| Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2004 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Eesti Televisioon (ETV) | |||
| Country |  Estonia | |||
| Selection process | Eurolaul 2004 | |||
| Selection date | 7 February 2004 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Tii" | |||
| Artist | Neiokõsõ | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Failed to qualify (11th) | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Estonia was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "Tii", composed by Priit Pajusaar and Glen Pilvre, with lyrics byAapo Ilves, and performed by the groupNeiokõsõ. The Estonian participating broadcaster,Eesti Televisioon (ETV), organised the national finalEurolaul 2004 in order to select its entry for the contest. Ten songs competed in the national final and "Tii" performed by Neiokõsõ was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote. This was the first-ever entry performed inVõro in the contest.
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.
Prior to the 2004 Contest,Eesti Televisioon (ETV) had participated in theEurovision Song Contest representing Estonia nine times since its first entry in1994,[1] winning the contest on one occasion: in2001 with the song "Everybody" performed byTanel Padar,Dave Benton and2XL. In 2003, the song "Eighties Coming Back" performed byRuffus placed twenty-first in the final.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, ETV organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since their debut, the broadcaster has organised national finals that feature a competition among multiple artists and songs in order to select its entry for the contest. ETV has organisedEurolaul competition since 1996, and on 1 October 2003, the broadcaster announced the organisation ofEurolaul 2004 in order to select its 2004 entry.[2]
Eurolaul 2004 was the eleventh edition of the Estonian national selectionEurolaul, organised by ETV to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. The competition consisted of a ten-song final on 7 February 2004 at the ETV studios inTallinn, hosted byMarko 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 watchedEurolaul competition since1996.[4]
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 entrantsMaarja (who representedEstonia in 1996 andin 1997), andTanel Padar –performing withSlobodan River– (who representedEstonia in 2001 together withDave Benton and2XL).[6] The selection jury consisted ofJaak 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]
The final took place on 7 February 2004. Ten songs competed during the show and "Tii" performed byNeiokõsõ was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote, revealed by Estonia's four regions alongside votes submitted via mobile phones.[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 outside the official five-minute 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][10]
| 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 | 1,157 | 5 |
| 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 |
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 the2003 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 fromSlovenia and before the entry fromCroatia.[11] 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 57 points.[12]
The semi-final and the final were broadcast in Estonia onETV with commentary byMarko Reikop. ETV appointedMaarja-Liis Ilus (who representedEstonia in 1996 andin 1997) as its spokesperson to announce the Estonian votes during the final.
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 toUkraine in the semi-final and the final of the contest.
Following the release of the televoting figures by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that a total of 57,179 televotes were cast in Estonia during the two shows: 22,564 votes during the semi-final and 34,615 votes during the final.[13]
| 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 |
|
|
