Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Eesti Laul 2014

Eesti Laul 2014 was the sixth edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul that selected Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The format of the competition included two semi-finals on 14 and 21 February and a final on 1 March 2014. Ten songs competed in each semi-final where the top five from each semi-final qualified to compete in the final.

On 2 October 2013, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries, which lasted until 9 December 2013. 189 submissions were received by the deadline - the highest amount since the conception of the Eesti Laul format. A jury selected 20 semi-finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced during the entertainment program Ringvaade on 12 December 2013. The selection jury consisted of Maarja-Liis Ilus (singer), Janek Murd (musician), Erik Morna (Raadio 2 head of music), Siim Nestor (music critic), Kaupo Karelson (television producer), Valner Valme (music critic), Tauno Aints (composer), Ingrid Kohtla (music editor), Owe Petersell (Raadio Elmar chief editor), Toomas Puna (Raadio Sky+ program director) and Kostja Tsõbulevski (musician).

Competing entries

Among the competing entries were three previous Eurovision Song Contest entrants: Lenna previously represented Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 as part of the group Vanilla Ninja, Sandra Nurmsalu previously represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 as part of the group Urban Symphony and Lauri Pihlap won the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 for Estonia as part of the group 2XL together with Dave Benton and Tanel Padar. Sofia Rubina, August Hunt, Norman Salumäe, Tanja, Traffic, Liisi Koikson, Tuuli Rand (of VÖÖRAD), Kadri Koppel (Maiken) and Kõrsikud have all previously competed in the Estonian national finals. Composer Sven Lõhmus has previously composed three Estonian entries: "Let's Get Loud" (2005), "Rändajad" (2009) and Rockefeller Street (2011). In the weeks leading up to the start of the competition, the semi-finalists all presented their songs on the ETV morning programme Terevisioon.

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final of Eesti Laul 2014 took place on 14 February 2014, hosted by Helen Sürje and Henrik Kalmet with additional commentary provided by Indrek Vaheoja and Peeter Oja. The performances of the competing songs were filmed earlier between 6 February 2014 and 9 February 2014. 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 12,382 votes. The jury panel that voted in the first semi-final consisted of Nele-Liis Vaiksoo, Valner Valme, Anna Põldvee, Olav Osolin, Heini Vaikmaa, Mart Niineste, Erik Morna, Owe Petersell, Els Himma, Liis Lemsalu and Tauno Aints.

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final of Eesti Laul 2014 took place on 21 February 2014, hosted by Helen Sürje and Henrik Kalmet with additional commentary provided by Indrek Vaheoja and Mart Juur. The performances of the competing songs were filmed earlier between 6 February 2014 and 9 February 2014. 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 11,767 votes. The jury panel that voted in the second semi-final consisted of Nele-Liis Vaiksoo, Valner Valme, Anna Põldvee, Olav Osolin, Heini Vaikmaa, Mart Niineste, Erik Morna, Owe Petersell, Els Himma, Liis Lemsalu and Tauno Aints.

Final

The final of Eesti Laul 2014 took place on 1 March 2014 at the Nokia Concert Hall in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Henrik Kalmet. Five songs from each semi-final, all together 10 songs, competed in the first round of the competition where a jury (50%) and public televote (50%) decided the top two entries for the super final. The public vote in the first round registered 52,190 votes. "Amazing" performed by Tanja and "Maybe-Maybe" performed by Super Hot Cosmos Blues Band qualified to the super final. The jury panel that voted in the first round consisted of Maarja-Liis Ilus, Erki Pärnoja, Rolf Roosalu, Getter Jaani, Siim Nestor, Ott Lepland, Koit Raudsepp, Els Himma, Leslie Da Bass, Siiri Sisask and Tõnis Mägi. In the super final, "Amazing" performed by Tanja was selected as the winner through a public televote which registered 57,272 votes.

At Eurovision

During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, Estonia was drawn to compete in the first half of the first semi-final on 6 May 2014. In the first semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Estonia would perform 3rd, following Latvia and preceding Sweden. Estonia failed to qualify from the first semi-final, placing 12th in a field of 16 songs and scoring 36 points.

At the contest, Tanja was joined on stage by dancer Argo Liik and three backing vocalists: Kaire Vilgats, Marvi Vallaste and Marilin Kongo. The Estonian performance featured Tanja and Argo Liik performing contemporary dance moves. The LED screens transitioned from projections of wooden floors and wooden window frames with brick finishes to flying birds and moving lines.

In Estonia, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on ETV with commentary by Marko Reikop. The first semi-final and the final were also broadcast via radio on Raadio 2 with commentary by Mart Juur and Andrus Kivirähk. The Estonian spokesperson revealing the result of the Estonian vote in the final was Lauri Pihlap.

Split voting results

The following five members comprise the Estonian jury:

Semi-final 1

The Estonian votes in the first semi-final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.

Final

The Estonian votes in the first grand final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.