Blast from the past: Estonia 2004

We know a lot about Eurovision; this is knowledge we want to share with you. Therefore we’d like to bring you a blast from the past. Today: the 2004 Estonian entry.

Semifinal

2004 was the first year that Eurovision knew a semifinal. The best scoring countries of the year before automatically went to the final. As Estonia was not among them, they had to participate in the semifinal first. Ten semifinalists would join the other countries in the final.

Eurolaul

The Estonian national final for the contest was called Eurolaul in these days. Artists and composers could submit their songs for the final, to be held on february 7th in the ETV Studios in Tallinn. Maarja-Liis Illus (as Maarja) and former winner Tanel Padar (with Slobodan River) were familiar faces for the Eurovision family. The complete field of participants was:

1.”Surrounded“, by Slobodan River, 3rd with 2080 votes
2.”Dance“, by Ewert Sundja, 7th with 640 votes
3.”Turn the tide“, by Zone & The Cardinals, 8th with 581 votes
4.”Whatever you say“, by Charlene, 6th with 785 votes
5.”I wanna stay“, by Airi Ojamets, 9th with 393 votes
6.”Whenever blue“, by Hatuna & Sofia Rubina, 10th with 188 votes
7.”Homme“, by Maarja, 4th with 1320 votes
8.”Tii“, by Neiokõsõ, 1st with 8696 votes
9.”Beautiful inside“, by Kerli Kõiv, 2nd with 3638 votes
10.”I’ll give you a mountain“, by Charizma, 5th with 1157 votes

Neiokõsõ

The all girl band Neiokõsõ was made up of the sisters Anu and Triinu Taul, Diana Põld, Astrid Böning and Kadri Uutma. The group was made up especially for Eurolaul by producer/composer Priit Pajusaar. For the live performance at Eurolaul, and later the Eurovision Song Contest, Peeter Jõgioja joined the group. “Tii” was their only song, shortly after the Eurovision Song Contest the group split up.

Tii

It was said that the song “Tii” was inspired by “Sanomi”, the song Urban Trad brought to the second place in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003. The song was sung in the Võro-language. The title “Tii” means road. You can find the entire lyrics here. Võro is a language of the Uralic language family. It is spoken by 87,000 people in the southern part of Estonia

Results

In the semifinal “Tii” received the 12 points from two countries: Finland and Latvia. Lithuania gave it 10 points. In total, the song received 57 points. That was enough for an 11th place. It was not enough for a place in the final for Estonia.

photo credits: Daniel Aragay, Wikimedia Commons

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Martijn

Top Finalists React to Their Results

Top finalists react to their results at the Eurovision Song Contest. We have collected the reactions of some of the artists.  Austria (JJ) Austria’s JJ won the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with his ballad “Wasted Love.” He said he was “so pleased” that people connected with the song. JJ, trained in opera, had taken a break from the Vienna State Opera to join the contest. He explained the meaning behind the song: “There’s no wasted love… it’s the strongest force on planet Earth.” After the final, JJ thanked fans for their support. He said he was proud to bring classical music to a large pop audience. “This is the biggest pop stage in the world,” he noted. JJ appeared humble about his victory. When asked how he would celebrate, he smiled and said he needed sleep after the long night. Estonia (Tommy Cash) Tommy Cash placed third for Estonia with “Espresso Macchiato.” He received 356 points, just one point behind the runner-up. He spoke openly about the result. “Too bad we didn’t get that one point. Things got a bit political there. Sorry we came in third, but second and third place are pretty good too,” he said. Estonia had a modest jury result with 98 points, but the public gave him 258 points. Cash thanked his fans for the strong televote. He also joked that now he could say he could sing, as even the jury gave him nearly 100 points. “Estonians, we’re still the most popular and the most famous in this game,” he added with a smile. news.err.ee. Sweden (KAJ) KAJ from Sweden ended in fourth place. Their song “Bara Bada Bastu” was seen as a favorite before the final. They scored 321 points. Axel Åhman from the group said, “It’s clear one is a little surprised. You can’t deny that.” The band received 126 points from juries. Finland gave them only 10 points, even though KAJ has Finland-Swedish roots. “We’ll probably have a serious talk with [Finland’s] government,” Åhman joked. Still, they were happy with the 195 televote points. “We had a great time on stage,” they said, thanking their supporters. svt.se. Italy (Lucio Corsi) Lucio Corsi placed fifth for Italy with “Volevo Essere Un Duro.” He got 256 points. Corsi had said before the final that he did not expect to win. “Music is not a competition,” he told reporters. “It goes beyond the ranking. I care about my song and giving a good performance.” After the final, Corsi said he was happy with the top-5 result. He outperformed expectations and thanked his listeners. Lucio was glad that people liked his Italian-language ballad. The Italian singer ended by saying that the experience mattered more than points. “This journey was a success for me,” he said. spettacolomusicasport.com Greece (Klavdia) Klavdia came sixth for Greece with “Asteromáta.” She earned 231 points, one of Greece’s best scores in recent years. After the show, she was emotional and thankful. “I feel the luckiest, most blessed, happiest, and most protected person on the planet right now,” she said. “I feel like a winner.” Klavdia said she had dreamed of fifth place. “But sixth is also a victory,” she added. Greece came second in the “Rest of the World” vote and got a strong televote overall. She thanked everyone who voted and supported her. “We did this together,” she said. “This night was unforgettable.” en.protothema.gr. Share

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