It was standout moment in national final season and elevated Estonia’s Eesti Laul to new heights. But now there are doubts about staging Elina Nechayeva‘s projection dress performance in Lisbon in May.
That’s because the total cost for the performance comes to an eye watering €65,000 and Estonian broadcaster ERR doesn’t have the funds to pay it yet.
ERR doesn’t have additional funds set aside for the delegation this year and Eesti Laul had less callers than recent years.
Estonian Head of Delegation Mart Normet has revealed the costs are so high because of the complexity of the performance:
“The most expensive projector to rent on the Estonian market is € 1,100 a day. Eurovision needs a much more powerful projector, which is not available in Estonia. But even if the price is 1100 euros a day, they will need three projectors, which will make it 3300 euros a day.”
The costs are compounded by the amount of time the Estonian delegation need to rent the projectors for Eurovision. Rehearsals start weeks before the contest itself and to work with the product team the projectors need to be rented for almost a month.
The Estonian team also need to fly in the projection video artist so that the design for the performance can be done.
But, with Estonia flying high in the odds to win Eurovision, Normet believes the dress is worth the money. The question now is how ERR can find the money to fund the performance.
“Of course Elina is such a great singer that she could go to Eurovision in a pretty dress and just sing, but right now we are talking about something that has a big wow-factor.”
Since producers began deciding the running order in 2013, they’ve typically scheduled more complex performances for after ad-breaks, to allow time for the stage team to put the performance in place. Historically commercial breaks in the semi-finals have happened after the fifth and fourteenth songs.
Elina’s draw in ninth position is one of the pimp slots, but also could imply producers aren’t anticipating needing extra time to stage the complex projection dress performance.
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Source: DELFI
I think that actually I will like it more without the dress LOL
Honestly the dress gimmick kind of annoyed me, it’s a great voice, beautiful singer, nice song, she doesn’t need the dress. they surely can come up with a new staging, something classy and elegant
Okay, it’s official the Estonia’s government won’t subsidize. It’s pretty real the dress won’t be there, because there aren’t many places to get the money anymore. Though, Eesti Laul’s producer said that they have evolved the dress projecton a lot and it would be many times (next level, if you wish) better if they had the chance to present it.
OMG WHAT THE HELL. I know that our government is making stupid useless desicions recently but god damn this gets on my nerves so much. Me, as a estonian living abroad who follows with how things are going in Estonia, this is just too frustrating. I mean c’mon, if EAS (you know damn well what I mean) spend so much for a stupid brand logo program last year, then I call bs on this one.
Dear Egle,
Please don’t write our country news to here. Let’s keep that ourselves 😉 You don’t to any good right know.
Please no hate!
Ootasin juba, millal kleidi probleem siia ilmub ja ongi käes… Jube piinlik on, nüüd siin kõikidele kitkuda…
Hmm, they still seemed to be kind of confident in the dress being there. I’m keeping my hopes up for now.
The dress will be definitely in Lisbon, more powerful than you can even expect..
Fully support- no need to spend such money for 1 show. In total how much we can help people with problems with some better way….
Thats why it is big money
Wake up people- even 10 EUR can help somebody ! Buy some medicine or food etc !
And you really think that somebody will ”help” someone with that unspended 65 000 euros?
Does she really need it while pumping out all air from the venues?
Wow, cynical much? Literally nobody besides eurofans will hear of the dress drama whether it makes it to Lisbon or not
Unless the commentators make a point of it and mention it every time!
An old trick. Sabina Babayeva AZE – 2012, fourth place. Aliona Moon MOL – 2013 11th. Elina Nechayeva EST – 2018… the trend with volcano dresses can continue to go down. Dear Team Estonia, reject that dress thing and let Elina shine on stage as herself. That outfit takes all too much of attention from the song that as such is of good quality.
But what if the the thing they are planning are so much better than all those you said and I add Jennifer Lopez performance they did. Why not to show it to Europe. I am not going to argue about that anymore. I want to see, that performance, what they have been working on. I and a lot of people don’t care about that some people did similar thing years ago… it is not important.
Well, maybe so but I think the idea costs a hell of lot of money to be recycled and seen before. I am confident Elina will slay with her own skills, without that magical skirt.
You forgot Russia 2015.
This news is kinda old-ish by a few weeks but yeah, it’d suck not to see Elina not have those projections used if it turns out to expensive for her delegation.
But the song should be able to stand on its own, with or without having the staging focused so much on her dress. Just put the spotlight on Elina and her voice, create a silhoutte as she stands wearing that pretty long dress and the stage lights do their magic to make the performance look just as magical as it was in Eesti Laul.
I think the stageging could be so much better! The dress is okay, but for me I had such a different performance for her… wich would be much cheaper for them. She doesn´t need that dress! Her vocals should be the mainpoint, not that dress.
She can win televotes with only her vocals and song. However, she needs a memorable staging to get enough jury points to win the whole thing. Juries usually don’t like opera in the contest so she needs a creative staging for sure.
I think TOP 5 with televote
1.Israel
2.Norway
3.Sweden
4.Czech Republic
5.Estonia
TOP 5 with juries
1.Belgium
2.The Netherlands
3.Sweden
4.Germany
5.Australia
TOP 5 (televote plus juries)
1.Sweden
2.Belgium
3.Israel
4.Norway
5.Germany
Are you sure? The juries seem to be very divisive when it comes to opera. She’ll get a bunch of 12s but also a bunch of 0s.
I don’t think it does. They might be insisting on this dress, but I think that any elegant clothes will do. I fell in love with the song while it was just released with no performance at all.
With money or without money, with dress or without dress , the entry still in my bottom list, i dont see her in the final
So the song is basically just built on a gimmick? Take it away and you have nothing is what I´m getting
Måns 2015 isn´t a gimmick. A gimmick is something you use to distract or gain votes without having any relevance to the song. That wasn´t the case with Måns. Nor is it the case this year.
However this is a strong song. Does it need a projecting dress? Is it of any relevance to the song? There might be a risk of people only paying attention to the dress rather than the song
Speak for yourself when calling Måns average. The song is good on its own. It´s not like Italy that year had a less average song. It was a sterotypical average entry, the kind you expect Italy to send. It only did well because it was three sexy guys performing, had it been anybody else it wouldn´t have reached top 10. It´s not like a overweight middle aged man would have reached top 10 with it. Staging is imoportant. Which it has been since televoting was introduced. It´s hardly something recent. Most of the winners from the naughties wouldn´t have won… Read more »
The juries are the juries. However ESC started to focus on staging way back in 2000. The staging was already a factor when it was written in the instructions. They got 6th because some say of vocal issues. The Group had well reported vocal flaws and for a jury where one criteria is voice that matters. None of the other favourites were perhaps better but all of them had flawless vocals which is why they did better. On top of that that still doesn´t change that the Italian song was way over the top and sterotypical. Yes Måns is sexy.… Read more »
@eugeneESCUK Thank You for saying, what I was thinking, I wanted to say something similar, but couldn’t but it into the words. Elina can’t give magical performance, because we don’t have LED’s either this year. So all of you, who are saying, she should think something better, than projections, what is your suggestions?? I can’t think anything else. In every year we have a lot of performance’s at Eurovision, who are giving us great song’s with a show. Took the show away and the ranking would have been lower. For sure. With La Forza you can’t but dancers into stage,… Read more »
The staging for Mans was actually creative and different. Personally I loved the song too without the projections so I’d consider it a worthy winner too.
Man in a hamster wheel, twins on a seasaw, lads in fridges, ice skaters, trampolines, lazy Susan’s, all to distract from the fact that a song is just average or just really bad…now they are gimmicks. Sweden 2015 worked because the song was also good too.
LOL, you started the debate!
On one side there are saying omg! the dress! keep it! keep it! it’s fantastic! and other side saying the song is powerful enough without it. It’s quite the dilemma, I agree that the song is indeed strong without it. But if you serve something high class/quality, the next time without it may leave underwhelming. Unless they come up with something else yet has the same quality. I just hope that they have something else in mind as plan B, because it’s just silly that they haven’t solved it sooner 🙁
Moldova 2013 had the money. Moldova is a country that is always careful to have money for Eurovision. This year Kirkorov is the ”patron saint”, but in general, they always save money for Eurovision. Good for them.
they are dedicated in eurovision! always participating with the aim of just having fun! love their entry this year!
Surely they could buy the projector outright for less than 65k! Then they rent it out to other people and make the money back
Dude that’s the whole point. It’s not cheaper to buy outright. This is specialist lighting equipment. It’s expensive. That’s why they are renting.
That’s the only reason Sweden won in 2015!
omg Salvador would be like… “fast food staging”
Dress, no dress, doesn’t matter. Quality is quality. I would still vote for the song and the voice. Of course, Estonia might not have a better chance to win than this so they should not let the cost become a barrier.
May she would be better off without the dress. A powerful voice should be left pure to shine on stage with dramatic lightening perhaps. No need for projection dresses. I didnt even notice the projections. I thought it was just fabric,lightening and different textures moving like a wave.
ERR don t have 65000 euro for projection performance and how will they colect 10 to 20 millions euro for organisation Eurovision 2019 if they win this year , because Estonia is one of favorites for win .
They have already started with the excuses for not bringing the dress.. You have the answer here.. They don’t seem to want to win :/
Are you dumb? This doesn’t mean that Estonia wouldn’t have the money to host. Do you not know how budgeting works? In fact, the Estonian HoD has been saying for the past few years that they can and would really like to host the show.
They have problem to colect money for Eurovision 2002, same for almost all ex soviet countries who are won in past, as Serbia. In this countriese goverment pay money to national television for host Eurovision and television gave maybe 5 to 10 % of all cost of hosting Eurovision.. In western countries, national television gave their money no money from goverment to host Eurovision (NRK must sold brodcaster licence for World Cup 2010 to private television, to had money to host Eurovision 2010, because goverment didn t gave them 1 euro for host Eurovision)
2002 we were a poor country still coming out of the devastating soviet regime. If ERR asked for 10 million EUR from the goverment to host ESC, I have no doubt they would get the money for it.
Exactly, hosting it now is not a problem. We are much more wealthy than we were in 2002. It was also kinda a shock win since nobody couldn’t see us winning, hence the sudden need to host.
They can always cover the long skirt with Swarovski crystals and make them shine in colors with the lights or something. Or buy a luxurious designer dress.
If she insists on the reflective dress, she has a rich boyfriend anyway. Maybe he can help.
Or maybe something like Raiven did in EMA last year. That would be cool. So just mirrors on the dress and lighting on it.
It’s better
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58AxsOiAk4U
What year is that?
Start a gofundme page? I really love Estonia’s entry this year and it’s such a beautiful country too. I hope they can recreate the staging from Eesti Laul. Tallinn 2019 would be amazing!
Jesus. That’s like half of the national economy of Estonia. I’m sure some spoilt gay teen in California will subsidise this for her. But maybe it would be good for her not to hide behind the fireworks. I just hope that brat from Sweden doesn’t win.
lmao I hope you’re kidding… c’mon we aint’ that poor. You have no idea how things are here so please don’t have false idea of us.
Of course I am joking my love. I have had many a fun night in Tallinn. And have found your men very hospitable (Hi Kaspar x).
No offence intended. Shame Kerli didn’t go last year
@Tasmin @Chris
hahaha ok great 😀
She is so good that she can do without the dress.Her voice and song will do the trick!I thought the projections on the dress were not as good as the ones Moldova used on Aliona Moon’s dress in 2013.That dress was epic!
I hope the staging looks good, but ultimately I think her voice is the biggest selling point. Dress or no dress, you can’t ignore a voice like that.
I personally don’t think the dress is a wow factor. Most of the projections are quite plain and boring… and a bit too dark as well…
Everyone who is saying, that the dress must go, is sneaky and they know that the dress gives the performance that wow effect, without it, the performance is a bland. So everyone who is saying, that the dress must go… I know that you want your country to get better result, so you “give advice”.
Aww, that’s very cynical! Her voice / performance is her strongest asset. And the projections are a little bland compared to Belarus 2018 or Wiktoria from 201X in Melodifestivalen. Best of luck to Estonia all the same 🙂
Paranoid much? ?
Different strokes for different folks, huntie!
Noone is plotting against Estonia or any other country here. Be reasonable. Dress or no dress she has a beautiful voice and deserves to do well. The dress is not so amazing. The idea has been done before and I dont think its worth the money anyway.
It’s a song contest: If the song doesn’t have the wow factor without impressive staging the song doesn’t deserve impressive staging!
I actually think they’re better off without the dress, It’s too gimmicky and leaves a cheap impression.
If the can’t bring the projections to Lisbon, they can kiss the win goodbye or possibly even fail to qualify. The dress makes the song so they should do everything they can to keep it.
Well, of course, it should be about Elina’s outstanding vocals and her performance abilities, but as this guy said, the dress gives it a Wow-moment. So I hope they’ll get the money somewhere… Estonia deserves to be in the final with that act in my opinion and I hope they will fly high there…
We have already seen it at Eurovision so she should come to Lisbon with something more creative. And it doesn’t need to cost so much.
If you want something of high quality, so the viewers at home can actually see the result, yes. It has to cost so much. It’s probably nothing in comparison to Russia in 2016 and that song didn’t even deserve the final. It’s all thanks to the stage performance that he got the third place. The staging, which in this case is the dress, is very important and if they want to spend that much money to get high quality, then let them do so.
C’mon, we are not going to vote for the dress of the year, it’s about the song. Moldova’s O Mie did the dress thing for some years ago – and somehow it worked back then. Zero for the dress, 7/12 for the song and the singer.
She looks like a volcano, kinda!
my opinion is that the surprise factor is more that show the sabe, y prefeer a rain of diamonts or she singing floting or werever diferent.
When does London party begin?
Elina Nechayeva also gave a short interview to Postimees, where she says that she is hopeful they will find the funding and the dress will be at Lisbon. According to her, they are actually working on a better, more “organic” projection mapping so they definently haven’t dumped it yet. The dress designer is Kristiina Viirpalu who has done several outfits for Eurovision performers such as Elina Born, Jüri Pootsmann and Laura. (Also worth noting that Elina’s husband is a pretty big real estate buisnessman with quite a bit of wealth so maybe he might come to the rescue for his… Read more »
Oh I haven’t read the Postimees one yet. Maybe it’s indeed better to have it more “organic”.
Kristiina Viirpalu is yes indeed really the best designer out there, although Jüri’s outfit was a total miss, it was to big for him.
Ja issand tasa tema elukaaslase kohta, ta niigi sai haiget kogu kollase meedia soperdamisest. Pole vaja seda siia välja tuua. Las see jääb riigi sisemiseks värgiks.
What is this amount of pressed people? The dress effects work perfectly for Elina’s song, and it’s not like the geepee will care if TWO part performances used it (two performances which came top 4, anyway).
And still the fandom last year went mad for Hovig using the same white background as Belgium. And that was for a few seconds.
Well that was just a clear rip off.
I think Normet going public with the costs is him trying to put pressure on the err to give funding. I think we will see the dress in Lisbon!
When priorities are reversed: instead of focusing on her talent and truly believing in her song … the drama is about those already “cliched used before” dress projections … right!!! This is what happens when fans and followers make TV stations believe nobody will take any notice of the music unless something is VISUALLY happening on stage. Right! This is exactly how great musicians dragged their audiences to LISTEN TO THEM and this is how music legends set their standards. Right!!! #facepalm #dontspendthemoneyyoudonthaveforheavenssake #thisisasongcontestnotashallowrealitytvshow
Couldn’t agree more!
Love your posts Charles! I always find myself agreeing with them.
The dress projection worked on Eesti Laul because it was a smaller stage, and the dress covered it all up, filling all the stage. The same won’t happen in Lisbon. Bigger stage, and don’t think they’ll be able to cover the whole stage up. The “magic” in this performance is getting caught up in the universe they’re creating, and not being able to fill the stage up with the dress will cost Estonia greatly. I’m not a fan of this song, I appreciate the vocal capabilities of Elina, but at the end of the day I would hate for this… Read more »
Camera angles will make it look like it does
OK, so Estonia really only has two options if they want to save money and use the projected dress, one of them being unrealistic while the other would be more realistic. The unrealistic option is to get a loan of Ira Losco’s hardly warn, projecting dress that she scrapped for her staging during ESC 2016, then, in that case, their saving €30,000 at least as the projectors only cost 3300 a day and at most, their only going to need it for 6 days, which equates to €19,800 in those costs + the dress loan, which could be around 5-10K… Read more »
Oh, drama! Moldova 2013 called! Aliona Moon wants her dress projections back! Elina…you thief!
Sabina did it first in 2012, so…
This projection drama is soooo 2012.
Estonia you can do better than this.
I really don’t see this as a bad thing. This gives Estonia a chance to be creative and come up with something original for the performance.
Projection dresses have been done way too many times recently at Eurovision. They start to lose their appeal after a while.
Not for the sake of money saving, but for the sake of destroying tackiness and cheap gimmicks in Eurovision, once and for all, I just hope that Estonia decides to discard the dress projections for Lisbon. The problem is not that it has been done before (EVERYTHING has been done before); the problem is that those dress projections are cheezy af.
I think ERR should be confident enough to come up with a cheaper and simpler solution and rely on the song and her performance. If she wins without the projection, then it will be because of the power of the song and her performance and this is what it should matter in the end. If she wins with the projection, apart of spending money, then her victory will be put in question and people will say that it was because of the dress.
“A win is a win”. Lots of people got mad after Jamala’s victory…she’s still the winner.
Btw, people will ALWAYS talk.
Yes I suppose you are right, there.
Maybe they need to take Safura’s approach and let the dress light up from within. Projection dress has been done to the death.
You mean Sabina Babayeva, Azerbaijan 2012?
No, Safura. But Safura’s approach looked really cheap.
Imagine if Elina can’t afford the dress projections and ends up second to Sweden by a very slim margin.
Benjamin’s gonna be singing ”Dress You Off” as a winner’s reprise.
Sweden winning would be the Kind of nightmare that’ll not come true hopefully…
Look, I don’t hate Sweden at all. It’s even in my top 20 and I like it, but a victory would be too much!
If Elina likes to borrow styling so much (Moldova 2013), she can borrow a cheaper Iiris & Agos Eesti Laul styling (retrowave aggressive violet/pink/blue lights) to contrast her uber-academic pseudo-operatic session of vocal gymnastics.