Estonia 2012 : Ott Lepland

Getter Jaani managed to bring Estonia out of their semi and into the final with the infuriatingly catchy Rockerfeller Street. However, once in the final, she only managed penultimate position, leaving ERR somewhat disillusioned. So, it was back to the drawing board for the state broadcaster when laying out the plans for the 2012 edition of Eesti Laul. ERR showed remarkable resilience and wasted no time in getting their selection process underway, with a submissions deadline being set for the 12th of December. Dates and the format of Eesti Laul were already confirmed in September. A professional jury had the task of sifting through all entries, with the 20 acts to make it through the preliminary selection being made public by mid December. No fewer than 159 applications were submitted to ERR, a new record showing renewed interest in the contest. Shortly after the new year, the running order was made public while all entries were made available online.

Eesti Laul consisted of two semi finals, each containing 10 acts. Each semi was pre recorded and broadcast on the 18th and 25th of February. Five acts proceeded from each semi, with the five places in the final being awarded to the top 5 acts in terms of televoting and jury voting.The results were determined by a 50/50 split between jury and public votes.

Some of the artists competing in this year's national selection were familiar faces both to the Estonian viewers and to Eurovision fans, including a former Estonian entrant (Malcolm Lincoln, 2010), together with numerous artists who had previously tried their luck in the national finals, amongst others Janne Saar (2009), last year's runner-up Lenna, Traffic, who came second behind Urban Symphony in 2009 and Orelipoiss, the bronze placed act from Eesti Laul 2011.

The final was broadcast live from the Nokia Concert Hall, Tallinn on the 3rd of March, hosted by the male duo Taavi Teplenkov and Tiit Sukk. The two presenters had filmed pre recorded sketches presenting various Estonian stereotypes which were shown between each act entering the stage, bringing a comic if somewhat bizarre feeling to the evening's proceedings. The event was opened by last year's victor, Getter Jaani arriving by taxi to perform her opening act, yes, you've guessed it, NYC Taxi.

The complete line up of the Estonial final featured the following 10 acts:

1  Loss Paranoias - Valedetektor (Lie Detector) 
2  Teele Viira - City Nights 
3  Liis Lemsalu - Made Up My Mind 
4  August Hunt - Tantsulõvi (King of the Dancefloor) 
5  Lenna  - Mina Jään (I'll Stay)
6  POP Maniacs - I Don't Know
7  Traffic - NASA
8  Tenfold Rabbit - Oblivion
9  Birgit Õigemeel & Violina - You're Not Alone
10 Ott Lepland - Kuula (Listen)

The final would consist of two segments - an intital performance round from which the two most popular acts would be selcted by means of a 50/50 combination of televotes and jury voting. The jury featured high profile cultural figures, including former entrants Ivo Linna (1996), Ines (2000) and Koit Toome (1998). Ballads were clearly de rigeur this year, as both acts to qualify from the start field of ten were Ott Lepland with the simple and emotive ballad Kuula and Lenna with the similarly downtempo number Mina Jään. Both finalists were determined by the jury members first giving their points to all ten contestants, which were then converted into points from 1-10.  The same principle applied to the televotes. At this stage, Mina Jään had the upper hand, as Lenna had been awarded 10 points from the jury, whereas Ott Lepland was breathing down her neck with 9 points. The tables would however soon be turned, with the results of the televoting awarding Lenna with 9 and Ott Lepland with 10 points. With both artists neck and neck, phone lines were then opened for a further 10 minutes to decide the winner through 100% televoting.

Poor Lenna. It just wasn't to be her year, this year, coming second yet again following her second placing from two years ago. Ott Lepland's victory was a convincing one, with his entry garnering 67% of the televote, sweeping all doubt aside that Estonia was behind him 100% in his quest to bring home the title from Baku.