Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Eesti Laul 2015 was the seventh edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul, which selected Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. The competition consisted of twenty entries competing in two semi-finals on 7 and 14 February 2015 leading to a ten-song final on 21 February 2015. All three shows were broadcast on Eesti Televisioon (ETV) as well as streamed online at the broadcaster's official website err.ee. The final was also streamed online at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[4]

The format of the competition included two semi-finals on 7 and 14 February and a final on 21 February 2015. 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. 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.[5]

On 17 September 2014, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 1 December 2014.[5] All artists and composers were required to have Estonian citizenship or be a permanent resident of Estonia. A record 219 submissions were received by the deadline—breaking the previous record of 189, set during the 2014 edition.[6] 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 4 December 2014.[7][8] The selection jury consisted of Erik Morna (Raadio 2 head of music), Toomas Puna (Raadio Sky+ program director), Owe Petersell (Raadio Elmar chief editor), Siim Nestor (music critic), Kaupo Karelson (television producer), Valner Valme (music critic), Lenna Kuurmaa (singer), Ago Teppand (musician/producer), Anne Veski (singer), Ingrid Kohtla (music editor) and Mingo Rajandi (musician).[9]

Among the competing artists was previous Eurovision Song Contest entrant Robin Juhkental, who represented Estonia in 2010 as part of the group Malcolm Lincoln. Airi Vipulkumar Ka nsar (Ojamets), Elina Born, Liis Lemsalu, Luisa Värk, Maia Vahtramäe, NimmerSchmidt, Stig Rästa and Wilhelm have all competed in previous editions of Eesti Laul.[8]

The first semi-final took place on 7 February 2015, hosted by Helen Sürje and Indrek Vaheoja with additional commentary provided by Mart Juur and Peeter Oja.[10][11] The live portion of the show was held at the ERR studios in Tallinn where the artists awaited the results while their performances, which were filmed earlier on 30 January 2015, were screened.[12] 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 18,507 votes. The jury panel that voted in the first semi-final consisted of Owe Petersell, Mare Väljataga, Alar Kotkas, Peedu Kass, Erik Morna, Marie Vaigla, Valner Valme, Grete Paia, Koit Toome, Sander Mölder and Anneliis Kits.[13]

The second semi-final took place on 14 February 2015, hosted by Helen Sürje and Indrek Vaheoja with additional commentary provided by Mart Juur and Peeter Oja.[10][11] The live portion of the show was held at the ERR studios in Tallinn where the artists awaited the results while their performances, which were filmed earlier on 1 February 2015, were screened.[14] 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 38,094 votes.[15] The jury panel that voted in the first semi-final consisted of Owe Petersell, Mare Väljataga, Alar Kotkas, Peedu Kass, Erik Morna, Marie Vaigla, Valner Valme, Grete Paia, Koit Toome, Sander Mölder and Anneliis Kits.[13]

The final took place on 21 February 2015 at the Nordea Concert Hall in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Henrik Kalmet. 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 (50%) and public televote (50%) determined the top three entries to proceed to the superfinal: "Goodbye to Yesterday" performed by Elina Born & Stig Rästa, "Burning Lights" performed by Daniel Levi and "Superlove" performed by Elisa Kolk. The public vote in the first round registered 76,807 votes. In the superfinal, "Goodbye to Yesterday" performed by Elina Born & Stig Rästa was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote. The public televote in the superfinal registered 90,417 votes.[16] The jury panel that voted in the first round of the final consisted of G-Enka (musician), Ines (singer-songwriter), Ingrid Kohtla (music critic), Kristjan Hirmo (DJ and Radio Sky Plus presenter), Els Himma (singer), Priit Hõbemägi (culture critic), Koit Raudsepp (Raadio 2 presenter), Iiris (singer), Reigo Ahven (drummer), Kristjan Randalu (pianist and composer) and Tanja (musician and choreographer).[17]

Elina Born and Stig Rästa took part in technical rehearsals on 11 and 15 May,[24][25] followed by dress rehearsals on 18 and 19 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries.[26]

The stage show featured Elina Born dressed in a dark jumpsuit with a silver belt and Stig Rästa dressed in a dark suit with casual shoes. The staging for the song included dark colours with white accents and silhouettes of the performers projected on the LED stage floor. The large background LED screens displayed a shadowy cityscape with prominent skyscrapers. Rästa began the performance on stage alone and was then joined by Born during the first chorus. Born then finished the song on stage alone as Rästa exited during the final chorus.[24][25]

At the end of the show, Estonia was announced as having finished in the top ten and subsequently qualifying for the grand final.[27] It was later revealed that Estonia placed third in the semi-final, receiving a total of 105 points.[28]

Shortly after the first semi-final, a winner's press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Estonia was drawn to compete in the first half.[29] Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Estonia was subsequently placed to perform in position 4, following the entry from Israel and before the entry from the United Kingdom.[30]

Elina Born and Stig Rästa once again took part in dress rehearsals on 22 and 23 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show.[31] The duet performed a repeat of their semi-final performance during the final on 23 May. At the conclusion of the voting, Estonia finished in seventh place with 106 points.[32][33]

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant 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 could 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 were released shortly after the grand final.[34]

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Estonia had placed fifth with the public televote and eleventh with the jury vote in the final. In the public vote, Estonia scored 144 points, while with the jury vote, Estonia scored 53 points.[35] In the first semi-final, Estonia placed second with the public televote with 129 points and tenth with the jury vote, scoring 60 points.[36]

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:[28][33][37][38]

The following five members comprised the Estonian jury:[34]

• Sven Lõhmus – Chairperson – songwriter, producer
• Olav Osolin – songwriter, commentator
• Dagmar Oja – singer
• Triin Niitoja – singer
• Egert Milder – singer, musician

Split voting results from Estonia (Semi-final 1)
Draw	Country	S. Lõhmus	O. Osolin	D. Oja	T. Niitoja	E. Milder	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Moldova	6	12	11	14	12	11	13	12
02	Armenia	14	13	12	13	11	14	14	15
03	Belgium	1	1	2	4	1	1	4	2	10
04	Netherlands	3	9	5	1	6	4	8	6	5
05	Finland	11	8	15	15	7	12	1	7	4
06	Greece	7	14	6	11	13	10	11	10	1
07	Estonia
08	Macedonia	8	7	8	3	3	5	12	9	2
09	Serbia	15	15	13	12	14	15	10	14
10	Hungary	4	2	1	2	2	2	2	1	12
11	Belarus	13	11	10	9	15	13	9	11
12	Russia	2	4	3	5	8	3	3	3	8
13	Denmark	9	10	9	6	4	7	5	4	7
14	Albania	12	5	7	10	10	9	15	13
15	Romania	5	6	14	7	9	8	7	8	3
16	Georgia	10	3	4	8	5	6	6	5	6

Split voting results from Estonia (final)
Draw	Country	S. Lõhmus	O. Osolin	D. Oja	T. Niitoja	E. Milder	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Slovenia	9	10	21	11	9	9	12	11
02	France	19	23	13	23	19	22	21	21
03	Israel	13	11	19	24	10	15	13	13
04	Estonia
05	United Kingdom	24	24	24	18	16	23	14	18
06	Armenia	26	20	22	25	23	25	24	26
07	Lithuania	20	13	9	4	14	10	9	9	2
08	Serbia	23	25	26	22	25	26	19	23
09	Norway	2	8	10	3	6	6	8	7	4
10	Sweden	3	4	2	5	4	2	2	2	10
11	Cyprus	21	14	14	20	21	20	15	17
12	Australia	5	7	4	6	5	5	7	6	5
13	Belgium	7	2	1	10	2	4	5	4	7
14	Austria	12	16	15	7	13	11	18	15
15	Greece	16	22	12	15	22	19	25	22
16	Montenegro	17	15	25	26	26	24	23	24
17	Germany	18	21	20	16	12	17	17	16
18	Poland	15	12	17	19	24	18	20	19
19	Latvia	11	1	8	13	1	7	4	5	6
20	Romania	10	9	23	8	18	13	10	12
21	Spain	6	17	11	12	20	12	16	14
22	Hungary	4	3	5	1	3	1	6	3	8
23	Georgia	25	6	7	9	7	8	11	10	1
24	Azerbaijan	14	18	16	21	15	16	22	20
25	Russia	1	5	3	2	8	3	1	1	12
26	Albania	22	19	18	14	17	21	26	25
27	Italy	8	26	6	17	11	14	3	8	3