Things go wrong at Eurovision all the time. Great songs can have bad staging, and talented singers can fail to hit the notes when it counts. But sometimes everything can go perfectly fine…only for things to fall apart on the scoreboard. The results make no sense. The act is just totally wronged…
This year Austria’s Nathan Trent gave an enchanting performance only to get completely ignored by the televote. Estonia’s Koit Toome and Laura excited fans and viewers, but were cut down by the juries. France’s Alma suffered much the same fate despite bringing la realness français, and Lucie Jones soared through her song with her beautiful West End vocals, but still couldn’t secure a British Top 10 finish. But there was one result that clearly upset our readers more than any other. After receiving a total of 6,162 votes, we can now reveal that the Vision Music Award 2017 for Most Wronged goes to Finland’s Norma John.
Following their landslide win at UMK, where they defeated fan favourite Emma, Norma John were expected to get Finland out of their two-year rut of non-qualification. Rehearsals in Kyiv added to the excitement: the moody staging and Leena Tirronen’s magical vocals earned applause throughout the press centre. Their odds shortened and many thought the duo would give Finland its first Top 10 finish since 2006.
The semi came and they seemed to slay. And yet they failed to make the final, placing only 12th (with televoters ranking them 10th and the juries placing them 12th). That meant a third straight year of absence from the grand final for the poor Finns. Maybe the viewers and jurors just couldn’t get inspired by such a dark song at Eurovision? Who knows, but for sure the blackbird will always have a place in our hearts.
Norma John join an illustrious list of Eurovision stars who also fell foul: Iceland’s Greta Salóme (2016), Italy’s Il Volo (2015), Israel’s Mei Finegold (2014) and Romania’s Cezar Ouatu (2013).
Most Wronged 2017: Full Results
- Finland – Norma John: 1,846 votes (29.96%)
- United Kingdom – Lucie Jones: 1,140 votes (18.5%)
- Estonia – Koit Toome and Laura: 851 votes (13.81%)
- Latvia – Triana Park: 778 votes (12.63%)
- Austria – Nathan Trent: 775 votes (12.58%)
- France – Alma: 772 votes (12.53%)
Vision Music Awards 2017: The Nominees
This award is just one of a dozen awards we have launched as part of the Vision Music Awards 2017 (VMAs).
Our 13 categories — from best dressed to most wronged at ESC — identify the contestants who left the biggest impression on Eurovision fans, regardless of whether they won the contest or not.
You can watch the nominations video and read more about the awards here.
Vote in more of our Eurovision polls
Photo: Andres Putting (EBU / Eurovision.tv)
Paula Mustikas and Estonia most unjust score!!!!!!!!!!!
Low impact of song as only explanation which doesn’t reduce Norma John’s quality. I remember myself not wanting it listen again even though deeply enjoying it by occasional playing. Pity though, Leena and Lasse were good all the time and gathered 10th place at televote. Then Aus as my another fave kicked it via juries along with georgian diva.
Personally, I do think Blackbird should’ve qualified, but it was nothing special. Verona had some of the most unique lyrics and Laura had a great voice. I am starting to wonder why Laura’s microphone turned off. Blackbird is a ballad, and ballads are entering Eurovision over and over again. Estonia definitely deserved most wronged.
microphone turned off to influence the voting. they also tried some other sabotage in jury semifinal to stop Estonia from qualifying
Sorry, but Estonia shoudn’t be in this list. The song was bland, crappy and cheesy and they two didn’t have any kind of chemistry. A totally deserved non-qualification. Laura should have gone in 2016 with ‘Supersonic’, Kerli or Rasmus were better this year.
About the results, I agree Finland, UK and Latvia were the most wronged, specially Latvia coming last…
PD: We don’t have Wiwivision this year?
“they two didn’t have any kind of chemistry. ” This proves you dont pay any attention. They are roleplaying a divorce. Are they supposed to all over each other to convey this???? They do smile in last 30 seconds but you missed that because your attention span is shorter than your ####
I’ll say both Estonia and Finland were wronged but I’m more frustrated about Finland.
How did this song stay out of the final?
Blackbird was a bit dull for me. Estonia is for me the most wronged entry. Unlike France, which I think was really lucky to have 12th place.
Le realness français ou la realnesse française SVP
Sorry but most-wronged was still Estonia!
Do not think many people will be listening to Blackbird in five years time…
I don’t think they will be listening to Verona either
Of course it does. I still think it is overrated by the fans. It’s not a very interesting composition, and the way it is executed is too musical-like.
Sorry but Blackbird should win the “most overrated by eurfans”… this song has nothing of special, is a dull song that pretends to be powerful and dark-chic but is as null as a grey tshirt … maybe if she would drank a bottle of vodka on stage and threw it to the public, could make this performance less soporific as it was
Why was Martina Bárta not even nominated in this category?
She is very pretty
France on the last place? Really? What’s wrong with you people?!
France came 12th – how were they wronged compared to any of the other entries?
Only 12th place in the grand final 🙁
I am sorry, but I disagree. I mean, Finland was nice, but when you say ‘most wronged’, my thoughts immediately go to microphone malfunction, and not being offered a second chance.
They offered a second chance, but the singers didn’t want to perform again.
well I belive they understood that everybody knew that it wasn’t her vocal mistake or anything so yeah – that’s the reason.
They could have broadcasted the performance in the jury final.
That is Incorrect. They were never offered a second chance, Get your facts right. The damage was done in the jury semifinal when the jury voted they were worse than Macedonia and Montenegro
It couldn’t agree more. That was massively unjust!
I don’t know how to explain it, but the reality is that Norma John’s performance did not excite either set of votes (unlike Estonia for example). Look at the YouTube views: Finland has barely 200k, while Koit and Laura have clocked more than 500k.
The reality is nobody outside the ESC bubble cared at all about “Blackbird”, no matter how wrong its non-qualification seems to us. The results (10th in the televote, even lower with the juries) speak for themselves unfortunately.
I’m in the ESC bubble, and I didn’t care for “Blackbird” that much. I had it as my 10th-favorite song/performance of that semifinal so was not really disappointed that it didn’t get through.
I believe in its artistic merit, but it seems that it didn’t have any impact at all. The YouTube views after the contest seem to prove that. Therefore it probably shouldn’t even be included in the category of “wronged”. It would have been “wronged” if people really liked it and didn’t qualify regardless.
Both Blackbird and Verona were deeply wronged by this messy voting. If the public wanted it in the final instead of Australia (can’t blame them), why deny this chance?
Go and enjoy your fast food and fireworks. You have no music taste. You made Salvador sad
TORILLA TAVATAAN
Do I spot an Imgurian here?
I actually agree with the results – Alma was not wronged I mean she got 12th place her vocals were not quite for the top 10. But yeah Finland, Latvia and Estonia were super underrated. Lucie just a bit. And Nathan got a fair place as well.
I still cannot explain how THAT was possible. The staging, the atmosphere, the piano solo, Leena’s magnificent vocals… :-\ Even if someone wasn’t really keen on the song, I think everybody expected them to score high, especially with the jury.
Wiwibloggs readers made the most right decision 😉