# Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

Estonia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "Eighties Coming Back", written by Vaiko Eplik, and performed by the band Ruffus. The Estonian participating broadcaster, Eesti Televisioon (ETV), organised the national final Eurolaul 2003 in order to select its entry for the contest. Ten songs competed in the national final and "Eighties Coming Back" performed by Claire's Birthday was selected as the winner by an international jury panel. The band was later renamed as Ruffus for Eurovision.
Estonia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 24 May 2003. Performing during the show in position 17, Estonia placed twenty-first out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 14 points.

## Background

Prior to the 2003 contest, Eesti Televisioon (ETV) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Estonia eight times since its first entry in 1994, winning the contest on one occasion: in 2001 with the song "Everybody" performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, ETV organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since their debut, the broadcaster has organised national finals that feature a competition among multiple artists and songs in order to select its entry for the contest. ETV has organised the Eurolaul competition since 1996 in order to select its entry and on 8 November 2002, it announced the organisation of Eurolaul 2003 in order to select its 2003 entry.

## Before Eurovision
### Eurolaul 2003

Eurolaul 2003 was the tenth edition of the national selection Eurolaul, organised by ETV to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2003. The competition consisted of a ten-song final on 8 February 2003 at the ETV studios in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Romi Erlach and broadcast on ETV. The national final was watched by 343,500 viewers in Estonia with a market share of 57.4%.

#### Competing entries

On 8 November 2002, ETV opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 9 December 2002. A record 100 submissions were received by the deadline—breaking the previous record of 90, set during the 2002 edition. A 10-member jury panel selected 10 finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced on 13 December 2002. Among the competing artists was previous Eurovision Song Contest entrant Koit Toome, who represented Estonia in 1998. Kaire Vilgats (member of Family), Kadi Toom, Maarja Kivi (member of Vanilla Ninja), Maiken and Nightlight Duo have all competed in previous editions of Eurolaul. The selection jury consisted of Jaak Joala (musician), Meelis Kapstas (journalist), Ivo Linna (singer), Jaan Karp (musician), Priit Hõbemägi (culture critic), Tõnu Kõrvits (composer), Eda-Ines Etti (singer), Ignar Fjuk (member of the National Broadcasting Council), Karmel Eikner (journalist) and Tiit Kikas (musician).
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
| Claire's Birthday | "Eighties Coming Back" | Vaiko Eplik |
| Family | "Don't Ever Change" | Susan Lilleväli, Johannes Lõhmus, Kaire Vilgats |
| Kadi Toom | "Have a Little Faith" | Maian Kärmas, Priit Pajusaar, Glen Pilvre |
| Kadi Toom | "We Are Not Done" | Maian Kärmas, Priit Pajusaar, Glen Pilvre |
| Koit Toome | "Know What I Feel" | Koit Toome, Kersti Kuusk, Imre Sooäär |
| Maiken | "No Matter What It Takes" | Peter Ross, Elmar Liitmaa |
| Nightlight Duo | "I Can B the 1" | Sven Lõhmus |
| Slobodan River | "What a Day" | Maria Rahula, Tomi Rahula |
| Vanilla Ninja | "Club Kung-Fu" | Piret Järvis, Sven Lõhmus |
| Viies Element | "Have It Your Way" | Asko-Rome Altsoo, Raul Veeber, Aimar Toomla |

#### Final

The final took place on 8 February 2003. Ten songs competed during the show and a jury selected "Eighties Coming Back" performed by Claire's Birthday as the winner. A non-competitive public vote conducted via televoting and online voting which registered 77,729 votes was also held and selected "Club Kung-Fu" performed by Vanilla Ninja as the winner. The jury panel that voted in the final consisted of Anders Berglund (Swedish conductor), Sergio (Belgian singer), Darja Švajger (Slovenian singer), Manfred Witt (German television producer), Moshe Datz (Israeli singer), Renārs Kaupers (Latvian musician), Michael Ball (British singer) and Bo Halldórsson (Icelandic singer).
Final – 8 February 2003 :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Total | Place |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Anders Berglund | Sergio | Darja Švajger | Manfred Witt | Moshe Datz | Renārs Kaupers | Michael Ball | Björgvin Halldórsson | Total | Place |
| 1 | Kadi Toom | "We Are Not Done" | 12 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 58 | 3 |
| 2 | Family | "Don't Ever Change" | 6 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 33 | 8 |
| 3 | Nightlight Duo | "I Can B the 1" | 10 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 52 | 4 |
| 4 | Kadi Toom | "Have a Little Faith" | 5 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 48 | 5 |
| 5 | Koit Toome | "Know What I Feel" | 8 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 12 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 64 | 2 |
| 6 | Slobodan River | "What a Day" | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 33 | 7 |
| 7 | Maiken | "No Matter What It Takes" | 7 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 47 | 6 |
| 8 | Vanilla Ninja | "Club Kung-Fu" | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 32 | 9 |
| 9 | Claire's Birthday | "Eighties Coming Back" | 4 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 12 | 65 | 1 |
| 10 | Viies Element | "Have It Your Way" | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 32 | 9 |

## At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom five countries in the 2002 contest competed in the final on 24 May 2003. On 29 November 2002, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Estonia was set to perform in position 23, following the entry from Belgium and before the entry from Romania. The band performed at the contest under the new name Ruffus and Estonia finished in twenty-first place with 14 points.
The show was broadcast in Estonia on ETV with commentary by Marko Reikop as well as via radio on Raadio 2 with commentary by Vello Rand. ETV appointed Ines (who represented Estonia in 2000) as its spokesperson to announce the Estonian votes during the show.