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It’s almost time to move onto the choice of the Icelandic people, but we want to know – what did #YOU think of Latvia’s “Funny Girl”?
@__MaKa_ (Twitter) – “Well @LauraRizzotto can be my funny girl or my girl period! The song is so good and Laura such a beautiful human being. What’s not to like ?!”
Mattias W. (Facebook) – “Last year’s entry was much better in my opinion.”
marcumo (Forum) – “What an amazing pick, Latvia! She’s clear, knows how to perform really well and has a bit off James Bond vibe in the background. This is in my Top 5 this year.”
Mixed reviews here for Latvia but a response of 45 televoting points to reflect this!
Now, on to Iceland!
27. ICELAND – Ari Ólafsson – Our Choice
9 points
Christian – “I love ballads! I do and here is such a classic ballad that it does not get any more classic or ballady than this. Often ballads have such unfair treatment by being labelled boring and I will be on my way to defend that! Listen to THAT voice and know why Ari was our choice. This is lovely. Call me a GILF but this is great and no I am not spellbound by a young blonde handsome welldressed smiling twink. Period.”
7 points
Robert – “OK, let’s face it, Iceland hardly had a strong selection this year, but this was definitely one of the better ones in the final! Ari has a gorgeous voice and the song allows him to showcase it. The song has an almost-anthemic feel to it with a rising build and crescendo. It’s got a good message, a great singer and a happy feeling to it. Sure, it’s hardly an amazing overall package – I cannot deny that! – but it is a solid entry from Iceland. I don’t quite understand all the negativity around it!”
3 points
Calvin – “The song goes for the “uplifting paean to world peace” that Eurovision’s tried many times. In order for one of those to work well, it needs a compelling, unique personality at the helm, and vocalist Ari Olafsson is a bit bland. I do admire how devoted his vocal sounds, but his performance doesn’t really keep me interested, and the song just comes off dull and saccharine.”
Efe – “Yes! That was ME! The one who put his Icelandic flag down aggressively after having seen Australia qualified last year in the Semi-Final 1 reaction video. This year I am gonna do this again. Why Iceland? Just why? It was YOUR CHOICE to send something unique and different from a simple song… They won’t make it to the final.”
Matt – “I don’t believe that Ari truly knows who he is as an artist yet. He can clearly sing and is incredibly likeable, but it feels as that this song was given to him but written with someone else in mind. He is young, yet this song feels really, really old and incredibly outdated. It’s an Ireland 1991 reject and does not belong in 2018. I’m sorry Iceland but that’s a hard NO from me.”
2 points
Connor – “Oh boy, this was not the right choice for Iceland to make if they wanted to break the non-qualification streak. Ari’s adorable and it’s very clear that he can sing, but this song is SO slow. But then again I don’t think it would be much better if it was any faster. Overall this just isn’t what they needed to qualify out of the semi.”
Zack – “Generic, overdone, sappy. We’ve all heard this song before at Eurovision…decades ago. This is another case of a singer being better than the song. Four years of non-qualifying for Iceland.”
1 point
Sean – “This gets a point for having a somewhat nostalgic Eurovision feel to it, and it’s almost refreshing to be returned to the mid 00s with this song. Despite this, I really cannot find any redeeming features in this bland, lifeless and insipid attempt. Ari is charming and sweet which makes this harsh, sure, but this offers literally nothing interesting to me and it doesn’t even have a very good performance to save it. Afraid to say it’s my least favourite this year. What happened, Iceland?”
Stefan – “Listening to the songs from their NF I knew immediately that they won’t stand a chance whoever wins. This song is just so bland and plain that even air has more taste. I have no more words.”
0 points
David – “Ari, in case you ever read this, I want to remind you and everyone else, this is just a personal opinion. Hope we all cool, cause it’s just impossible to please everyone. That said, this reminds me of some of those songs we had in the contest, more than 10 years ago, and these were the kind of songs that absolutely lost me, I had absolutely no patience back then, and I still don’t have. I honestly just can’t, unless I’m forced.”
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Not a fantastic score for Iceland who earn just 31 points from our jury. Let’s take a look at how this will set them up for tomorrow’s full result…
- 🇮🇱 Israel – Netta – Toy (157)
- 🇫🇷 France – Madame Monsieur – Mercy (153)
- 🇧🇬 Bulgaria – Equinox – Bones (153)
- 🇲🇰 (FYR) Macedonia – Eye Cue – Lost and Found (153)
- 🇵🇹 Portugal – Cláudia Pascoal – O jardim (144)
- 🇫🇮 Finland – Saara Aalto – Monsters (142)
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands – Waylon – Outlaw in ’em (137)
- 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Eleni Foureira – Fuego (130)
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Zibbz – Stones (129)
- 🇭🇺 Hungary – AWS – Viszlát nyár (127)
- 🇷🇴 Romania – The Humans – Goodbye (127)
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic – Mikolas Josef – Lie to Me (120)
- 🇩🇪 Germany – Michael Schulte – You Let Me Walk Alone (120)
- 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan – Aisel – X My Heart (116)
- 🇦🇱 Albania – Eugent Bushpepa – Mall (115)
- 🇭🇷 Croatia – Franka – Crazy (113)
- 🇪🇸 Spain – Alfred & Amaia – Tu canción (112)
- 🇷🇸 Serbia – Sanja Ilić & Balkanika – Nova deca (109)
- 🇲🇹 Malta – Christabelle – Taboo (107)
- 🇱🇻 Latvia – Laura Rizzotto – Funny Girl (107)
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom – SuRie – Storm (104)
- 🇱🇹 Lithuania – Ieva Zasimauskaite – When We’re Old (102)
- 🇧🇾 Belarus – Alekseev – Forever (96)
- 🇲🇩 Moldova – DoReDos – My Lucky Day (96)
- 🇳🇴 Norway – Alexander Rybak – That’s How You Write a Song (88)
- 🇸🇲 San Marino – Jessika ft. Jenifer B – Who We Are (76)
- 🇮🇸 Iceland – Ari Ólafsson – Our Choice (31)
Latvia move into 20th place overall with an average score in both sides of the vote. Iceland will have a lot of catching up to do to move out of the bottom 5 tomorrow, but this is where #YOU come in. Share your short reviews of the Icelandic song below in the comments, on our forum and on social media @escunited and we’ll feature the best tomorrow!
Next up we stay in the Nordics, as Sweden face the music!
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