Iceland: 'One step at a time', hopefully to the Final

The Eurovision Song Contest has more than 170 million viewers around the globe, but there's no place where it's more popular than in Iceland. More than 95 percent of the population follows the show every year. 

"I always watch Eurovision with my family, but this year I'm here. I'm part of it,“ Maria added, not hiding her joy to represent Iceland in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest.

The second rehearsal for Iceland will be more like a routine. "There's no much to change. With the sound, we are really satisfied. This rehearsal we are mostly going to use for some minor adjustments. We want make some camera angles even more perfect,"  producer, Helgi Johannesson, told Eurovision.tv some minutes before Maria’s second rehearsal.

'My favourite entry comes from Australia'

Maria Olafs used her second press conference and time reserved for the press, mostly for singing. She was asked to perform her version of the Michael Jackson (The Jackson 5) song I Want You Back, but also to sing something in Icelandic.

Journalists from Australia wondered how realistic would it be to expect 12 points from Iceland as it's also an island country.c"Actually my favourite song this year is from Australia. True, we are on the opposite sides of the world and isolated. Yes, I guess you can count on 12 points from us,“ she replied.

What about the Northern lights. Why it’s so important to have them in the background and why performing barefoot:

Northern lights make me feel like I’m at home and it gives me strength. And about singing barefoot. Well, that way I feel more connected with Earth and it’s more comfortable.“

The dress Maria Olafs from Iceland will be wearing is a champagne-rosa tutu dress with some golden particles on its upper part designed by Sunna Dögg Ásgeirssdóttir. Her four backing vocalists (two female and two male singers) have dark blue and black outfits.

Maria's song Unbroken is especially for her. She sings about having hard times, finding the 'the way from the darkness to the light'. "We wanted to write a song for Maria right from the beginning. It all started with a melody we had and then the song was basically writing itself," Asgeir Asgeirsson, one of the composers from the StopWaitGo team explained.

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