Yesterday ETV announced the ten finalists for their selection for Oslo, Eesti Laul. However, it was discovered very soon by the media and the readers that the song Made Me Cry (by Nikita Bogdanov) had already been uploaded to YouTube before the 1st of October, under a different artist name. This lead to a new decision by the broadcaster.
"Even though the author of Made Me Cry had given a signed form where he states the song had never been publicly performed, a longer version of the song under a different artist name was on YouTube since the 11th of August," Heidy Purga, the Executive Producer of Eesti Laul said. "Thus Nikita Bogdanov understands the organisers decision and finds it justified."
"A big thanks for all the sharp viewers who noticed the rules had been broken and let us know," the Head of Entertainment at ETV, Mart Normet, added.
The new song joining the show will be Robin Juhkental's Siren, which had been chosen by the jury as a back-up song for cases just like this. Robin's known from the 2007 edition of ETV's young singer's contest Kaks Takti Ette, which has been running since 1972 and has launched most Estonian singers' careers. He also participated last year in the Estonian Pop Idol contest but did not reach the final.
The authors now have time till the end of January to give a final touch to their songs. Starting in February, all entries will be ready for introduction on ETV's website and in the media. You can read more about the finalists of Eesti Laul in our article.
Estonia finished 6th last year in Moscow, at the 54th running of Europe's favourite TV-show. The hat-trick - qualifying the tiny country for the first time since the introduction of the Semi-Finals - was made by Urban Symphony's Rändajad.
