Ireland's Eurovision act EMMY has broken her silence and said she is "so sorry" after failing to qualify for Saturday's final.
The Norwegian singer performed her hit Laika Party in Basel on Thursday night, but through a combination of votes from the public and juries across Europe, it wasn't enough to secure a place in the final stage of the competition.
Disappointment for EMMY comes after Ireland qualified for last year's final and placed sixth overall with Bambie Thug's Doomsday Blue.
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Prior to that, the last time we made it to a Eurovision final was in 2018 with Ryan O'Shaughnessy's song Together.
Speaking after last night's results, EMMY said she feels a mixture of emotions.
"There are so many emotions. This was a childhood dream coming true so first of all I am grateful," she said.
"Of course I am a bit sad if I have disappointed Ireland. But at the same time they have been so nice and supportive and we have received so many beautiful messages."
"It was very good competition… but you know all the past years that Ireland hasn't qualified we have loved them so our favourites tend to go out in the semi-finals," she told the Irish Independent.
Once again thanking the Irish public, EMMY added: "We couldn't be happier, or prouder or ore grateful to be representing them, and that they chose us."
EMMY and her team had a feeling that Laika Party wouldn't qualify halfway through the "nerve wracking" voting process:
"I think we gave up earlier because there was so many songs that were in the odds for qualifying that had qualified already so we kind of gave up halfway through. We had a little hope."
EMMY also took to social media after the results were announced, where she was met with an outpouring of love from her fans.
She wrote on Instagram: "I'm SO sorry, Ireland. We will forever love you and be grateful and honored to have represented you."
Jedward, who have represented Ireland twice at Eurovision, commented: "You made us all so proud you've absolutely rocked the whole Eurovision!"
Drag star Victoria Secret said: "You made us all so proud. A great performance. Well done".
While Red Sebastian, this year's Belgian entry, added: "Emmy, you shined so bright!!! Be proud of yourself. I am so proud of u."
The 10 countries who made it out of the second semi-final are Lithuania, Israel, Armenia, Denmark, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland, Latvia, Malta and Greece.
They will join Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, Albania, Estonia, Sweden, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Ukraine, San Marino, Portugal, and Poland for the Grand Final.
