Several changes was introduced when the Estonian broadcaster opened for submission for their 2017 edition of Eesti Laul. The most significant being that foreign composers are now allowed to take part in the competition to represent Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Estonian broadcaster introduced several changes when they opened for submission of songs to their 2017 national selection. This time Eesti Laul is open for foreign songwriters as well if they work together with local songwriters. A new rule state that at least 50% of an entry must be written by people with Estonian citizenship or residence. This is only for the composition of the song. There is no restrictions on the lyrics. Eesti Laul producer Mart Normet explains about the idea behind opening partly up for foreigners: “We are opening the door for non-native authors carefully to avoid a flood of template pop music which has no connection to Estonia. With the idea of opening the borders we want to fortify our music, stir the blood and bring in new ideas, offering new opportunities to our authors. Cooperation is the keyword.”
Another change is that the songs will have to be submitted on a memory stick, instead of as previous on a CD. The sticks will have to be handed in personally in order to testify that the team is all 100% behind their song.
If you have the right song for the 2017 edition of Eesti Laul, you have until 1st of November at 15:00 to do so at ERR’s reception in Tallinn. A songwriter can only submit up to three songs, and of course they must follow Eurovision rules in regards to maximum three minutes, and now songs published before the 1st of September 2016.
Eesti Laul 2017 will consist of two semi-finals and a final with in total 20 songs taking part. The two semi-finals are scheduled for the 11th and 18th of February with the final being held on the 4th of March.
In 2016, Estonia was represented by Jüri Pootsmann who failed to reach the final with the song Play which you can see watch below:
