with a light-up pathway on the LED floor accompanying Toome's entrance to the stage.[22][23][24] Koit Toome and Laura were joined by three backing vocalists: Dagmar Oja, Kaire Vilgats and Rolf Roosalu.[25]

At the end of the show, Estonia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Estonia placed 14th in the semi-final, receiving a total of 85 points: 69 points from the televoting and 16 points from the juries.[26]

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.[27] 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.[28]

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

The following members comprised the Estonian jury:[31]

• Olavi Paide (jury chairperson) – TV producer
• Rasmus Rändvee – singer
• Getter Jaani – singer, represented Estonia in the 2011 contest
• Jakko Maltis – singer
• Marju Länik – singer

Detailed voting results from Estonia (Semi-final 2)[29]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		O. Paide	R. Rändvee	G. Jaani	J. Maltis	M. Länik	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Serbia	17	9	9	7	12	10	1	17
02	Austria	6	6	1	5	13	6	5	11
03	Macedonia	16	13	10	14	7	12		13
04	Malta	7	7	6	10	8	7	4	14
05	Romania	14	17	14	16	4	14		1	12
06	Netherlands	15	5	4	4	3	5	6	9	2
07	Hungary	11	8	13	6	9	9	2	3	8
08	Denmark	8	2	5	3	2	3	8	15
09	Ireland	3	4	7	9	6	4	7	4	7
10	San Marino	12	16	15	17	17	17		16
11	Croatia	10	10	12	11	11	11		6	5
12	Norway	2	1	3	2	5	2	10	8	3
13	Switzerland	4	11	8	8	10	8	3	12
14	Belarus	9	12	17	13	15	15		5	6
15	Bulgaria	1	3	2	1	1	1	12	2	10
16	Lithuania	5	15	16	15	16	16		10	1
17	Estonia
18	Israel	13	14	11	12	14	13		7	4

Detailed voting results from Estonia (Final)[30]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		O. Paide	R. Rändvee	G. Jaani	J. Maltis	M. Länik	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Israel	25	19	14	20	15	17		19
02	Poland	12	11	17	14	8	12		22
03	Belarus	26	15	18	19	21	21		9	2
04	Austria	11	13	3	11	20	11		17
05	Armenia	22	9	16	12	18	13		24
06	Netherlands	10	4	4	7	12	7	4	15
07	Moldova	21	23	19	21	17	22		7	4
08	Hungary	20	8	11	6	9	10	1	3	8
09	Italy	14	26	24	24	13	23		6	5
10	Denmark	9	3	10	3	4	6	5	20
11	Portugal	3	7	5	10	2	3	8	2	10
12	Azerbaijan	6	22	25	15	11	15		16
13	Croatia	19	17	23	25	22	25		13
14	Australia	4	5	9	5	5	4	7	12
15	Greece	16	21	22	18	19	19		23
16	Spain	17	24	13	26	26	26		25
17	Norway	7	2	2	2	10	2	10	11
18	United Kingdom	5	6	1	9	7	5	6	18
19	Cyprus	23	12	21	13	24	16		14
20	Romania	24	25	12	23	14	20		5	6
21	Germany	15	20	26	17	25	24		26
22	Ukraine	18	10	20	22	23	18		21
23	Belgium	2	16	7	8	6	9	2	1	12
24	Sweden	8	14	8	4	3	8	3	8	3
25	Bulgaria	1	1	6	1	1	1	12	4	7
26	France	13	18	15	16	16	14		10	1