Don’t worry: That noise you heard from Iceland wasn’t another volcanic eruption, but the collective sigh of Icelandic Eurovision fans after María Ólafs failed to qualify with “Unbroken”. Whilst some critics worried about María’s staging and her vocals ahead of semi final 2, the result was still surprising given Iceland’s history of making it to the final every year since 2008.
Naturally María felt the sting and avoided the press centre after the results. In her place, Hera Björk, Alma and Friðrik Dór (her backing singers) came to speak to the media. Hera admitted that the entire team was shocked and surprised, and are staying philosophical about it all. “That’s Eurovision for you,” she said. “We did our very very best, but unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. But we’re proud of María.”
As the night progressed María opened up, leaving a message on her Facebook page. “A few months ago, I was an unknown girl,” she wrote, adding that she was too shy to perform, yet had just been on stage in front of millions. She says she could have performed better but “sang (her) ass off” in the three minutes she performed.
Quoting Taylor Swift, María then told her haters to “shake it off” and that her career was “just beginning”, before sending her support to Australia’s Guy Sebastian ahead of Saturday’s final.
This girl is looking ahead and we can’t wait to see what follows. Do you think María should have qualified? Let us know in the comments or on our Twitter page.
Horrible song, annoying singer trying hopelessly to impress looking like a former Disney star who doesn’t want to grow up. What did they expect? I wouldn’t be shocked if I were in their shoes.
she wasn’t strong enough to capture the Europeans.maybe she needs dancers
Not surprised at all. HER performance was seen, heard and forgettable.Nice girl, but for me she was too jerky and fast moving for her song. Didn’t fit.
The Disney version “Only Tear Drops” …. Hated her golden feet and the whole I am under-aged stage performance …. Her vocals sucked big time and the only thing I loved was the Northern Lights background … Everything else was terrible !!!!!!!
I felt bad for her but she wasn’t that great on the night TBH.
It is no secret that I have hated this song since the beginning. It was actually my number 40 for a long time. Having said that, I was as shocked as anybody when it did not qualify. However, in that semi-final, there were 5-6 definite qualifiers and 4 spots to aim for. She was in that conversation and delivered a flat performance.
In that is the difference. Cyprus and Lithuania have songs that are just as bad but they sang theirs as well as they could.
It was OK but OK won’t get you to the final. Iceland has to do better.
The song was nothing special to begin with, and her vocals sounded the worst I’ve ever heard them. What I’m most surprised about, is that they couldn’t salvage the song with five backing vocalist, one of them being Hera Bjork, no less. Had she sang like she did in the NF, she would have pulled through.
The song was good, but she couldn’t sing it. That’s the truth and the staging was average. I think that if she had sung better (much better), had been backed by the two dancers and had made a more atractive use of the screen and lights, the song would have qualified.
The song was bad already, and vocally she was the weakest of last night.
So glad she didn’t make it.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/may/22/eurovision-2015-guardian-data-driven-prediction?CMP=fb_gu
According to the Guardian the winner will be..
Performance and staging were really good. I believe however that the song itself didn’t have the edge needed to stand out among the pack and collect the votes. Still as a package was better than many that past through.
No performance could have saved this Disney crap from failure…
Ojos de sapo,ancas de rana,que todos queden hechizados mañana.
Without doubt one of the best songs of this years competition!!
the final won’t be the same without her 🙁 i voted for her twice, i would have voted more if i didn’t think she was going to qualify even though she looked incredibly nervous. but i downloaded her song on itunes and can’t wait to hear more from her 🙂
Very, very saddened that she didn’t qualify, along with Ireland, Malta and Switzerland. Very shocked too, I thought Iceland would do really well this year. In my opinion she sang well, even though she was notably nervous, and it was a lovely song and overall performance. Yes, it was very Disney-like, but is that really something strange in the Eurovision? Azerbaijan, Cyprus and Russia also have a Disney feel to their entries, and since when is a song like this too “childish” for the Eurovision? Every other entry is about love, peace or having fun – not exactly the most… Read more »
So sad that my two favourites Iceland and Malta failed 🙁 Well I hope its not the last we hear from Maria and Amber!
please shut up per
She’s a little sweetie :). I was convinced this was going to qualify… :'(
I felt very sorry for María 🙁
perfect song for junior ESC, not the big league, sorry maria your performance did not suit for adults professional singers
I think she didn’t qualify because her song was lousy. It was the same melody repeated for the entire song, and an annoying one on top of that. (Same problem as the Netherlands’ song, but exacerbated by average vocals.) I thought the song would still qualify because it’s Iceland, but I was glad it didn’t. Of course it had a lot of fans over here, since it was a song by a solo female vocalist, but there’s only so many songs of that type that can make it to the final. Malta and Switzerland had much, much better performances and… Read more »
I think that not the vocal was a problem, but the song and the staging. They were too sweet and CHILDISH. I felt like i was watching Junior Eurovision or Disney movie. Among so many ambitious songs this one looked weird. On the other hand, Lithuania qualified, which still amazes me.
She just simply could not qualify. In my opinion if someone can’t sing or sings off key then they are not supposed to qualify. I liked the song, but the performance was really bad. We honestly felt sorry for her. We thought she was in pain.
Her elimination was a massive shock along with Malta since Iceland have qualified with much worse. I think she’s the Icelandic Anna Bergendahl and I have high hopes for her future. I am optimistic for Iceland and believe that going to Rejkjavik for ESC is coming very soon. Don’t be disappointed Iceland, you’re amazing!!!
Her elimination was a massive shock along with Malta since Iceland have qualified with much worse. I think she’s the Icelandic Anna Bergendahl and I have high hopes for her future. I am optimistic for Iceland and believe that going to Rejkjavik for ESC is coming very soon. Don’t be disappointed Iceland, you’re amazing!!?
Wozzeck:But Albania come to the final. And she sing terribel. But thats east Europe.
@Freyah: Absolutely! Look what a poor choice of visual display (among other things) did to the Dutch. Had the Icelanders preserved the lightbulb scenery for the visual display, AND left the 2 dancers in the performance, she might have had a chance. Again, don’t fix what ain’t broken!
She has nothing to be ashamed of.
I hope that Iceland let her try again. Better luck next time.
Well i was very surprised about Iceland’s elimination & the fact that Maria Olaffs did not manage to qualify..
Sometimes you might deliver a good performance & your song is good enough to qualify but you just fail to pass after all…Its just unpredictable..
Maybe if Maria was in the 1st SF she would had qualified to the final..
Thats the game of EuroVision…That until the final end you never know what the actual outcome will be….
Let me clarify, I still thought that Iceland sounded awful but she was obviously trying to do her best, I think she just could not recover from a very shaky start and her nerves got the better of her. She was even off on the steps for the ripple effect near the end. She seemed to be the most uncomfortable contestant on that stage.
She’s acting like a jerk. Admit your vocals were horrible and considering the song and staging weren’t that good what do you accept.
I hoped that Iceland would pull an Albania and make it through despite a weak vocal performance but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Maria has a bright future ahead of her though, I think she was just really nervous. Maybe she’ll return to Eurovision some day and wow everyone with a great vocal performance.
She sang horribly, and yes, that’s more than enough to go home in an ESC semifinal
Rule number one: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Even if her singing was off, she still might have been able to squeak into the final if she and her crew had not done away with the two dancers. It didn’t look the same at all with her alone, front and center.
Maria seemed off-key to me through the entire song and that is why I think she didn’t qualify. She gave a convincing performance in my opinion, but her vocals let her down on the night. It’s sad because I think that Unbroken is a better song than Cyprus and Lithuania to me.
The song was good but the staging and vocals were awful. A performance like that doesn’t deserve to qualify. Such a mess.
So sad… I really like her song.
Greetings from Barcelona.
xx
Her vocals were above average. Since when our criteria are so high?
This year we have lots of amazing singers (Maria Elena,Edurne, Bojana, Aminata,Lisa Angel, Polina etc.) but that’s just randomn. Yes, Maria Olafs is not a GREAT singer but definitely a good one.
For, the record I didn’t want her to qualify but I’m annoyed by the fact that many people questioned her vocal skills.This is not opera.
I think this is an example of how staging can ruin something pretty good. I really wanted them to do with the whole lightbulbs thing that they did in the music video.
Awww she deserves it.
You can be proud of yourself, Maria!
She did not sing her ass off, she sang with her ass. The difference is important.
Im happy she didnt make it. Didnt liked the song :p
I was shocked to see, well… to hear how bad her vocals were. I guess most voters hear the songs for the first time, and their ears were bleeding so they didn’t vote for it.