Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Eesti Laul 2021 was the thirteenth edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul, which selected Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. The competition took place at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, hosted by Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld and consisted of twenty-four entries competing in two semi-finals on 18 and 20 February 2021 leading to a twelve-song final on 6 March 2021.[3] All three shows were broadcast on Eesti Televisioon (ETV), on ETV+ with Russian commentary, via radio on Raadio 2 with commentary by Erik Morna, Margus Kamlat, Robin Juhkental and Kristo Rajasaare as well as streamed online at the broadcaster's official website err.ee.[4]

The format of the competition included two semi-finals on 18 and 20 February 2021 and a final on 6 March 2021.[5] 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. 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.

On 1 September 2020, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 6 November 2020 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 €75 for songs in other languages. One of the semi-finalist spots was reserved for Uku Suviste, who was to represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 before the contest was cancelled.[6] 156 submissions were received by the deadline. A 17-member jury panel selected 24 semi-finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced during the ETV entertainment program Ringvaade on 11 and 12 November 2020. The selection jury consisted of Bert Prikenfeld (DJ), Kaupo Karelson (television producer), Jüri Pihel (television producer), Jaan Pehk (musician), Anu Varusk (Warner Music Baltics regional marketing manager), Karl-Erik Taukar (singer), Sten Teppan (Vikerradio music editor), Mari-Liis Männik (Raadio Elmar presenter), Ahto Kruusmann (Raadio Uuno presenter), Margus Kamlat (Raadio 2 presenter), Laura Põldvere (singer), Vaido Pannel (Raadio Sky+ music editor), Robert Kõrvits (musician), Rauno Märks (Retro FM presenter), Dmitri Mikrjukov (Raadio 4 music editor), Andres Aljaste (Power Hit Radio presenter) and Liis Lemsalu (singer).[7]

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 and in 2017 with Laura, Tanja, who represented Estonia in 2014, and Jüri Pootsmann, who represented Estonia in 2016. Andrei Zevakin, Egert Milder, Kaire Vilgats (member of Suured tüdrukud), Karl Killing, Kéa, Kristel Aaslaid (lead singer of Gram-Of-Fun), Nika Marula, Redel, Robert Linna, Sissi, Tuuli Rand, Uku Suviste and Wiiralt have all competed in previous editions of Eesti Laul.

The two semi-finals took place on 18 and 20 February 2021. In each semi-final twelve 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 12,643 votes in the first semi-final and 27,785 votes in the second semi-final; the remaining two qualifiers were decided by an additional televote between the remaining non-qualifiers which registered 5,902 votes in the first semi-final and 11,800 votes in the second semi-final. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Elina Born, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, and singers Beebilõust and Villemdrillem performed as the interval act in the first semi-final, while singer Daniel Levi and the group Curly Strings performed as the interval act in the second semi-final.[8][9] The jury panel that voted in the semi-finals consisted of Kerli Kõiv, Heidy Purga, Sünne Valtri, Janika Sillamaa, Anett Kulbin, Nele Kirsipuu, Kristjan Järvi, Koit Raudsepp, Silver Laas, Andres Puusepp and Genka.[10]

The final took place on 6 March 2021. 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 (50%) and public televote (50%) determined the top three entries to proceed to the superfinal. The public vote in the first round registered 55,956 votes. In the superfinal, "The Lucky One" performed by Uku Suviste was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote. The public televote in the superfinal registered 52,214 votes. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, singers Liis Lemsalu and Stefan as well as the groups Goresoerd, Mr. Lawrence, Pitsa and Smilers performed as the interval acts.[11] The jury panel that voted in the first round of the final consisted of Moniqué (Lithuanian singer), Brian Henry (British keyboardist), Ben Camp (American songwriter), Sylvia Massy (American producer), Jan Frost Bors (Czech screenwriter), Stephen Budd (British producer), Helena Meraai (Belarusian singer), Pierre Dumoulin (Belgian songwriter) and Steve Rodway (British composer).[12]

Uku Suviste took part in technical rehearsals on 10 and 13 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 19 and 20 May. This included the jury show on 19 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[18]

The Estonian performance featured Uku Suviste performing on stage in a white loose bowtie outfit with the stage displaying dark blue colours and a large moon graphic with lightning effects appearing on the LED screens alongside water effects appearing on the LED floor.[19][20] The stage director for the Estonian performance was Dan Shipton and Marvin Dietmann.[21] Uku Suviste was joined by a backing vocalist: Kaarel Orumägi.[22]

At the end of the show, Estonia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Estonia placed 13th in the semi-final, receiving a total of 58 points: 29 points from both the televoting and the juries.

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. 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.[23] In addition, each member of a national jury may only take part in the panel once every three years, and no jury was permitted to discuss of their vote with other members or be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.[24] The individual rankings of each jury member in an anonymised form as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.[25][26]

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:[25][26]

• Dave Benton
• Elina Born
• Stig Rästa
• Karl-Ander Reismann
• Birgit Sarrap

Detailed voting results from Estonia (Semi-final 2)[27]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		Juror A	Juror B	Juror C	Juror D	Juror E	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	San Marino	10	7	7	11	13	10	1	7	4
02	Estonia
03	Czech Republic	9	14	15	8	10	11		16
04	Greece	7	8	12	7	7	8	3	11
05	Austria	13	6	9	5	6	7	4	12
06	Poland	15	16	16	13	15	16		15
07	Moldova	14	13	13	10	11	13		1	12
08	Iceland	3	1	4	2	9	3	8	4	7
09	Serbia	5	11	2	16	5	6	5	14
10	Georgia	12	10	8	15	14	12		8	3
11	Albania	8	9	6	14	8	9	2	13
12	Portugal	6	3	5	4	4	5	6	6	5
13	Bulgaria	4	4	3	3	2	2	10	9	2
14	Finland	1	5	11	6	1	4	7	2	10
15	Latvia	11	15	10	12	16	15		10	1
16	Switzerland	2	2	1	1	3	1	12	5	6
17	Denmark	16	12	14	9	12	14		3	8

Detailed voting results from Estonia (Final)[28]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		Juror A	Juror B	Juror C	Juror D	Juror E	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Cyprus	20	8	10	12	24	14		16
02	Albania	14	20	16	18	20	21		25
03	Israel	13	11	14	8	13	13		21
04	Belgium	16	10	15	16	21	19		15
05	Russia	23	23	6	22	12	17		5	6
06	Malta	18	9	17	7	9	10	1	13
07	Portugal	17	3	11	5	6	6	5	12
08	Serbia	10	14	5	19	16	11		23
09	United Kingdom	19	22	20	17	17	25		22
10	Greece	9	17	18	9	22	18		17
11	Switzerland	1	2	2	1	3	1	12	9	2
12	Iceland	2	4	8	3	7	3	8	8	3
13	Spain	4	24	23	13	19	12		24
14	Moldova	25	26	25	25	26	26		19
15	Germany	26	25	26	24	11	24		18
16	Finland	3	7	9	6	1	4	7	1	12
17	Bulgaria	6	6	4	2	8	5	6	11
18	Lithuania	12	12	7	10	10	9	2	2	10
19	Ukraine	7	13	1	20	23	7	4	6	5
20	France	5	1	3	4	2	2	10	4	7
21	Azerbaijan	22	18	12	26	18	23		14
22	Norway	11	19	21	23	25	22		7	4
23	Netherlands	21	21	24	15	5	15		26
24	Italy	15	5	13	21	4	8	3	3	8
25	Sweden	8	15	22	11	14	16		10	1
26	San Marino	24	16	19	14	15	20		20