This Saturday sees Iceland choose their entry for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, via their annual national selection show Söngvakeppni .
The Nordic nation has a history of normally being quite reliable when it comes to selecting their song, although they’ve lost their way a little bit in recent years. This Saturday seven songs will compete to win. Five pretty safe efforts, and two which are a bit more out-there – eccentric electropop and funked up discopop.
Here’s our introduction to the seven songs, plus you can watch their semi-final performances and listen to the studio versions of each one.
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CADEM – Fyrir Alla
The only up-tempo song of the lot, and by far the most POP. ‘Fyrir Alla’ is a sophisticated discopop number, with an infectiously joyous performance. Comparisons to a younger Alcazar seem a bit obvious, but when we watched their performance of this in the semi, it did remind us of Alcazar somewhat. Particularly as they look they like they are enjoying it so much – which is one of the many reasons we’ve always loved watching Alcazar perform. This is our favourite of the line-up, and we want it to win.
SUNDAY – Fjaðrir
Not the kind of song you’d expect to find in a Eurovision national selection, so kudos to RUV for that. These two draw comparisons with Faroese duo BYRTA, who we’ve featured on here a few times before. Although the performance of the song is quite similar to that of Margaret Berger’s ‘I Feed You My Love’. It would be a bold selection for Iceland if it were to win, and for that reason we don’t think it will.
Björn & Friends – Piltur Og Stúlka
Sounds like a Eurovision ballad – from the 70s. And while that does have its charm……no.
María Ólafsdóttir – Lítil Skref
The second best song of the bunch. A melodic ballad that veers between ballsy belter and cutesy ditty. It’s VERY Eurovision. And María is totally adorable as a performer.
Elín Sif – I Kvöld
This one is the most likely of the lot to win on Saturday night. And would probably give Iceland a very good result at Eurovision too – if it didn’t change a thing about the simplistic performance. It’s by no means our bag, as it’s far too beige. But if Iceland wanted a safe bet for a good result in Vienna this year – this is as safe as they come. If that’s your sort of thing….
Friðrik Dór – Í Siðasta Skipti
A soulful jazz ballad with an instantly likeable (or is that just recognisable?) melody. Though you can never discard a key change in this kind of competition This song is the kind of thing that Iceland might proudly crown as their winner – but it’s not exactly an obvious Eurovision finalist. It’s something that you’ve heard many time before, but won’t exactly be rushing to hear again once it’s stopped playing.
Haukur Heiðar – Milljón Augnablik
A plodding, vaguely rousing song that is somewhat let down by its melody and vocal. The bones of a powerful song are there, but it just limps unspectacularly to a disappointing finish. Could have been so much bigger.
And what of the rest?!
Throughout the two semi-finals, five songs were knocked out of the competition. Bjarni Lárus Hall’s ‘Brotið Gler’ is one which we feel is unfairly missing from the final, and you can watch that performance here. And Erna Hrönn’s ballad ‘Myrkrið Hljótt’ is better than most in the final seven too, and would have been a good addition to the line-up.
Here’s the full Songvakeppni album on Spotify;
