Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "Tii" written by Priit Pajusaar, Glen Pilvre and Aapo Ilves. The song was performed by the group Neiokõsõ. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Televisioon (ETV) organised the national final Eurolaul 2004 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2004 contest in Istanbul, Turkey. Ten songs competed in the national final and "Tii" performed by Neiokõsõ was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote.

Eurovision Song Contest 2004
Country Estonia
National selection
Selection processEurolaul 2004
Selection date(s)7 February 2004
Selected entrantNeiokõsõ
Selected song"Tii"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (11th)
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2003 • 2004 • 2005►

Estonia competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2004. Performing during the show in position 17, "Tii" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Estonia placed eleventh out of the 22 participating countries in the semi-final with 57 points.

Background
Main article: Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2004 Contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nine times since its first entry in 1994,[1] winning the contest on one occasion in 2001 with the song "Everybody" performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. In 2003, the song "Eighties Coming Back" performed by Ruffus placed twenty-first in the final.

The Estonian national broadcaster, Eesti Televisioon (ETV), broadcasts the event within Estonia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. 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 Eurolaul competition has been organised since 1996 in order to select Estonia's entry and on 1 October 2003, ETV announced the organisation of Eurolaul 2004 in order to select the nation's 2004 entry.[2]

Before Eurovision
Neiokõsõ was selected to represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 following their victory at Eurolaul 2004

Eurolaul 2004

Eurolaul 2004 was the eleventh edition of the Estonian national selection Eurolaul, which selected Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. The competition consisted of a ten-song final on 7 February 2004 at the ETV studios in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Karmel Eikner and broadcast on ETV.[3] The national final was watched by 384,300 viewers in Estonia with a market share of 58.6%, making it the most watched Eurolaul competition since 1996.[4]

Competing entries

On 1 October 2003, ETV opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 8 December 2003.[2] A record 153 submissions were received by the deadline—breaking the previous record of 100, set during the 2003 edition.[5] A 10-member jury panel selected 10 finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced on 11 December 2003 and among the competing artists were previous Eurovision Song Contest entrants Maarja, who represented Estonia in 1996 and 1997, and Tanel Padar (performing with Slobodan River), who represented Estonia and won in 2001 together with Dave Benton and 2XL.[6] The selection jury consisted of Jaak Joala (musician), Meelis Kapstas (journalist), Jaan Karp (musician), Priit Hõbemägi (culture critic), Tõnu Kõrvits (composer), Kaari Sillamaa (composer), Heidi Pruuli (producer), Andres Jõesaar (media director), Tiit Kikas (musician) and Jaan Elgula (musician).[7]

Final

The final took place on 7 February 2004. Ten songs competed during the show and "Tii" performed by Neiokõsõ was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote, revealed by Estonia's four regions alongside votes submitted via mobiles.[8][9] Despite the public televote having registered 60,387 votes, only 19,478 votes were ultimately counted towards the final result due to the remaining votes being submitted after the voting period. Elion, the telecommunications company responsible for the voting, stated that the extra votes given would not have changed anything in the final ranking of the songs.[4]

Final – 7 February 2004
Draw Artist Song Songwriter(s) Televote Place
1 Slobodan River "Surrounded" Maria Rahula, Tomi Rahula 2,080 3
2 Ewert Sundja "Dance" Vaiko Eplik 640 7
3 Zone and Cardinals "Turn the Tide" Priit Pajusaar, Glen Pilvre, Maian Kärmas 581 8
4 Charlene "Whatever You Say" Pearu Paulus, Ilmar Laisaar, Alar Kotkas, Jana Hallas 785 6
5 Airi Ojamets "I Wanna Stay" Raid Liiver 393 9
6 Hatuna and Sofia Rubina "Whenever Blue" Fred Krieger 188 10
7 Maarja "Homme" Maarja-Liis Ilus 1,320 4
8 Neiokõsõ "Tii" Priit Pajusaar, Glen Pilvre, Aapo Ilves 8,696 1
9 Kerli Kõiv "Beautiful Inside" Kerli Kõiv, Timo Vendt, Lauri Laubre 3,638 2
10 Charizma "I'll Give You a Mountain" Henrik Sethsson, Stig Lindell 1157 5
Detailed Televoting Results
Draw Song Televoting Regions Mobiles Total
Western
Estonia		 Eastern
Estonia		 Southern
Estonia		 Northern
Estonia
1 "Surrounded" 261 191 282 722 624 2,080
2 "Dance" 75 26 73 300 166 640
3 "Turn the Tide" 60 34 121 227 139 581
4 "Whatever You Say" 122 62 127 305 169 785
5 "I Wanna Stay" 77 36 57 170 53 393
6 "Whenever Blue" 13 22 11 105 37 188
7 "Homme" 146 104 162 594 314 1,320
8 "Tii" 990 699 1,877 2,999 2,131 8,696
9 "Beautiful Inside" 342 266 606 1,444 980 3,638
10 "I'll Give You a Mountain" 121 117 180 495 244 1,157

At Eurovision
Neiokõsõ during a rehearsal before the semi-final

It was announced that the competition's format would be expanded to include a semi-final in 2004. According to the rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final on 12 May 2004 in order to compete for the final on 15 May 2004; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. On 23 March 2004, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Estonia was set to perform in position 17, following the entry from Slovenia and before the entry from Croatia.[10] At the end of the semi-final, Estonia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Estonia placed 11th in the semi-final, receiving a total of 47 points.[11]

The semi-final and the final were broadcast in Estonia on ETV with commentary by Marko Reikop. The Estonian spokesperson, who announced the Estonian votes during the final, was Maarja-Liis Ilus who had previously represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1996 and 1997.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Estonia and awarded by Estonia in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Ukraine in the semi-final and the final of the contest.

Points awarded to Estonia
Points awarded to Estonia (Semi-final)[12]
Score Country
12 points
10 points  Lithuania
8 points
7 points  Iceland
6 points
5 points  Portugal
4 points  Serbia and Montenegro
3 points  Ukraine
2 points
1 point

Points awarded by Estonia

References
  1. "Estonia Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  2. Siim, Jarmo (1 October 2003). "Estonian National Final on February 7, 2004". Esctoday. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  3. Bakker, Sietse (7 February 2004). "Tonight: Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania". Esctoday. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  4. Siim, Jarmo (11 February 2004). "Estonia: the highest ratings ever". Esctoday. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  5. Siim, Jarmo (8 December 2003). "UPDATED: 153 songs for Eurolaul 2004". Esctoday.
  6. Kübar, Remi (27 January 2004). "Estonia: Tanel Padar back in Eurolaul". Esctoday. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  7. Siim, Jarmo (11 December 2003). "10 Estonian finalists announced". Esctoday.
  8. "Eurolaul 2004". eurovisioon.ee (in Estonian). Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  9. Maimets, Andri (30 January 2004). "Eesti Eurolaulu hääletus jagab riigi viieks". postimees.ee (in Estonian). Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  10. Bakker, Sietse (23 March 2004). "Eurovision 2004: this is the running order!". Esctoday. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  11. "Semi-Final of Istanbul 2004". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  12. "Results of the Semi-Final of Istanbul 2004". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  13. "Results of the Grand Final of Istanbul 2004". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
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