Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "Eighties Coming Back" written by Vaiko Eplik. The song was performed by the band Ruffus. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Televisioon (ETV) organised the national final Eurolaul 2003 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia. Ten songs competed in the national final and "Eighties Coming Back" performed by Claire's Birthday was selected as the winner by an international jury panel. The band was later renamed as Ruffus for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Eurovision Song Contest 2003
Country Estonia
National selection
Selection processEurolaul 2003
Selection date(s)8 February 2003
Selected entrantRuffus
Selected song"Eighties Coming Back"
Selected songwriter(s)Vaiko Eplik
Finals performance
Final result21st, 14 points
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2002 • 2003 • 2004►

Estonia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 24 May 2003. Performing during the show in position 17, Estonia placed twenty-first out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 14 points.

Background
Main article: Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2003 Contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eight times since its first entry in 1994,[1] winning the contest on one occasion in 2001 with the song "Everybody" performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL.

The Estonian national broadcaster, Eesti Televisioon (ETV), broadcasts the event within Estonia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. 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 Eurolaul competition has been organised since 1996 in order to select Estonia's entry and on 8 November 2002, ETV announced the organisation of Eurolaul 2003 in order to select the nation's 2003 entry.[2]

Before Eurovision

Eurolaul 2003

Eurolaul 2003 was the tenth edition of the Estonian national selection Eurolaul, which selected Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2003. The competition consisted of a ten-song final on 8 February 2003 at the ETV studios in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Romi Erlach and broadcast on ETV. The national final was watched by 343,500 viewers in Estonia with a market share of 57.4%.[3]

Competing entries

On 8 November 2002, ETV opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 9 December 2002.[4] A record 100 submissions were received by the deadline—breaking the previous record of 90, set during the 2002 edition.[5] A 10-member jury panel selected 10 finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced on 13 December 2002. Among the competing artists was previous Eurovision Song Contest entrant Koit Toome, who represented Estonia in 1998. Kaire Vilgats (member of Family), Kadi Toom, Maarja Kivi (member of Vanilla Ninja), Maiken and Nightlight Duo have all competed in previous editions of Eurolaul. The selection jury consisted of Jaak Joala (musician), Meelis Kapstas (journalist), Ivo Linna (singer), Jaan Karp (musician), Priit Hõbemägi (culture critic), Tõnu Kõrvits (composer), Eda-Ines Etti (singer), Ignar Fjuk (architect), Karmel Eikner (journalist) and Tiit Kikas (musician).[6]

Final

The final took place on 8 February 2003. Ten songs competed during the show and a jury selected "Eighties Coming Back" performed by Claire's Birthday as the winner. A non-competitive public vote conducted via televoting and online voting which registered 77,729 votes was also held and selected "Club Kung-Fu" performed by Vanilla Ninja as the winner.[7] The jury panel that voted in the final consisted of Anders Berglund (Swedish conductor), Sergio (Belgian singer), Darja Švajger (Slovenian singer), Manfred Witt (German television producer), Moshe Datz (Israeli singer), Renārs Kaupers (Latvian musician), Michael Ball (British singer) and Bo Halldórsson (Icelandic singer).[8]

Final – 8 February 2003
Draw Artist Song Songwriter(s) Points Place
1 Kadi Toom "We Are Not Done" Maian Kärmas, Priit Pajusaar, Glen Pilvre 58 3
2 Family "Don't Ever Change" Susan Lilleväli, Johannes Lõhmus, Kaire Vilgats 33 8
3 Nightlight Duo "I Can B the 1" Sven Lõhmus 52 4
4 Kadi Toom "Have a Little Faith" Maian Kärmas, Priit Pajusaar, Glen Pilvre 48 5
5 Koit Toome "Know What I Feel" Koit Toome, Kersti Kuusk, Imre Sooäär 64 2
6 Slobodan River "What a Day" Maria Rahula, Tomi Rahula 33 7
7 Maiken "No Matter What It Takes" Peter Ross, Elmar Liitmaa 47 6
8 Vanilla Ninja "Club Kung-Fu" Piret Järvis, Sven Lõhmus 32 9
9 Claire's Birthday "Eighties Coming Back" Vaiko Eplik 65 1
10 Viies Element "Have It Your Way" Asko-Rome Altsoo, Raul Veeber, Aimar Toomla 32 9
Detailed International Jury Votes
Draw Song
SWE
BEL
SVN
GER
ISR
LVA
GBR
ISL		 Total
1 "We Are Not Done"126386108558
2 "Don't Ever Change"6875132133
3 "I Can B the 1"1010512314752
4 "Have a Little Faith"53610765648
5 "Know What I Feel"82123125121064
6 "What a Day"24122810433
7 "No Matter What It Takes"71284473247
8 "Club Kung-Fu"1721526832
9 "Eighties Coming Back"4510781271265
10 "Have It Your Way"31461041332

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom five countries in the 2002 contest competed in the final on 24 May 2003.[9] On 29 November 2002, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Estonia was set to perform in position 23, following the entry from Belgium and before the entry from Romania.[10] The band performed at the contest under the new name Ruffus and Estonia finished in twenty-first place with 14 points.[11][12]

The show was broadcast in Estonia on ETV with commentary by Marko Reikop as well as via radio on Raadio 2 with commentary by Vello Rand. The Estonian spokesperson, who announced the Estonian votes during the show, was Ines who had previously represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000.

Voting

References
  1. "Estonia Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  2. Siim, Jarmo (1 October 2003). "Estonian National Final on February 7, 2004". Esctoday. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  3. Siim, Jarmo (12 February 2003). "Estonian Eurolaul 2003: 343,500 viewers". Esctoday. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  4. Bakker, Sietse (8 November 2002). "ETV: Eurolaul 2003 to be held at February 8". Esctoday. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  5. Keian, Allan (9 December 2002). "ETVsse laekus rekordarv eurolaule". postimees.ee (in Estonian). Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  6. Siim, Jarmo (13 December 2002). "Eurolaul 2003: Ten finalists made public". Esctoday. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  7. "Eurolaul 2003 publikulemmik". eurolaul.ee (in Estonian). 20 February 2003. Archived from the original on 20 February 2003. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  8. "Eurolaul 2003 žürii". eurolaul.ee (in Estonian). 20 February 2003. Archived from the original on 20 February 2003. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  9. "RULES OF THE 2003 EUROVISION SONG CONTEST" (PDF). European Broadcasting Union. European Broadcasting Union. 20 November 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 April 2003. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  10. Bakker, Sietse (28 November 2002). "Draw to be made public Friday 17:00 CET". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  11. Aldrovandi, Matteo (17 February 2003). "A new name for Claire's Birthday". Esctoday. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  12. "Final of Riga 2003". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 7 April 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  13. "Results of the Final of Riga 2003". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 7 April 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
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