Iceland at Eurovision 2006

Augusta Eva Erlendsdottir was born on July 28, 1982 in Reykjavik, where she graduated from high school. She studied acting in Paris, she sang in the group Ske. In 2005, she created an image of Sylvia Knight, inspired by the extravagant antics of Britney Spears , as part of the show “Sjáumst með Silvíu Nótt”. A distinctive feature of her heroine became defiant clothing and make-up, and the creators of the image - Augusta and Gaukur Ulfarsson - decided to embody all the basic flaws of modern society in a comic wrapper, and the main flaw was Sylvia's narcissism, expressed in constant praise of herself. In 2005, Augusta Eva received the Edda Awards for the best TV show and TV host of the year. In February 2006, Sylvia Knight was recognized as the sexiest woman in Iceland according to the version of the radio station Pac 2 (Augusta Eva Erlendsdottir took 4th place).

Selection Rules

National selection took place from January to February 2006. The Icelandic TV and Radio Company RUV received 226 applications, and following the results of the discussion, only 24 applications remained in the TV company. Three semi-finals were scheduled for January 21 and 28, as well as February 4. February 18 was to decide the participant of "Eurovision". From each semifinal, 4 songs went out directly by voting by TV viewers (phone calls and SMS), and of the three songs that took 5th place, two could go to the final (so-called Wild Card) by decision of the jury ^[2] .

Some participants

Among the participants of the national selection were singers Fridrik Omar and Regina Osk , who participated in national selections several times and eventually went to Eurovision in 2008. The authors of the songs were composers and poets who performed at competitions in past years: Anna Myall (1996) and Ejolfur Kristiansson (1991). Also participating in the competition were songs of past years: Sigurdur Orn Jonsson (2000), Hallgarimur Oscarsson (2003), Magnus Tor Sigmundsson (2001 and 2004) ^[2] .

Sylvia Knight fell for breaking the rules for the reason that her song was posted on the Internet before the semi-finals, which was forbidden by the contest rules. However, the organizing committee decided not to remove Sylvia from the competition, but to change the rules so that in the third semi-final five songs reached the final at once, and the sixth would get the right to wild card. Another participant in the semifinal - Katie Winter (Katie Tora Winter Perrdottir) - participated in the Swiss musical show Idol, and Swiss management opposed her participation, believing that this was contrary to the plans of producers about Katie's career ^[2] .

In the final, 15 contestants performed. Sylvia won by a large margin (more than 70 thousand calls and SMS), ahead of Regina Osk (2nd place) and Fridrik Omar (3rd place)

The song was written in the Middle-Tempo genre with a pre-recorded vocal line. The Icelandic text was a little different from English: in particular, in the Icelandic text, Sylvia was proud of her background and encouraged Eurovision fans to come to Iceland in a year (according to the rules, the winning country hosts the next contest).

Some critics believed that the number of Sylvia was doomed to failure, despite the comic content; others saw great potential in the room. The audience and at all ranked Sylvia Knight among the favorites of the competition. The author of the Eurovision-Kazakhstan Internet project, Andrei Mikheev, called this comedy number one of the contenders for at least reaching the final ^[3] :

• Music: Abstracting from the personality of Sylvia, the music of the song, the author of which was also the author of last year’s Icelandic composition, is a typical pop work with a clearly defined vocal line. 8/10
• Text: The English version corresponds to the Icelandic to the maximum. Respect 8/10
• Vocals: The song is a comedy number, in which the vocal data is not particularly significant. 7/10
• Bottom line: Much will depend on the staging of a room in Athens. The song has every chance of reaching the final. 8/10

The president of the Russian OGAE fan club, Anton Kulakov, noted the assault scandalous text, from which obscene language had to be removed, as well as Augusta’s good vocal as a performer, but warned that both Sylvia’s struggle for victory and total failure were possible ^[3] :

• Music: In the existing version of a pretty good middle-tempo - let's hope for improvements in the preparation. 8/10
• Text: It is gratifying that the assault scandalous meaning of the text has been preserved. Without fucking final, it will be boring, but for eurotrashfreak - definitely - 10 !!! 10/10
• Vocals: In such cases, vocals do not play a role at all. Although he is not bad. 9/10
• Bottom line: Possible 0 points, possible triumph. 9/10

Sylvia performed on May 18 in Athens in the semi-final of the last, number 23, and took 13th place. The final 62 points were not enough to reach the final, and Sylvia completed the performance.

Voices for Iceland

Voices of Iceland

The European Broadcasting Union did not share the general enthusiasm of fans for the arrival of an extravagant star, even though Augusta only played the role of Sylvia. The text of the song contained obscene words: “The vote is in, I'll fucking win” ( English, the voting began, and I, b *** s, win ), and the EMU said that using obscene language would not only negatively affect image of the whole event - it was generally prohibited by the rules of the competition ^[4] . The memorandum threatened to disqualify Sylvia from the contest if she did not change the text. While lawyers were studying the report, Sylvia officially refused to change anything, saying: “I'll sing, b *** s, whatever I want, b *** s!” ( Eng f *** ing say what I f *** ing want! ). Although at the competition itself, Sylvia sang a softer version of “I'll freaking win” ( I won, damn it ).

Knight behaved very rudely towards journalists and technicians, calling them "fucking amateurs." The problem of the journalists was that very few people could guess that Augusta was simply in the form of Sylvia. During the first press conference, she demanded not to look into her eyes, but one of the journalists (as it turned out, it was a fake actress, who specially played the role) was pulled out by a bodyguard, putting her on her shoulders. Before performing in the semifinals, Sylvia was booed, and during rehearsals she repeatedly shouted from the stage “Get out for x **, lazy!” ( Eng. Fuck you, fucking retards ), but rumors circulated in the press that she screamed “Get out for x ** , Greeks! ”, and the Greek delegation demanded to disqualify Sylvia for insults on ethnic grounds and indecent behavior. At the press conference before the semi-finals, Silvia officially apologized for the curses ^[5] .

The announcement of the results of the voting in the semi-final caused a “hysteria” in Sylvia, who many consider to be a staged number. Specially photographers captured disgruntled Sylvia, who in a fit of anger almost hit her boyfriend, threatened to jump off the bridge, and after she began to curse and spit at journalists ^[6] . Video with a scandalous reaction of Sylvia scored 1.3 million views on YouTube in four days:

[Sylvia]: Ungrateful bastards! You voted for Finnish freaks who do not have a make-up artist, and did not vote for me, because I am at least not a slut from the Netherlands and not an old e ** tea, a terrible bitch from Sweden !

[Journalist]: So it is impossible, why do you say so?

[Sylvia]: Fuck you on x **! [...] Someone spread lies about me, and I think it was you! [points finger at the journalist] Your TV channel told me that I hated Greece and the Greeks, but I did not say that! I hate you, whore! I will sue you, and the contest will be sued, and you will all sit down!

Original Text (Eng.)

- Ungrateful bastards! I’m not a slut from Holland and I’m not fucking, fucking, old bitch from Sweden !

- This is not good, why are you saying this?

- Fuck you! [...] Someone has been spreading [...] Your TV station has been the slice and I hate you! I love you and you will go for jail!

Sylvia also said that the Swedish singer Carola slept not with the head of the European Broadcasting Union or with Eurovision supervisor right before the semi-final. Sylvia claimed that she saw right from the window of her hotel and even accused Carola of plagiarizing her room ^[7] .