Estonia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Play" written by Fred Krieger, Stig Rästa and Vallo Kikas. The song was performed by Jüri Pootsmann. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) organised the national final Eesti Laul 2016 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. The national final consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Ten songs competed in each semi-final and the top five from each semi-final as determined by a jury panel and public vote qualified to the final. In the final, the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a jury panel and a public vote selected the top three to qualify to the superfinal. In the superfinal, "Play" performed by Jüri Pootsmann was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote.
Estonia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2016. Performing during the show in position 13, "Play" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Estonia placed eighteenth (last) out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 24 points.
Background
Prior to the 2016 contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-one times since its first entry in , winning the contest on one occasion in 2001 with the song "Everybody" performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the , Estonia has, to this point, managed to qualify to the final on five occasions. In 2015, "Goodbye to Yesterday" performed by Elina Born and Stig Rästa managed to qualify Estonia to the final where the song placed seventh.
The Estonian national broadcaster, Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR), broadcasts the event within Estonia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. ERR confirmed Estonia's participation at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 27 May 2015. 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 Eesti Laul competition has been organised since 2009 in order to select Estonia's entry and on 10 September 2015, ERR announced the organisation of Eesti Laul 2016 in order to select the nation's 2016 entry.
Before Eurovision Eesti Laul 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. 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.
Format The format of the competition included two semi-finals on 13 and 20 February 2016 and a final on 5 March 2016. 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. 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. 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.
Competing entries On 10 September 2015, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 2 November 2015. 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. A record 238 submissions were received by the deadline—breaking the previous record of 219, set during the 2015 edition. 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. 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 (Tallinn Music Week organiser), Olavi Paide (producer), Eeva Talsi (musician), Eisi Mäeots (DJ) and Kira Evve (Raadio 4 editor).
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.
Artist Song Songwriter(s) Anett Kulbin "Strong" Anett Kulbin, Joonas Mattias Sarapuu Cartoon and Kristel Aaslaid "Immortality" Ago Teppand, Hugo Martin Maasikas, Joosep Järvesaar, Kerli Kõiv, Iiris Vesik, Kristel Aaslaid Gertu Pabbo "Miljon korda" Lii Schmidt, Priit Pajusaar, Maian Kärmas Go Away Bird "Sally" Stanislav Bulganin Grete Paia "Stories Untold" Sven Lõhmus I Wear* Experiment "Patience" Hando Jaksi, Mikk Simson, Johanna Eenmaa Indrek Ventmann "Hispaania tüdruk" Allan Kasuk The Jingles "Love a Little Bit" Jonathan Flack, Hain Hoppe, Rauno Vaher, Tanel Liiberg Jüri Pootsmann "Play" Fred Krieger, Stig Rästa, Vallo Kikas Kati Laev and Noorkuu "Kaugel sinust" Urmas Kõiv, Anneli Kõiv Kéa "Lonely Boy" Egert Milder, Robert Stanley Montes, Ian Karell La La Ladies "Unikaalne" Tatjana Mihhailova, Mihkel Mattisen, Timo Vendt, Inga Tislar Laura "Supersonic" Sven Lõhmus Meisterjaan "Parmupillihullus" Jaan Tätte Juunior Mick Pedaja "Seis" Mick Pedaja Põhja-Tallinn and Jaagup Kreem "Ei ole mul olla" Jaanus Saks, Kristjan Soomre, Mark Eric Kammiste, Hannes Agur Vellend, Herlend-Kaspar Raudkivi Púr Múdd "Meet Halfway" Oliver Rõõmus, Joonas Alvre Windy Beach "Salty Wounds" Priit Uustulnd, Tuuli Rand, Mari Tamm Würffel "I'm Facing North" Kaspar Kalluste, Rosanna Lints Zebra Island "How Many Times" Rasmus Lill, Helina Risti
Shows
Semi-finals The two semi-finals took place on 13 and 20 February 2016, hosted by Henry Kõrvits and Maris Kõrvits. The live portion of the shows were held at the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn where the artists awaited the results while their performances, which were filmed earlier at the ERR studios between 5 and 7 February 2016, were screened. In each semi-final 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 17,012 votes in the first semi-final and 21,831 votes in the second semi-final. The jury panel that voted in the semi-finals 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.
+ Semi-final 1 – 13 February 2016 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 The Jingles "Love a Little Bit" 26 1 545 2 3 10 2 Würffel "I'm Facing North" 96 10 415 1 11 6 3 Mick Pedaja "Seis" 102 12 1,822 6 18 2 4 Indrek Ventmann "Hispaania tüdruk" 40 3 1,967 7 10 7 5 Cartoon feat. Kristel Aaslaid "Immortality" 92 8 3,171 8 16 3 6 Kéa "Lonely Boy" 62 6 721 5 11 5 7 Kati Laev and Noorkuu "Kaugel sinust" 39 2 3,214 10 12 4 8 Zebra Island "How Many Times" 61 5 643 4 9 8 9 Laura "Supersonic" 76 7 3,871 12 19 1 10 Windy Beach "Salty Wounds" 44 4 643 3 7 9
+ Semi-final 2 – 20 February 2016 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Go Away Bird "Sally" 77 8 1,585 3 11 5 2 Jüri Pootsmann "Play" 110 12 3,898 12 24 1 3 Meisterjaan "Parmupillihullus" 52 4 2,327 7 11 4 4 I Wear* Experiment "Patience" 94 10 1,587 4 14 3 5 Púr Múdd "Meet Halfway" 63 6 1,543 2 8 8 6 Grete Paia "Stories Untold" 57 5 2,876 10 15 2 7 Põhja-Tallinn and Jaagup Kreem "Ei ole mul olla" 40 3 1,986 6 9 7 8 Anett Kulbin "Strong" 76 7 1,499 1 8 9 9 Gertu Pabbo "Miljon korda" 39 2 1,832 5 7 10 10 La La Ladies "Unikaalne" 30 1 2,698 8 9 6
Final The final took place on 5 March 2016 at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, hosted by Ott Sepp and Märt Avandi. 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. The public vote in the first round registered 93,577 votes. In the superfinal, "Play" performed by Jüri Pootsmann was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote. The public televote in the superfinal registered 72,518 votes. 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". 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 (Tallinn Music Week organiser), Kristjan Hirmo (DJ), Heli Jürgenson (choir conductor), Siim Nestor (music critic), Sandra Sillamaa (bagpiper) and Isac Elliot (singer).
+ Final – 5 March 2016 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Laura "Supersonic" 64 6 16,416 10 16 2 2 Go Away Bird "Sally" 52 4 2,960 2 6 8 3 Mick Pedaja "Seis" 91 10 6,393 5 15 4 4 Grete Paia "Stories Untold" 41 2 7,337 6 8 7 5 Kéa "Lonely Boy" 64 5 1,374 1 6 9 6 Jüri Pootsmann "Play" 108 12 23,439 12 24 1 7 Kati Laev and Noorkuu "Kaugel sinust" 18 1 5,837 4 5 10 8 Cartoon feat. Kristel Aaslaid "Immortality" 78 8 15,903 8 16 3 9 Meisterjaan "Parmupillihullus" 44 3 8,340 7 10 5 10 I Wear* Experiment "Patience" 78 7 5,578 3 10 6
+ Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "Supersonic" 2 7 8 10 6 3 6 5 7 5 5 64 2 "Sally" 3 3 3 8 10 10 2 3 6 3 1 52 3 "Seis" 12 12 12 12 1 5 7 2 12 12 4 91 4 "Stories Untold" 4 4 4 4 5 2 4 8 1 2 3 41 5 "Lonely Boy" 5 5 6 3 8 7 3 6 8 6 7 64 6 "Play" 10 10 5 5 12 12 12 12 10 10 10 108 7 "Kaugel sinust" 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 4 2 1 2 18 8 "Immortality" 8 8 7 7 3 4 8 10 4 7 12 78 9 "Parmupillihullus" 6 2 2 1 4 6 5 1 5 4 8 44 10 "Patience" 7 6 10 6 7 8 10 7 3 8 6 78