Elina Born and Stig Rästa voted for Vienna

Photo: Erlend Štaub

This year, the lucky ones were Elina Born (20) and Stig Rästa (34) with their tune «Goodbye to Yesterday», pocketing 79 percent of votes in finals. For the first time ever, Estonian superfinals featured three instead of two – Elisa Kolk and Daniel Levi in it till the end.

As early as in dress rehearsals, during the day, the winners kind of stood out. Among the betting-shops and EuroSong fans, Born & Rästa were the overwhelming favourites.

During the day, Ms Born and Mr Rästa were even overly modest, at times. In an interview at semi-finals, Stig noted he’d rather prefer being behind the scenes, as a songwriter or producer.

Of the three songs that made it to superfinals, Born & Rästa pulled way ahead – beating a «purely Eurovision» song sung by Elisa Kolk and the Christian youth band Daniel Levi.

True Estonians, those that nearly made it shed no tears and stayed positive. As affirmed by the Daniel Levi bunch and Elisa Kolk after finals, they were okay with the outcome and would have voted for the winner themselves.  

The winners Born & Rästa remained modest even after the event and said they’d not be altering the stage presentation a bit, just focusing on polishing the sound.

To explain the success, winners were hard pressed. «Perhaps it’s that the song is timeless, easy for the people to relate,» said Mr Rästa. «It may also have been that it was a duet,» added Ms Born. The young lady singer admitted she never thought they’d win till the last vote was cast. Emotional in her own words, she said the reality would perhaps hit home sometime later – hence the composure at the moment. Mr Rästa admitted that what he most felt after results were announced was satisfaction.

Not much time for Born & Rästa to rest – the time leading up to Eurovision is stuffed with events. This very day, the singers will perform at Pärnu Sütevaka Humanities Gymnasium party – their first together.

While not thinking about Vienna as yet, Mr Rästa thinks the song «Goodbye to Yesterday» ought to get some ads in Europe before  Eurovision. «Not good enough without it, I guess,» he added.

Their humility, said the duo, was due to not knowing how they’d do in Vienna. «Humility is a virtue,» said Ms Born. «I’ve been told humility is a fixation,» added Mr Rästa, to ease the atmosphere.  

Also present at the Nordea Concert Hall were the WIWIBLOGGS bunch. This is the largest EuroSong observers society, always eager to show up at the local contests. Before it ever came to superfinals, the seasoned WIWIBLOGGS delegation had cast their eyes on future winners. The second spot they suggested to Daniel Levi – also prophetically, it turned out. And also: though the delegation was very much pan-European, there was not a single negative comment uttered. Concluding: Rästa & Born were the shared and unquestioned favourites of foreigners as well.

This year’s Estonian selection – the «Eesti laul 2015» – proved utterly record-breaking. In the first round 70, 000 voted for their favourites, and in superfinals a whopping 90,000 people.

The finals, this year, were memorable in various ways, be it Robin Juhkental plus the blade-of-grass playing Erki-Andres Nuut, Kali Briis Band’s LED-illuminated shoes, or the powerful rock by Elephants From Neptune.

To cheer for Elina Born and Stig Rästa, Estonians and others will have to wait till the semi-finals in Vienna on May 19^th and 21^st. The finals happen on May 23^rd.