Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022

Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, with "Hope" performed by Stefan. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) organised the national final Eesti Laul 2022 in order to select the Estonian entry for the contest. The national final consisted of seven shows: four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and a final. Ten songs competed in each quarter-final and semi-final and five from each show 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, "Hope" performed by Stefan was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote.

Estonia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2022. Performing during the show in position 12, "Hope" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 18 May. It was later revealed that Estonia placed fifth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 209 points. In the final, Estonia was the closing performance of the show in position 25, placing thirteenth out of the 25 participating countries with 141 points.

Background
Prior to the 2022 contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-six times since its first entry in 1994, 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 2004, Estonia has, to this point, managed to qualify to the final on seven occasions. In, "The Lucky One" performed by Uku Suviste failed to qualify Estonia to the final where the song placed thirteenth in the semi-final.

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 2022 Eurovision Song Contest on 27 August 2021. 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 28 August 2021, ERR announced the organisation of Eesti Laul 2022 in order to select the nation's 2022 entry.

Eesti Laul 2022
Eesti Laul 2022 was the fourteenth edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul, which selected Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. The competition consisted of forty entries competing in four quarter-finals and two semi-finals, leading to a ten-song final on 12 February 2022. All shows were broadcast live on ETV, on ETV+ with Russian commentary as well as streamed online at the broadcaster's official website err.ee. The final was also broadcast in Spain on Ten as well as via radio in Estonia on Raadio 2 with commentary by Kristo Rajasaare, Margus Kamlat, Erik Morna and Robin Juhkental.

Format
The format of the competition included four quarter-finals on 20 November, 27 November, 4 December and 11 December 2021, two semi-finals on 3 and 5 February 2022 and a final on 12 February 2022. Ten songs competed in each quarter-final and five from each quarter-final qualified to the semi-finals. 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 quarter-finals were determined solely by public televoting for the first three qualifiers and votes from a professional jury for the fourth and fifth qualifiers, while the results of the semi-finals were determined by the 50/50 combination of jury and public voting for the first qualifiers and a second round of public televoting for the remaining qualifiers. 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.

Competing entries
On 2 September 2021, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 20 October 2021 through an online upload platform. Each artist and songwriter was able to submit a maximum of five entries. Foreign collaborations were allowed as long as one of the songwriters were Estonian and that there were a maximum of two foreign songwriters, one being the composer and one being the lyricist. A fee was also imposed on songs being submitted to the competition, with €50 for songs in the Estonian language and €100 for songs in other languages. 202 submissions were received by the deadline, of which 84 were in Estonian with the remaining in English, French, Spanish, Italian and an imaginary language. A 17-member jury panel consisting of Andi Raig, Bert Järvet, Eda-Ines Etti, Eric Kammiste, Heili Klandorf, Henri Laumets, Hugo Martin Maasikas, Jürgen Pärnsalu, Kadiah, Kaspar Viilup, Kerli Kivilaan, Lauri Laubre, Leonardo Romanello, Liis Lemsalu, Meelis Meri, Tarmo Hõbe and Thea Paluoja selected 40 quarter-finalists from the submissions and ten of the selected songs were announced each week on the ETV entertainment program Ringvaade, between 15 November 2021 and 7 December 2021.

Among the competing artists were previous Eurovision Song Contest entrants Evelin Samuel, who represented Estonia in, Lauri Pihlap, who represented Estonia as member of 2XL in together with Tanel Padar and Dave Benton, Anna Sahlene, who represented Estonia in , Ott Lepland, who represented Estonia in , Stig Rästa, who represented Estonia in  with Elina Born, and Elina Nechayeva, who represented Estonia in. Alabama Watchdog, Andrei Zevakin, Ariadne, Desiree, Elysa, Emily J., Grete Paia, Helen, Inga Tislar (lead singer of deLulu), Jaagup Tuisk, Kéa, Lauri Liiv (lead singer of Black Velvet), Little Mess, Maian, Merilin Mälk, Meisterjaan, Púr Múdd, Shira, Sulev Lõhmus (percussionist of Black Velvet), Stefan, Traffic, Triin Niitoja and Wiiralt have all competed in previous editions of Eesti Laul. Little Mess' entry was co-written by Tanja, who represented Estonia in, and the entry from Stig Rästa was co-written by Victor Crone, who represented Estonia in.

Quarter-finals
The four quarter-finals took place on 20 November, 27 November, 4 December and 11 December 2021 at the ERR studios in Tallinn, hosted by previous Estonian Eurovision Song Contest entrants: Tanel Padar and Eda-Ines Etti in the first quarter-final, Uku Suviste and Tanja Mihhailova-Saar in the second quarter-final, Ott Lepland and Laura Põldvere in the third quarter-final, and Getter Jaani and Jüri Pootsmann in the fourth quarter-final. In each quarter-final ten songs competed for the first three spots in the semi-finals with the outcome decided upon by a public televote which registered a total of 33,050 votes across the four quarter-finals; the remaining two qualifiers were decided by a jury panel between the remaining non-qualifiers. The jury panel that voted in the quarter-finals consisted of Sissi Nylia Benita, Synne Valtri, Egert Milder, Kadri Koppel, Olav Osolin, Bert Järvet, Vaido Pannel and Andres Puusepp.

Semi-finals
The two semi-finals took place on 3 and 5 February 2022 at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, hosted by Priit Loog and previous Estonian Eurovision Song Contest entrant Maarja-Liis Ilus. In each semi-final ten songs competed for the first four 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 18,716 votes in the first semi-final and 18,195 votes in the second semi-final; the remaining two qualifiers were decided by an additional televote between the remaining non-qualifiers which registered 6,205 votes in the first semi-final and 6,066 votes in the second semi-final. The jury panel that voted in the semi-finals consisted of Alar Kotkas, Inger Fridolin, Rolf Roosalu, Tanja Mihhailova-Saar, Kadri Tali, Villemdrillem, Margus Kamlat, Mari-Liis Männik, Elina Born, Mihkel Mattisen and Maris Järva.

Final
The final took place on 12 February 2022 at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, hosted by Priit Loog and previous Estonian Eurovision Song Contest entrant Maarja-Liis Ilus. 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 69,514 votes. In the superfinal, "Hope" performed by Stefan was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote. The public televote in the superfinal registered 57,197 votes. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show was opened by Uku Suviste, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, while Eurovision Song Contest 2002 hosts Annely Peebo and Marko Matvere as well as Jüri Pootsmann, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, performed as the interval acts. The jury panel that voted in the first round of the final consisted of Jonathan Perkins (American songwriter and producer), Mr Lordi (Finnish musician), Audrius Giržadas (Lithuanian Eurovision Head of Delegation), Per Sunding (Swedish music producer and musician), Emily Griggs (Australian television producer and director), Natalie Horler (German singer), Lőrinc Bubnó (former Hungarian Eurovision Head of Delegation), Martin Sutton (British musician, songwriter and producer), Marta Cagnola (Italian music journalist and critic), Scarlet Keys (American songwriter) and Lotta Furebäck (Swedish choreographer).

At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 25 January 2022, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Estonia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2022, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2022 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Estonia was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from and before the entry from.

The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Estonia on ETV with commentary in Estonian by Marko Reikop and on ETV+ with commentary in Russian by Aleksandr Hobotov and Julia Kalenda. The Estonian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Estonian jury during the final, was Tanel Padar who won the Eurovision Song Contest for Estonia in 2001 together with Dave Benton and 2XL.

Semi-final
Stefan took part in technical rehearsals on 3 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May. This included the jury show on 11 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Estonian performance featured Stefan performing on stage in a white and beige outfit and starting on the satellite stage playing the guitar with a sepia filter on the camera that later faded away. During the second verse, Stefan moved to the main stage before jumping over the waterfall surrounding the stage to finish the final chorus on the satellite stage with the sepia filter being used again before fading to black. The stage displayed gold and blue colours with a Western-inspired desert scenery appearing on the LED screens.

At the end of the show, Estonia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Estonia placed fifth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 209 points: 96 points from the televoting and 113 points from the juries.

Final
Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Estonia was drawn to compete in the second half. Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Estonia was subsequently placed to perform last in position 25, following the entry from.

Stefan once again took part in dress rehearsals on 13 and 14 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. Stefan performed a repeat of his semi-final performance during the final on 14 May. Estonia placed eighteenth in the final, scoring 141 points: 98 points from the televoting and 43 points from the juries.

Voting
Voting during the three shows involved each country 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. 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. In addition, each member of a national jury may only take part in the panel once every three years, and no jury was permitted to discuss of their vote with other members or 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 in an anonymised form as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Estonia and awarded by Estonia in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Detailed voting results
The following members comprised the Estonian jury:
 * Karl Killing
 * Liina Ariadne Pedanik
 * Maian Anna Kärmas
 * Sven Lõhmus
 * Toomas Olljun