For a few weeks, there has been speculation of what Estonia’s Elina Nechayeva will be wearing in Lisbon. For a while, it seemed that the cost of scaling up her Eesti Laul projection dress staging would put if off limits for Lisbon. But now a sponsorship deal has saved the day.

Back in March, Elina raised the bar when it came to dress code at the Estonian national final. Her projection dress filled the floor and grabbed everyone’s attention.

But about a month later hope faded for the Estonian beauty to actually bring the dress with her to Lisbon. It looked like Estonia’s broadcaster ERR would not be able to afford the cost of renting the high-end projectors, estimatedwhopping whooping €65,000.

But not to worry, the empress won’t be without her new clothes in Lisbon.

In a statement from the Estonian delegation, it has been confirmed that Elina’s team has found a good samaritan in the form of a sponsorship deal from a collection of different sponsors. The sponsors in question are Saku Suurhall, Carglass, Estravel and River Island. However the sponsors didn’t provide the whole amount though, but the Estonian public broadcaster and Elina’s management company are paying the rest themselves.

Estonia’s Head of Delegation, Mart Normet, broke the news and is of course thrilled that the Estonian team found a solution for the dress problem.

He explained, “I know there are some sceptics out there who thought that this was all a publicity stunt and they may never fully believe us, but we were incredibly close to having to pull the plug on the projector dress all together. We had a different act with a new lighting and camera plan ready to go just in case.”

Elina herself says that her “main goal is to go out there and do my absolute best. I know that I would be able to do this regardless of what dress I am wearing, but I think this projection dress truly represents the message of all powerful, universal love and that is what La Forza is all about”.

But everyone can probably agree that the projection dress is a huge part of the performance so it comes as a no surprise that Elina was ecstatic when she got the news that she would be able to bring it with her.

She said, “I am so thankful to all the sponsors for their help, the Estonian team who have worked so hard to make this happen and to all the fans out there who have sent me messages of support. I cannot wait to go out there and make you all proud.”

So Elina, her giant dress and the elaborate 360 projections will be seen in Lisbon.

What do you think? Are you happy with the dress problem being sorted? Do you think the dress is a crucial part of the performance? Tell us in the comments below.

Read more Estonia news here

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Euphoria
Euphoria
5 years ago

I don’t get the excitement around this ‘dress’ issue as it is nothing new to the ESC… Back in 2013 Moldova did that.
Copying is never good (as it was for Iceland in 2016).
Elina’s song has a potential that will be drown in the waves of a material…
That’s how you loose the chance to win it!

Charli Cheer Up
Charli Cheer Up
5 years ago

No surprises there. This whole thing was a PR to build hype and because Estonia refuses to participate on any pre-ESC party to save voice. But I’m happy that they’re willing to recreate the NF performance to Eurovision due to good reception from fans online. I can totally see this in Top 10.

Mia
Mia
5 years ago

Sad to hear that all of that makes you think that it was PR.. We don’t even care about the hype.. We are just happy to send a really good song to ESC.. not like last year? Verona was a big no-go ?

srsly
srsly
5 years ago

They did not refuse to save voice. Elina has a tight schedule, she was in Helsinki, Stockholm, Vilnius, Paris and New York these weeks with concerts and going to some classes, preparing for Eurovision.

Danny
Danny
5 years ago

This whole story about the dress is nothing but pathetic. This staging idea was done millions of times and is beaten to death at this point, and they fought so hard to raise money to deliver yet another screaming woman trapped in a huge projection dress. THANK YOU Estonia, thank you for sharing your fascinating financial problems with us and your absolute lack of creative thinking.

Mr Häggkvist
Mr Häggkvist
5 years ago
Reply to  Danny

You are the Pathetic in this particular case, if you will say a lot of stupid things, you should shut up and stay in your cage.

Danny
Danny
5 years ago
Reply to  Mr Häggkvist

Mr Häggkvist did you forget to take your pills darling?

Random.Sage2.0
Random.Sage2.0
5 years ago
Reply to  Danny

And you’ll be saying this when it gets top 10.

A beaten horse that can still run is a good horse to bet on!

ELY
ELY
5 years ago
Reply to  Danny

WOW THANK YOU DANNY for paying so much attention to Estonia,this is just a promotion for Estonia, but about sharing our financional issues with you know, it is an internal affair of our country and not your bisness at all, so you should thank wiwibloggs personally, they did share information about the issues of money. THANK YOU DANNY very much

Frau Loch
Frau Loch
5 years ago

Egle, 2L has a point. The delegation had to send their idea and props some time ago and I wonder if the EBU will make an exception for this particular case. But who cares? An LED dress, a refugee child, a wheelchair on a mountain etc. this is a contest and if the delegations think they can win this way, let them be. I think it is a waste of time. All this buzz is for the fans who can’t get enough of eurovision. The juries don’t care and the vast majority of Grand Final viewers won’t have a clue.… Read more »

Yaa
Yaa
5 years ago
Reply to  Frau Loch

Sure! A cowboy as Deus ex machina! And 200 million europeans rushing to vote for it! You got it right!

Yaa
Yaa
5 years ago
Reply to  Yaa

That was sarcasm.

Henry
Henry
5 years ago
Reply to  Frau Loch

I agree completely with you and i even also think that the Netherlands (Waylon) will be the Moldova of 2018…

BLAST@ESCNEWS
BLAST@ESCNEWS
5 years ago
Reply to  Henry

YES HENRY..U ARE RIGHT..!!!..NETHERLANDS IS THE ABSOLUTE DARK HORSE THIS YEAR..!!..NOBODY SEES WAYLON COMING..!!..
SO DIFFERENT AND SO UNIQUE ENTRY..!!..
EUROPE WILL LOVE HIM..
IT SEEMS U KNOW HOW TO SEE THROUGH THINGS ..
WELL DONE MAN.. !!

BLAST@ESCNEWS
BLAST@ESCNEWS
5 years ago

THIS IS THE QUEEN OF ESC 2018 !!..
ABSOLUTE PERFECTION IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY..
I BELEIVE SO MUCH THATSHE WILL STAND OUT SO MUCH AND BLOW EVERYONES MINDS !!!..ELEVATES THE CONTEST TO ANOTHER LEVEL..!!
MY WINNER FROM THE BEGGINING..THE DRESS IS JUST A SMALL DETAIL THAT ELEVATES HER PERFORMANCE ..
ALL MY LOVE TO THIS BEAUTIFUL MASTERPIECE WINNER !!!..

Denis
Denis
5 years ago
Reply to  BLAST@ESCNEWS

Oh. You should join the Spanish fans. They too are the masters of overpraising entries

John
5 years ago
Reply to  BLAST@ESCNEWS

I feel the same… but in lower case.
Would be nice to have two non-English winners back to back… first time since 90/91.

Mr. Abbott
Mr. Abbott
5 years ago

I think this dress is going to be as useless as Loboda’s hell machine, and all we know what happened.

Random.Sage2.0
Random.Sage2.0
5 years ago
Reply to  Mr. Abbott

Ukraine got robbed in 2009!

Still left side of the scoreboard though.

2L
2L
5 years ago

Why I think this was a PR thing from the begining: Every delegation needs to send to the production team in the hosting country a complete and detailed scenario of how the entry must be presented and what kind of props will be needed for staging, number of people on stage etc. a month before the actual event. So 6 days before the rehearsals begin the estonian delegation wants us to believe that there is enough time to do all the necessary work and proceed with renting the equipment? The portuguese production team needs to know what they will be… Read more »

Random.Sage2.0
Random.Sage2.0
5 years ago
Reply to  2L

Nah. What arrangement do you need for standing in one spot? All you need to do is align the dress and get the camera angles right. Also, dramatic lighting wouldn’t have been bad to give an enhanced performance… Wouldn’t been as amazing as the dress but dramatic staging could’ve gave it more substance outside of aesthetics.

Danny
Danny
5 years ago
Reply to  Random.Sage2.0

Random.Sage2.0 you have no idea how delicate and precise video mapping is (I worked in that industry). Those projectors are massive (about 70 kg each), they need to be permanently hang above the stage in a very precise position during the whole contest (it’s not a prop that you can place in 40 seconds and take away after 3 minutes). It’s really a lot for the organisers to take in consideration. And I’m absolutely sure they were informed long ago that there will be projectors that need to be placed for the Estonian entry.

Kyna
Kyna
5 years ago
Reply to  Danny

I think you didn’t know that there are two other countries that will also use the projectors. They paid it before, thus the projectors were installed long ago. Ola Melzig, who is responsible for the technical structure and implementation of the contest, said that the projectors weren’t installed specially for us, they were meant for those other countries, but was ready just in case if we are able to use it (now obviously, we will use it). Soooo yeah, they took it in consideration after all.

Danny
Danny
5 years ago
Reply to  Kyna

I will mention again that I know what I’m talking about since I used to work for big video mapping productions. The amount of projectors and their exact placement vary depending on how and what you going to project on. For example Mans “Heroes” projection requires 1 projectors that is hanged in front of the stage. Estonia requires about 4 that hang above the stage since the surface is not vertical but lays on the floor. So even if they hang a projector somewhere, doesnt mean it could be used by all the delegations since the technical requirements are very… Read more »

Kyna
Kyna
5 years ago
Reply to  Danny

They needed 3, but I’m not questioning your knowledge and experience… I just pointed out that the projectors are not meant only for us, that’s all. About the dress… well Russia wants to do the dress thing too (which I’m not satisfied with it at all), so we might have two dresses this year.

2L
2L
5 years ago
Reply to  Danny

Thank you for saving me the trouble to explain such a basic concept.

Egle
Egle
5 years ago

Please stop your negative comments. We would have preferred to not come out with this problem, but the situation didn’t leave us no other possibility. The sponsors were needed, but how should they be informed, when you don’t rise the topic in media? Thank god now it’s fixed. I hope the focus still stays on Elina and her singing, because the show will definitely be more powerful.

Danny
Danny
5 years ago
Reply to  eesti

YAY looks like melting ice cream, does she sing about ice cream tho?

Diane
Diane
5 years ago

I’ve got symptomatically ILL from all this drama about that Estonian dress!!! GET LOST, YOU AND HER WRECK!!!

JEFF SWISS
JEFF SWISS
5 years ago

See the video on youtube of a technical rehearsal on the stage. It’s fantastic!!!!

Passarinho
Passarinho
5 years ago
Reply to  JEFF SWISS

Would you kindly share the link?

JEFF SWISS
JEFF SWISS
5 years ago
Reply to  Passarinho
Todd
Todd
5 years ago
Reply to  Passarinho

Thank God, we haven’t LED screens to distract from the music substance…

Anita
Anita
5 years ago
Reply to  JEFF SWISS
JEFF SWISS
JEFF SWISS
5 years ago
Reply to  Anita

Yes, Thanks Anita!

Yaa
Yaa
5 years ago
Reply to  Anita

The music is awesome!

Anita
Anita
5 years ago

I think we can appreciate that we are going to get both this year – very impressive and expensive staging like Estonia and Sweden is giving to us and simple staging like Portugal and Albania are going to execute.

Eugent said: “It will be a simple thing, because I love simple things and we want the people in the audience to focus entirely on the song and on the performance.”

Different concepts and attitudes and we can celebrate diversity.

Anita
Anita
5 years ago
Reply to  Anita

And there will also be professional choreographies – made by Sacha Jean Paptiste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usvgBWLjjQY

Evan
Evan
5 years ago

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAS. Iconic Eurovision stagings for the win!

Thanos
Thanos
5 years ago

How does Estonia relate to opera and italian language ? WTF ?

Marelle
Marelle
5 years ago
Reply to  Thanos

Why cannot Estonia relate to opera? We estonians have very long history in it, it’s not like only italians are allowed to sing opera. You make no sense.

Martina
Martina
5 years ago
Reply to  Thanos

She studied it. It’s a big part of her life and of her artistic dimension

gj
gj
5 years ago
Reply to  Thanos

Opera is pan-European cultural heritage. Italian is one of the common languages of opera.

Yaa
Yaa
5 years ago
Reply to  gj

I was about to say Elina Garanca but she is from Latvia, so, no, Estonia is not big in opera.

Random.Sage2.0
Random.Sage2.0
5 years ago
Reply to  gj

Ditto.

Anita
Anita
5 years ago

I think when people will hear Bulgaria direct after Estonia on the 8th of May they will detect that Bulgaria has a much better song even if Estonia has the more impressive staging.

Paul
Paul
5 years ago
Reply to  Anita

Well, we don’t know that do we? Bulgaria could pull something out of the hat that puts Estonia to shame

Dew
Dew
5 years ago

PR news since the beginning.

Marios
Marios
5 years ago
Reply to  Dew

I still prefer some PR on a dress than on abused women and drowned little children.

GuyGuy
GuyGuy
5 years ago

I guess the only problem now is that Russia is doing the same dress gimmick..Oh what a drama!!!

Andy
Andy
5 years ago
Reply to  GuyGuy

Russia’s dress being a projection is only an assumption at this moment. “Part of the scenery” does not automatically mean projection.

Evan
Evan
5 years ago
Reply to  Andy

Surely that means her dress will be a mountain on which she sits, a la her video. No?

Rimig
Rimig
5 years ago
Reply to  Evan

I guess she will be sitting on a platform that will lift her to show her dress becoming a mountain. I also have the feeling that would look as bad and childish as in the video…

Yaa
Yaa
5 years ago
Reply to  Rimig

Wait, like Aliona, Moldova’s 2013? It can’t be!

Random.Sage2.0
Random.Sage2.0
5 years ago
Reply to  Yaa

lol O mie, oh my!

Random.Sage2.0
Random.Sage2.0
5 years ago
Reply to  GuyGuy

Says who!? I’m interested and excited on what Julia’s gonna do!

Roby8
Roby8
5 years ago

Yeah!! So happy for Elina 🙂
I know she will slay!
And please… can people stop with all the cynism and the conspiracy theories
Almost every song this year is awesome so can we just please be happy when all goes according to plan and when there are good surprises ?! This year show will be great!! Long live ESC 🙂

Angus Quinn
Editor
5 years ago

So glad the Estonians are bringing a show to dazzle us!!

friedenau
friedenau
5 years ago

It’s going to be spectacular! So glad that I will be able to see it live! (family show). Good luck Estonia

florin
florin
5 years ago

it was clear they have the money.. now lets see in just 2 days france have found the baby mercy and estonia money for the dress.. what miracle we shoul see in the next days?

Henrikh Mugosa
Henrikh Mugosa
5 years ago
Reply to  florin

LOL

Back in 2012 Loreen choke on a snowflake during rehearsals. Can you imagine that? I always laugh my ass off when i come to think of that.

…ah la magie de l’Eurovision! Anything goes to attract a bit of attention!

Fun or ban?
Fun or ban?
5 years ago
Reply to  Henrikh Mugosa

In Loreen’s case, it was true. Watch the video: min 2.10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duGD4LB-XOw

esc1234
esc1234
5 years ago

Thank god the pointless drama of a diva is over. Now, someone tell the estonians that 65,000 euros doesn’t guarantee that she will win or qualify.

Anita
Anita
5 years ago

It hurts my heart – because this €65,000 electro dress will be the cause for other wonderful entries not qualifying. Beautiful lady with mega effective dress plus voice – works with ESC.
The idea of Portugal for simple staging gets corrupted by money – but they allow that countries bring their own LED etc.

ulk
ulk
5 years ago
Reply to  Anita

”The idea of Portugal for simple staging”…want us back to The Dark Age, but some brave countries keep Eurovision alive.

You see, I fix it for you.

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
5 years ago
Reply to  Anita

The simple staging was the general idea: To put back the focus on the SONG. If you want extreme hi-tech, you have to bring your own this year. The question, when Lisbon revealed the stage design in December, was “How will they cope?”

Now, will Estonia be able to integrate their technology into the limited stage technology of the Lisbon stage? If their BYOT (bring-your-own-tech) devices can’t be implemented into the stage tech, they’re $#!+ out of luck, and so is any other country whose BYOT equipment can’t be programmed into the Lisbon stage tech.

ulk
ulk
5 years ago
Reply to  CookyMonzta

Lisbon is in Dark Age. This is unacceptable for 2018 host. People forgive anything about Portugal, but if it were Ukraine……

Anita
Anita
5 years ago
Reply to  ulk

Lisbon is inconsistent about their aiming for simple staging by don’t providing high tech but than allow countries to bring their own expensive high tech.

Hexular
Hexular
5 years ago
Reply to  Anita

THIS! If anything, they have actually amplified the problem they claim Eurovision has. Instead of keeping it simple with just an LED screen and a few props, countries are essentialy bringing their own stages to the competition. They didn’t solve the problem with low-tech, they made it worse!

alla
alla
5 years ago
Reply to  Anita

@ Anita
Because the answer is only one: Portugal hides behind big principles (only music should matter, blah blah), but the only truth is that Portugal doesn’t have the money to host, so they are happy if countries bring their own tech.

Jake
Jake
5 years ago
Reply to  alla

You do realize that there are staging elements that are common in Eurovision that delegations have to pay for including fire and fireworks–these are elements that most host nations provide but at a cost to delegations. Which is why many delegations don’t include it or only use them in key rehearsals and on television. Also just because a country might want a staging element, the host broadcaster is not obliged to give in. Last year Romania wanted to have confetti in their staging but Ukraine killed that because it conflicted with other parts of the staging they decided on. If… Read more »

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
5 years ago
Reply to  CookyMonzta

It takes us back to the argument that poor countries like Portugal should never been given the opportunity to host. It is ruining Eurovision. To make the matter worse, the Portugese are too arrogant and proud to admit their problems and wrongdoings.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
5 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

^Not the real Mask.
People are people, end of.
Let music tear down the borders. One world, one humanity. 🙂

Jo
Jo
5 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

Thanks for your extreme left wing view. We need more borders and more security checks to make sure Europe is safe. Contrary to the Italy’s song, we need army and weapon to protect Europe. Military should be able to open fire at those who are in Europe illegally. You must have been living in the cave while all the terrorist attacks happened.

Denis
Denis
5 years ago
Reply to  Jo

And you must be naive if you Think that a: we can be protected from terrorism, B; that having borders and military will stop terrorism and c that terrorism is correlated with migrants. But then again right wing conservatism isn’t known for being the brightest bunch

Jamala
Jamala
5 years ago

Ok. I want a good samaritan to explain me what the hell is the message of this song???????

Kyna
Kyna
5 years ago
Reply to  Jamala

So this is how she describes her song (taken from the description of the lyric video, I tried to translate it more or less) : The most powerful force in this world is love. The story of “La Forza” i.e. “The Force” speaks of the great eternal love that gives us wings, rises us to new heights and illuminates our life. Inspiration for the words of this song I found from my heart, and I hope that everyone looking into their souls finds the light of love in theirs. Darkness can hide flowers from your eyes, but it cannot hide… Read more »

Lindsey
5 years ago
Reply to  Kyna

A song about love? i think i just died from the originalness of it.

Darth Thulhu
Darth Thulhu
5 years ago
Reply to  Lindsey

It’s also about peace. And old women baking bread. And a man in a hamster wheel.

Jamala
Jamala
5 years ago
Reply to  Kyna

Thanks Kyna.

Yaa
Yaa
5 years ago
Reply to  Jamala

No message whatsoever, just a vocal exercise to lure the innocents, but juries won’t buy into.

Passarinho
Passarinho
5 years ago
Reply to  Jamala

It’s basically a fast food song, wraped in a “high culture” package

PS
PS
5 years ago

Worth noting that literally no one will hear about the dress drama besides the most dedicated part of the ESC fandom. It won’t effect the opinions of the people who will see the act for the first time.

Denis
Denis
5 years ago
Reply to  PS

Unless the commentators mentions it. Every time..

GiavK
GiavK
5 years ago

I may sound bad but I believe this whole story was promo tactic from Elina in order to attract attention from all this dress drama.But why?She doesn’t need it she has a great song anyway..

Madrileño
Madrileño
5 years ago

Well Done Estonia now get to Work and WIN.
My number 1

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
5 years ago
Reply to  Madrileño

My #1 as well. But I’ve got a soft spot for France right now, and the next time I grade these entries (this coming weekend), they both may flip. I’d like to see a music video from Elina.

Madrileño
Madrileño
5 years ago
Reply to  CookyMonzta

I like France too

Soul
Soul
5 years ago

Disgusting way to be on the news 24/7. Stay classy Estonia or go to Verona!

Roy Moreno
Roy Moreno
5 years ago

So happy for her!
Wish her the best of luck <3

Troy
Troy
5 years ago

They need the dress to make up for the fact that this isn’t a song but a vocal showcase.

Eaftosmou Krymmenos
Eaftosmou Krymmenos
5 years ago
Reply to  Troy

Il Volo (Italy) with “Grande Amore” was a far better song than Estonia this year. Of course, Elina’s voice is the best in the contest and the song melodic and peaceful (it’s opera, after all), but the song itself isn’t that good. She received so much publicity only for the pointless “dress” drama on this site. It’s so unjust towards other top 10 contenders.

Paul
Paul
5 years ago

I hope they project a massive river island logo on the dress during the performance as part of the deal

JeyDelRey
JeyDelRey
5 years ago
Reply to  Paul

I spilled my coffee laughing at this comment :’) even though I really like La Forza, your comment made my day!

Yaa
Yaa
5 years ago
Reply to  Paul

Great one!

Lawrence Gibb
Lawrence Gibb
5 years ago

I believe I mentioned a few weeks ago that this was all part of the hype. I disagree with many of the comments however, yes she does have a great voice but the song in my humble opinion is very ordinary. The dress actually makes the presentation poorer, forcing Elina to be so static. She looks cold and distant as a result. If you look at other videos of her she can perform much better. I fear this is 2011 again when all the big favourites fail to make the cut.

Nickc
Nickc
5 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Gibb

I agree 100 percent. I think she will not make the cut, or maybe barely make it.

Joe
Joe
5 years ago

OK, she found the projector. NOW can we talk about the song instead? It’s a great song! Her voice is great! I think it just might qualify! But for the love of Christ, I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE DRESS. It’s a dress. It’s big. The projections look purdy and make you go “oh wow that’s a cool dress.” They couldn’t do it for a while. Now they could. The dress is 100% the last thing on my mind with this entry. It’s my third-favorite and the dress has zilch to do with it. Wiwi, I love you, but unless your… Read more »

LEO ESC AUT
LEO ESC AUT
5 years ago

Who really believed in all the nonsense of money that Estonia will not manage to scrape together the money for the dress, etc.?
All part of the PR team, who cares,
I don’t buy all the stuff – not for me.
Still no winner for me !

R
R
5 years ago
Reply to  LEO ESC AUT

LEO – what PR team would on purpose bring negative publicity on their act? It is a real thing that 65 000 euros for a stage show is a lot of money for Estonia and as it is evident, the concerns about not being able to get it made the act fall in bookies as well.

LEO ESC AUT
LEO ESC AUT
5 years ago
Reply to  R

@R –

It’s by far not a very must to show up in Lisbon at the ESC stage with a dress of 65000 euros, or is it ? I cannot find any ESC rule saying – that this a regulation . But by the way I wish Estonia the very best, fingers crossed.

Denis
Denis
5 years ago

Oh well it´s not like she´s going to win. Dress or no, this ain’t winning material.
Who honestly thought she would be without dress? In ESC if performers ask for something they will get it. Fuss over nothing..

Now if Russia gets a projecting dress who will wear it best?

Kit Kat
Kit Kat
5 years ago
Reply to  Denis

So true 🙂
I still hope Russia will have a totally different dress, based on something other than projection. Otherwise it will be bad for both songs. So much money spent for nothing…
I hope Yulia has a white dress, something that moves.
IMO no Grand Final for any of both.

blondboybc
blondboybc
5 years ago

YESSSS!!!!

Pavel
Pavel
5 years ago

Netta and Equinox are shook

Jayy R
Jayy R
5 years ago
Reply to  Pavel

Truuuueeee!

Escphbelgium
Escphbelgium
5 years ago
Reply to  Pavel

Eh… Not really, no. They’ll bring their own magic trick.

ulk
ulk
5 years ago

Elina please win, have no mercy.

Kyna
Kyna
5 years ago

HALLELUJAH! 😀