Iceland ICELAND 2015 - María Ólafsdóttir - Unbroken

[Sammy]

I'm sorry, but I still can't find anything original or interesting neither in the song nor the staging.

 

[anselm]

Here's the meet & greet with Iceland!

 

[Ritararita]

 

[lavieenrose]

http://wiwibloggs.com/2015/05/14/hera-bjork-illness/94568/ No wonder she wasn't up to snuff; she didn't have the power of Hera Björk to inspire her!

 

[Lupus]

http://wiwibloggs.com/2015/05/14/hera-bjork-illness/94568/ No wonder she wasn't up to snuff; she didn't have the power of Hera Björk to inspire her!

Hopefully all will be well by Thursday week!

 

[Sean]

http://wiwibloggs.com/2015/05/14/hera-bjork-illness/94568/ No wonder she wasn't up to snuff; she didn't have the power of Hera Björk to inspire her!

Maria has fallen ill too, I think she fainted during her round of interviews. We saw EMTs rush into the booth and the HoD come out and say interviews were cancelled.

 

[GWTW1939]

Yikes, perhaps Maria caught whatever bug Hera has

 

[Gordon_Shumway]

The performance at the "meet & greet": WOW
https://youtu.be/6yZarRsENtI?t=12m21s

 

[GermanBango]

Oh I hope she gets better soon

 

[Sean]

Full meet and greet session

 

[Iuris]

I really like the rehearsal, and the background is very Icelandic.

Well, I hope it qualifies because the song is amazing and Maria is so cute.

 

[toinou03]

^
The album of Asgeir had international success.

Asgeir is quite well-known in France now, probably more than Sigur Ros, Emiliana Torrini or Of Monsters and men at the moment.

 

[ayzelto]

Really liked it. Very Iceland.

 

[joancamo]

Poor Maria I hope she gets well soon, she was given last place from the press voting And I'm getting worried that she may fail to qualify next Thursday

 

[Sammy]

Islandic fans - please check this information for me:
http://songcontest.orf.at/stories/2710789/

It says in this article on ORF that Frederic Dor - who sang his national final song unplugged at the meet and greet - was quote "far more well known in his home country that the candidate" (which refers to Maria). Is that true? Is Frederic better known in Iceland?
btw - the video on that page is worth watching. He has indeed a great voice. When he starts to sing, Maria has kind of an odd look on him, but then she even moves her lips along with his song which I find quite nice.

 

[Ritararita]

Not all of the press reactions were bad. The usually very mean spoiled brats from wiwibloggs surprisingly liked it:

William: Iceland’s María Ólafs isn’t just representing Iceland at Eurovision — she’s bringing us its beautiful vistas on her LED screen. At various moments you see the Northern Lights and Icelandic mountains, but the focus is definitely María. She’s ditched her dancers from the national selection and fills the massive stage with her voice — and some simple yet sassy turns and arm-ography. The aerial shots work well: We see her creating ripples with her toes and stepping on cracks on the lava. At one point she makes an arm movement and the camera spits out gold dust. It’s a little cheesy, but fits with her sparkly tutu gown and the general theme of stepping “out of the darkness and into the light forever”.

Padraig: Iceland’s staging is wonderfully simple, yet at the same time really, really, really sophisticated. As the song opens, we see Maria step across cracked magma. The Northern Lights shimmer in the background, and slowly intensify as the floor transforms to a glimmering pool, which shimmers as Maria steps across it. By the end the cracks are gone, and we’re treated to an unbroken golden floor. Vocals were shaky for the first run through, but there were no issues thereafter. The camera work also seems a little out of place. At points she looks skyward, and where you’d imagine there should be a nice aerial shot the camera zooms out. Still, these are only little niggles about an excellent performance.

 

[Lolinna]

I love these pictures of her, even if one of it is rather blurry

 

[Lolinna]

Islandic fans - please check this information for me:
http://songcontest.orf.at/stories/2710789/

It says in this article on ORF that Frederic Dor - who sang his national final song unplugged at the meet and greet - was quote "far more well known in his home country that the candidate" (which refers to Maria). Is that true? Is Frederic better known in Iceland?
btw - the video on that page is worth watching. He has indeed a great voice. When he starts to sing, Maria has kind of an odd look on him, but then she even moves her lips along with his song which I find quite nice.

It's true that Friðrik Dór is very popular in Iceland and much more known. Maria was totally unknown at the time and that's why it came as a surprise, and especially to her, that she won. I don't think she has an odd look, I'm sure they came prepared for him to take his song, since it's very unusual that the runner-up comes as a backing singer

BTW, I voted for his song in the contest between these two songs, because I think that song is better than Unbroken, but I knew all the same that Maria would win. I was there and I could just feel it.

 

[martin]

So happy that iceland send her. Is one of my all time favorites

 

[Gordon_Shumway]

I love these pictures of her, even if one of it is rather blurry (...)

Every time she appears on the screen I almost cannot stop staring at her eyes, they are so beautiful. Almost hypnotizing.
But I like the song as well, I really really hope she gets more positive reactions from the next rehearsal!