Romance turns to drama for Estonia’s Koit and Laura

Verona tells the story of lost love. "It’s about two people who find themselves falling out of love. They cherish the things they’ve gone through and think about it in a positive way," said Laura. "Their time together was beautiful but it’s over now," added Koit.

A new experience for Koit

Koit represented Estonia back in 1998 when the competition was held in Birmingham. It was the last year that the orchestra was present in the Eurovision Song Contest. "It was 19 years ago, back then there was a conductor. It's almost like a completely different show now, it's much more high-tech these days," explained Koit. 

After Eurovision Koit moved to Germany. "I lived there for two years and was touring. I also spent two years in Finland, starred in musicals and pursued different TV projects", he said. 

Laura feeling at home in Kyiv

Laura participated in Eurovision for Estonia the last time the contest was held in Kyiv in 2005. "The city feels like home, it's familiar because parts of Tallinn look like Kyiv," she said. Laura performed in Eurovision as part of the girl group Suntribe and her former band member Mari-Leen is travelling to Ukraine to support her this year. "She promised to take me to lots of cool parties so I hope to do that!"

Laura considers finishing her masters degree to be one of her proudest moments. Aside from pop music and jazz, Laura also specialises in free improvisations which she jokingly describes as "creating weird noises."

Laura wore a flowing white dress with embroidered detail for her first rehearsal and she revealed that the word Estonia is sewn into the back of her costume. It was designed especially for her by Estonian designer Kristiina Viirpalu, who showcased her latest designs at Paris Fashion Week earlier this year. 

Koit experimented with different looks, changing jacket during the run throughs. They both revealed that there are some changes to be made to the performance but the pair were happy afterwards. 

Koit and Laura's next rehearsal will take place on Saturday 6th May. Estonia will participate in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday 11th May.