Estonia has had their say! Eesti Laul 2019 saw twelve songs enter the final, but only one could win. Victor Crone is going to Eurovision 2019 to represent Estonia, with “Storm”!
“Storm” marks the third winning Eesti Laul winning song for Stig Rästa as well. Will it be third time lucky for him and Victor in Tel Aviv?
Victor Crone – “Storm”
Voting took place across two rounds, as is the Eesti Laul standard. In the first half, an international only jury split the vote 50-50 with the televote. The three acts progressing from this stage were Uku Suviste, Stefan and Victor Crone himself.
Victor only managed to finish 9th with the jury in the first round. Clearly, he had the public support then and in the superfinal. With a 100% public vote, Victor took the win with “Storm”.
Eesti Laul 2019 – Jury Votes
The jury overwhelmingly supported Stefan, with a number of jurors giving him their top 12 points. But the public vote then turned everything around – with Victor and Uku overtaking a number of acts to make it to the superfinal.
Eesti Laul 2019 – Finalists
1st: Victor Crone — “Storm”
2nd: Uku Suviste — “Pretty Little Liar”
3rd: Stefan — “Without You”
4th: Sissi — “Strong”
5th: Lumevärv ft. Inga — “Milline päev”
6th: Inger — “Coming Home”
7th: The Swingers, Tanja & Birgit — “High Heels in the Neighbourhood”
8th: Sandra Nurmsalu — “Soovide puu”
9th: Kerli Kivilaan — “Cold Love”
10th: Kadiah — “Believe”
11th: Synne Valtri — “I’ll Do It My Way”
12th: xtra basic & Emily J — “Hold Me Close”
Also during the show, we saw performances from a whole host of former Estonian representatives: Ivo Linna, Getter Jaani, Elina Born, Juri Pootsmann and Elina Nechayeva. Elina was even shown a shot of Australia’s 2019 act, Kate Miller-Heidke – let the comparisons continue!
Victor will sing in the second half of the first semi-final in Tel Aviv. After some up and down years recently, will Estonia be another top ten contender – or is it the semi-finals only for them?
Do you think the right song won Eesti Laul 2019? What do you think Estonia’s chances are in Tel Aviv? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments section below!
It’s just the same song as “whitout you” by Avici… It shouldn’t have qualified and now it won’t win, I hope so
Plastic pop at it’s worst. Will do a Verona I’m afraid. This has to be the most cliched rubbish in this year’s ESC. He should change his name to Victor Cliche.
My favourite song won! So beautiful, nice staging, current! Thank you Estonia!
OMG Estonia, you had so much to choose from… Stefan would deliver a magical moment, Sissy a super-fun moment and Uku a much better performance. It might still qualify but I’m not seeing it do very well…
This song is worse than the one from last year! Victor is a bad singer and I am sure, Estonia will fail in the Semifinal this year. The better choice would have been Uku but the Estonian televoters spoiled that!
What the heck are these rules that let the 9th place from the jury win it all while in portugal even coming 3rd in the jury final Conan will probably not win despite winning the televote.
Estonia has better voting system. Televoters 12 points pushed Victor to Top 3. So he got in second voting round that is 100% televotes only. Obviously he got 12 points again and won.
it’s because there’s a top 3 televote only superfinal, which always goes for the blandest option
I bet that 80% of negative comments are here because Sandra didn’t win. It was clear from the beginning that she ends somewhere in the bottom. So get over it already.
Kinda like it. Definitely qualifying.
welcome to tel aviv, good song i like it
You can call this song generic as much as you want or can, but the fact is that this song is already on the international radio. In Sweden it plays like every 10 minutes. I think Estonia has pretty good chances to be high in the grand final.
I live in Sweden and I have yet to hear it! And I listen to all radio stations and Spotify!
So where did you hear it?
@Denis – i think that’s just a rumor that the Estonian media started. It was picked up by one radio in Sweden and now in every interview, Victor mentions it. LOL.
Rix FM for example
Storms happen all the time.
Stig’s songwriting peaked at In Or Out and Home. We all know Storm is not a masterpiece and is mediocre at best. He should take a break from Eesti Laul, and maybe from songwriting altogether.
Those two were the lowest point of his career, and Storm is now part of it.
If you take a listen to the chorus of Avicii’s ‘Without You’ and compare it to the chorus of Storm, it’s pretty evident that there’s similarity between the two. In saying that, it’s not present the whole way through the song so it’s not a direct copy, but there’s definitely some sort of influence.
@Michael – Actually, “Storm” is just a hybrid of Avicii’s “Without YOU” and Ariana Grande’s “One Last Time”. Once you hear it, you cannot unhear it… 🙂
Not bad at all, but nothing new or outstanding. It feels like this year it might be between Romania and Italy for the win, the acts simply don’t bring emotion for the audience.
Why only Italy and Romania? There are still many other countries who did not reveal their song yet…
Excuse me, where can I find the Romanian entry?
Romania to win LOL! Romania will be lucky if it qualifies at all.
I like his performance…and I didn’t see the other performances, so I can’t compare, but I like this anyway! Just hope they will do more with the staging for Eurovision.
I looked up ‘generic’ in a dictionary and found this song.
Stefan should’ve won.
Meh… I mean its OK, but Stig never hot the highs of ‘Goodbye to Yesterday’ after Vienna. To me, it seems like he should take a break, recharge and come back with a bang.
It’s a cool song, but it gives me Poland 2018 vibes super hard
No this song has more words lol and a better bop
A storm like this
Can brake a man like this
Yea, good songwriting Stig… You’re a great one but come on, even I could have written something better…
Overall, good vibes but a bit too generic
I can’t believe he won coming 9th/12 with juries…
I was in the arena and you should’ve heard the deafening cheering for that basic song
So generic. Would not have won in Sweden.
Yes, because Sweden never picks a generic song… C’mon! Get a grip
He better hit that high note first before I can consider him in my favorites.
He better bring good results from Tell Aviv or we Estonians will throw him back to Sweden ASAP XD.
Ahh. Pressure.
Does this also mean Lukas Meijer isn’t in Poland anymore?
He probably already is there.
Sounded better. Not my choice (Stefan would’ve been better) but I can see why the public went for it. The super final concept is a bit of a time waste though isn’t it?
@Briekimichi – I agree, I think the voting structure should be revisited. The current first round doesn’t have the nuance that a voting system such as the one in Melfest finals has. Specifically, I think the votes of the public should be proportional to the percentage votes given; and neither the jury nor the public’s points should be reduced to a single set of votes (12,10 etc) prior to combining. The current system is there so that the jury could weed out the trash, but in its current implementation, it’s failing. I think a small tweak such as the one… Read more »
Can we talk about Elina’s performance though like she was BREATHTAKING! Queen of Estonia
Hear that? That’s the sound of a plane crashing. Nrowwwwwwwww..boom!
The first thought that comes to mind is ‘Verona’ – the poor jury vote in Eesti Laul foreshadowed a poor jury vote in Kyiv. Will this have a similar fate?
Definitely
I really like this. Its the kind of song i’ve heard before, but i enjoy it. It has a positive vibe. This could reach the finals, but i dont think it will do well there.
Isn’t it a little too similar to this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI9S2W66IYU
Estonians didn’t buy juries nonsense. I hope EL team learns from that.
It’s a very good entry. Good luck Estonia!
It sounds quite bland and generic to me. And it seems to me that I’ve heard this song before, it reminds me of a different one, but I don’t know which one. Or maybe it’s just so generic that it sounds like any other song.
Waaaaay to overrated.
This is a copy of Avicci
What is not a ”copy”? I have seen comments like this for every song that has been chosen for eurovision since I started following ESC. no matter what country. Where did you copied your comment? I swear I have seen something like that many times before.
@muhahaha – That’s not true. Maybe like 5% of all songs have plagiarism comments… you’re being extra.
It’s not too bad, but it feels a little artificial. Just my opinion. It beats Croatia, though.
Guys, we need a song like this in SF1.
The good news is that they have a plan. The staging is already all figured out. The camera work and the use of lights are pretty good. They’ll have some time now to decide if they really need that CGI moment (I think it’s unnecessary). Victor’s vocals had improved a lot from the semi, but I guess his high register will keep being divisive. The song itself is nice, though not original. The chorus stayed with me since the first time I’ve listened to it, which is a good sign. Stefan would have my vote, but this entry is decent.
And hooray, I disagree with you on something! It had to happen eventually, right?
“Storm” definitely needs that CGI moment – especially considering how the Tel Aviv stage design is going to be all lights and diamonds – they could probably actually do it for real on those screens, It would be a “wow” moment.
I’m glad that we disagreed in something that won’t make much difference. 😀 But if they use the screens for it, it wouldn’t be exactly CGI, isn’t it? I mean, the images on the screens we’ll still be computer generated, but they won’t need the visual effects to put him inside the storm. Or do you suggest using the big screen as a if it was a green one?
I’m not an expert, but with the level of resolution that some people on here were boasting about last month, they could probably make it look like he was standing inside the thunderstorm in 3D the whole time. Even the floor could be lit that way. Or if they were all “green screens”, literally anything could happen for TV, but the disadvantage would be that the live audience would just see a blank performance.
I do observe that it’s not as big a concept as Australia’s “Zero Gravity” though. Literally floating… it’s the winning ticket if they can do it.
Yeah, that moment it was probably quite weird for those who were watching Eesti Laul in loco. But you have a point, they need “a moment”, otherwise it’s just slick. If the screens are that good, maybe they could put him in the storm in a way it will be pleasant to watch not just in TV, but also for those in the arena. Anyway, they have 95% of the thing ready. They will have all the time to figure out the other 5.
For people complaining about the result, would you rather have the jury favourite win rather than the televote? For me, the public’s choice is the one that should win
We had it last week, it’s called San Remo. Although, I love their choice.
Yes, of course!
Predicted. STEFAN would be my choice, but, hey, Victor is a deserving representative of Estonia.
I do like Storm, but not significantly. It’s light, fun, and polished. I’ve heard many electro-country before and this is not new, but it’s still a good piece of music.
Although, those superfinalists are exactly my concern. I already concerned the ‘rigging’/favor of the votes to this group, and yes, Inger was left behind.
It´s generic and his vocals were not good at all.
I really would have prefered Uku Suviste or Stefan.
Not feeling it. Estonia is a filler this year.
horrid just like their entire selection….
Best song so far in this weak eurovision year.
Agree, we can be friends
Italy says hi.
Agree. I only really like estonia, slovenia and albania so far. Italy, UK and spain are good too I guess. The others are just meh
I do like Storm but it was not my first choice. I liked Sissi, Lumevarv & Sandra more, but Victor is still very good.
What did Elina say about Australia recycling her entry? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
She said its’s 2.0 or next level and is interested what happens with dresses in the following years with dresses
Basically she had positive things to say
I’m seriously tired to say that KMH’S dress was not a big projector.
Estonia has had one of the best NF of the year and they finally chose a generic pop song without personallity. From my point of view there were better songs. Bad, Estonia, bad.
I’m surprised. I actually like this song, but I didn’t expect it to win.
Despite he was my favorite, the low position in the international jury already says what will happen to him in Tel Aviv…
Jury gave points to semi final performances, Victor’s vocals were so much better in the final.
Generic pop. Nothing special and his vocals are unstable.
I’m happy with this one. It’s an easy breeze, as it were. Not too much thunder or lightning, and definitely not a rain shower. We can all find our way through this storm, and come out smelling of Victor’s leather on the other side. Also: Storms don’t last forever, forever remember. (Now just start holding hands and stop moaning, please.)
Although you know my top choices, I am also good with Victor winning. At least Estonia picked better than my country tonight. 🙁
Also, last year my top favorites won in about 10 national finals. This year – Zero! I am staring to think 2019 is definitely not on my side musically. 🙁
Interesting. So far, two of my absolute favourites have won. Some of the others were in my top 3, like Estonia’s winner and Italy’s winner, and UK. The only final not to have gone my way so far at all was Montenegro, and yet I have been playing “Heaven” on the piano and I adore it now. 🙂
In Albania and Spain my second won, in Czech Republic, Australia and Estonia my third, in Latvia my 17th (5th in the finals), in France my 11th, in Montenegro my third (out of 5, and my highest ranking was 5/10), in UK my joint third. I didn’t follow Sanremo or EMA. I am very annoyed on what we picked last night in Croatia. But the hope lives… MAYBE in Iceland, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania or Denmark? Fingers crossed.