Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Eesti Laul 2016 was the eighth edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul, which selected Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The competition consisted of twenty entries competing in two semi-finals on 13 and 20 February 2016 leading to a ten-song final on 5 March 2016. 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 broadcast via radio on Raadio 2 with commentary by Erik Morna, Margus Kamlat and Helle Rudi as well as streamed online at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[4][5] For the first time in the history of the competition, both the semi-finals and the final also aired on ETV+ with Russian commentary by Aleksandr Hobotov for all three shows, Kira Evve for the semi-finals and Sofia Rubina for the final.[6][7]

The format of the competition included two semi-finals on 13 and 20 February 2016 and a final on 5 March 2016.[8] 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.[8] 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.[8] In addition to winning the right to represent Estonia at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, the winner was also awarded a monetary prize of €3,000.[8] The Estonian Authors' Society and Estonian Performers Association also awarded monetary prizes to the top three entries: the winner received €1,500 and both second and third placed entries each received €500.[8]

On 10 September 2015, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 2 November 2015.[3][9] 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.[8] A record 238 submissions were received by the deadline—breaking the previous record of 219, set during the 2015 edition.[10] An 11-member jury panel selected 20 semi-finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced during the ETV entertainment program Ringvaade and the ETV+ Russian language programme Tvoi vecher on 5 November 2015.[10][11] 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), Valner Valme (music critic), Anne Veski (singer), Ingrid Kohtla (music editor), Olavi Paide (producer), Eeva Talsi (musician), Eisi Mäeots (DJ) and Kira Evve (Raadio 4 editor).[12]

Among the competing artists were previous Eurovision Song Contest entrants Laura, who represented Estonia in 2005 as part of the group Suntribe, and Mick Pedaja, who represented Estonia as member of Manpower 4 in 2010 together with Malcolm Lincoln. Anett Kulbin, Grete Paia, Meisterjaan, Põhja-Tallinn, Tuuli Rand (Windy Beach) Rosanna Lints (lead singer of Würffel) and Noorkuu have all competed in previous editions of Eesti Laul. Jüri Pootsmann's entry was written by Stig Rästa, who represented Estonia in 2015 with Elina Born, and the entry from La La Ladies was co-written by Tanja, who represented Estonia in 2014.

The first semi-final took place on 13 February 2016, hosted by Henry Kõrvits and Maris Kõrvits.[13] The live portion of the show was held at the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn where the artists awaited the results while their performances, which were filmed earlier at the ERR studios on 5 February 2016, 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 16,922 votes.[15] The jury panel that voted in the first semi-final consisted of Owe Petersell, Luisa Värk, Mihkel Raud, Sten Teppan, Ivo Kiviorg, Reet Linna, Ruslan PX, Epp Kõiv, Janar Ala, Maarja Merivoo-Parro and Sven Grünberg.[16]

The second semi-final took place on 20 February 2016, hosted by Henry Kõrvits and Maris Kõrvits.[13] The live portion of the show was held at the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn where the artists awaited the results while their performances, which were filmed earlier at the ERR studios on 7 February 2016, were screened.[17] 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 21,831 votes.[15] The jury panel that voted in the second semi-final consisted of Owe Petersell, Luisa Värk, Mihkel Raud, Sten Teppan, Ivo Kiviorg, Reet Linna, Ruslan PX, Epp Kõiv, Janar Ala, Maarja Merivoo-Parro and Sven Grünberg.[18]

The final took place on 5 March 2016 at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, hosted by Ott Sepp and Märt Avandi.[19] 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: "Supersonic" performed by Laura, "Play" performed by Jüri Pootsmann and "Immortality" performed by Cartoon featuring Kristel Aaslaid. The public vote in the first round registered 93,577 votes.[15] In the superfinal, "Play" performed by Jüri Pootsmann was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote.[20] The public televote in the superfinal registered 72,518 votes.[15] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Finnish singer Isac Elliot performed as the interval act, while Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, celebrated the 20th anniversary of their participation in the contest by performing their entry "Kaelakee hääl".[21][22] The jury panel that voted in the first round of the final consisted of Ģirts Majors (Positivus Festival organizer), Liis Lemsalu (singer), Olav Ehala (Maestro), Anna Sapronenko (ETV+ television presenter), Koit Raudsepp (Raadio 2 presenter), Ingrid Kohtla (TMW organiser), Kristjan Hirmo (DJ), Heli Jürgenson (choir conductor), Siim Nestor (Music critic), Sandra Sillamaa (Bagpiper) and Isac Elliot (singer).[23]

Jüri Pootsmann made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Play" as the Estonian Eurovision entry. On 2 April, Pootsmann performed during the Eurovision PreParty Riga, which was organised by OGAE Latvia and held at the Spikeri Concert Hall in Riga, Latvia.[24] On 9 April, Jüri Pootsmann performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Hera Björk.[25] Between 11 and 13 April, Jüri Pootsmann took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel and was also scheduled to perform during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue, but he withdrew from the event due to illness.[26] On 27 April, Jüri Pootsmann completed interviews for media outlets and radio stations in Finland.[27]

Jüri Pootsmann during a rehearsal before the first semi-final

Jüri Pootsmann took part in technical rehearsals on 3 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May.[34] This included the jury show on 9 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[35]

The Estonian performance featured Jüri Pootsmann performing on stage in a blue suit with the stage displaying red, gold and white colours and images of playing cards and baroque style patterns appearing on the LED screens.[36][37][38] During the performance, Pootsmann performed a trick where he drew a playing card from his sleeve. Jüri Pootsmann was joined by three backing vocalists: Kaire Vilgats, Dagmar Oja and Silver Laas.[39]

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.[40] It was later revealed that Estonia placed 18th (last) in the semi-final, receiving a total of 24 points: 15 points from the televoting and 9 points from the juries.[41]

Voting during the three shows was conducted under a new system that involved each country now 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.[42] 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.[43]

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:[41][44][45][46]

The following five members comprised the Estonian jury:[42]

• Priit Pajusaar – Chairperson – composer
• Els Himma – singer
• Kadri Koppel – professional singer, vocal coach and songwriter
• Hanna Parman – artist and teacher
• Taavi Paomets – independent musician, music producer

Split voting results from Estonia (Semi-final 1)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		P. Pajusaar	E. Himma	K. Koppel	T. Paomets	H. Parman	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Finland	12	2	9	11	17	11		4	7
02	Greece	16	17	17	7	14	15		16
03	Moldova	14	9	10	13	13	13		13
04	Hungary	5	6	7	14	4	6	5	6	5
05	Croatia	9	15	11	4	1	8	3	12
06	Netherlands	1	7	2	1	6	1	12	3	8
07	Armenia	11	12	4	6	7	9	2	10	1
08	San Marino	13	16	16	16	11	16		7	4
09	Russia	10	4	8	9	12	10	1	1	12
10	Czech Republic	7	14	1	3	10	5	6	14
11	Cyprus	4	3	5	8	2	2	10	5	6
12	Austria	2	13	13	17	15	14		2	10
13	Estonia
14	Azerbaijan	8	1	6	5	8	4	7	11
15	Montenegro	15	10	14	12	3	12		15
16	Iceland	6	5	12	10	5	7	4	8	3
17	Bosnia and Herzegovina	17	11	15	15	16	17		17
18	Malta	3	8	3	2	9	3	8	9	2

Split voting results from Estonia (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		P. Pajusaar	E. Himma	K. Koppel	T. Paomets	H. Parman	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Belgium	13	18	17	4	12	14		19
02	Czech Republic	18	23	5	13	19	17		25
03	Netherlands	8	4	4	7	13	5	6	12
04	Azerbaijan	14	15	20	21	18	19		18
05	Hungary	19	2	19	26	11	16		11
06	Italy	10	6	10	24	9	11		13
07	Israel	25	21	18	25	14	24		22
08	Bulgaria	20	17	24	17	21	22		14
09	Sweden	2	3	1	1	1	1	12	2	10
10	Germany	21	20	25	16	22	25		23
11	France	17	1	9	15	15	10	1	9	2
12	Poland	22	9	23	22	23	23		10	1
13	Australia	3	11	2	5	7	2	10	7	4
14	Cyprus	12	5	13	19	6	7	4	8	3
15	Serbia	26	24	26	20	24	26		26
16	Lithuania	7	14	8	9	2	6	5	6	5
17	Croatia	11	19	16	12	5	13		24
18	Russia	16	10	11	18	26	18		1	12
19	Spain	24	25	15	14	10	20		17
20	Latvia	4	7	7	8	4	3	8	4	7
21	Ukraine	1	8	3	3	20	4	7	3	8
22	Malta	6	22	6	6	17	9	2	20
23	Georgia	23	26	22	2	3	15		15
24	Austria	9	16	21	23	25	21		5	6
25	United Kingdom	5	13	12	10	16	8	3	21
26	Armenia	15	12	14	11	8	12		16