Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country	Iceland
National selection
Selection process	Söngvakeppnin 2018
Selection date(s)	Semi-finals:; 10 February 2018; 17 February 2018; Final:; 3 March 2018
Selected entrant	Ari Ólafsson
Selected song	"Our Choice"
Selected songwriter(s)	Þórunn Erna Clausen
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Failed to qualify (19th, 15 points)
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Iceland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with a song selected through the national final Söngvakeppnin 2018 organised by the Icelandic broadcaster RÚV.

Background

Prior to the 2018 Contest, Iceland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty four since its first entry in 1986.[1] Iceland's best placing in the contest to this point was second, which it achieved on two occasions: in 1999 with the song "All Out of Luck" performed by Selma and in 2009 with the song "Is It True?" performed by Yohanna. Since the introduction of a semi-final to the format of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004, Iceland has failed to qualify to the final six times. In 2017, Iceland failed to qualify to the final with the song "Paper" performed by Svala.

The Icelandic national broadcaster, Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV), broadcasts the event within Iceland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Since 2006, Iceland has used a national final to select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a method that has once again return for the selection of their 2018 participation.

Before Eurovision

Söngvakeppnin 2018

Söngvakeppnin 2018 was the thirteenth edition of Söngvakeppnin, the music competition that selects Iceland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Format

Twelve songs in total competed in Söngvakeppnin 2018, where the winner was determined after two semi-finals and a final. The two semi-finals that took place at the Háskólabíó conference hall in Reykjavík on 10 and 17 February 2018, with six songs competing in each, and the final took place at the Laugardalshöll in Reykjavík on 3 March 2018, where top three songs from each semi-final competed. In addition to that, a special jury panel selected a wildcard act for the final out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from both semi-finals.[2]

Competing entries

RÚV opened a submission period between 6 September 2017 and 20 October 2017 in order for interested parties to submit their entries. The submitted songs were not allowed to exceed three minutes, but had to contain lyrics in Icelandic for the semi-final and were to be performed in the same language as they are to be performed at the Eurovision final.[2] RÚV announced the selected acts on 20 January 2018 with both Icelandic and English versions of each competing entry.[3] On 5 February, Guðmundur Þórarinsson and Þórir & Gyða swapped semi-finals, because of Þórarinsson's involvement in a cup match for IFK Norrköping.[4]

Artist	Song		Composer(s)
Artist	Icelandic title	English title	Composer(s)
Ari Ólafsson	"Heim" (Home)	"Our Choice"	Þórunn Erna Clausen
Aron Hannes	"Golddigger"	"Gold Digger"	Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson, Valgeir Magnússon, Jóel Ísaksson, Oskar Nyman
Áttan	"Hér með þér" (Here with you)	"Here for You"	Egill Ploder Ottósson, Nökkvi Fjalar Orrason
Dagur Sigurðsson	"Í stormi" (In a storm)	"Saviours"	Júlí Heiðar Halldórsson, Guðmundur Snorri Sigurðarson
Fókus	"Aldrei gefast upp" (Never give up)	"Battleline"	Þórunn Erna Clausen, Primoz Poglajen, Jonas Gladnikoff, Michael James Down, Sigurjón Örn Böðvarsson, Rósa Björg Ómarsdóttir
Guðmundur Þórarinsson	"Litir" (Colours)	"Colours"	Guðmundur Þórarinson, Fannar Freyr Magnússon
Heimilistónar	"Kúst og fæjó" (A broom and a dustpan)	N/A	Elva Ósk, Katla Margrét Þorgeirsdóttir, Ólafía Hrönn Jónsdóttir, Vigdís Gunnarsdóttir
Rakel Pálsdóttir	"Óskin mín" (My wish)	"My Wish"	Hallgrímur Bergsson, Nicholas Hammond
Stefania, Agnes & Regína	"Svaka stuð" (Enormous fun)	"Heart Attack"	Agnes Marínósdóttir, Aron Þór Arnarsson, Marino Breki Benjamínsson
Tómas & Sólborg	"Ég og þú" (Me and you)	"Think It Through"	Tómas Helgi Wehmeier, Sólborg Guðbrandsdóttir, Rob Price
Þórir & Gyða	"Brosa" (To smile)	"With You"	Guðmundur Þórarinson, Fannar Freyr Magnússon
Þórunn Antonía	"Ég mun skína" (I will shine)	"Shine"	Þórunn Antonía Magnúsdóttir, Agnar Friðbertsson

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 10 February 2018 and six of the competing acts performed. The top three entries decided solely by televoting advanced to the final.[5]

Semi-final 1 – 10 February 2018
Draw	Artist	Song	Place	Result
1	Þórunn Antonía	"Ég mun skína"	5	Eliminated
2	Tómas & Sólborg	"Ég og þú"	6	Eliminated
3	Ari Ólafsson	"Heim"	—	Advanced
4	Heimilistónar	"Kúst og fæjó"	—	Advanced
5	Fókus	"Aldrei gefast upp"	—	Advanced
6	Guðmundur Þórarinsson	"Litir"	4	Eliminated

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 17 February 2018 and six of the competing acts performed. The top three entries decided solely by televoting advanced to the final.

Semi-final 2 – 17 February 2018
Draw	Artist	Song	Place	Result
1	Aron Hannes	"Golddigger"	—	Advanced
2	Rakel Pálsdóttir	"Óskin mín"	6	Eliminated
3	Stefanía, Agnes & Regína	"Svaka stuð"	5	Eliminated
4	Þórir & Gyða	"Brosa"	4	Eliminated
5	Dagur Sigurðsson	"Í stormi"	—	Advanced
6	Áttan	"Hér með þér"	—	Advanced

Final

The final took place on 3 March 2018 where the six entries that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals competed to become Iceland's Eurovision entry. In the semi-finals, all competing entries were required to be performed in Icelandic; however, entries competing in the final were required to be presented in the language they would compete within the Eurovision Song Contest. In the first round of voting, votes from a jury panel (50%) and public televoting (50%) determined the top two entries: "Our Choice" performed by Ari Ólafsson and "Í stormi" performed by Dagur Sigurðsson. The top two entries advanced to a second round of voting, the superfinal, where the winner, "Our Choice" performed by Ari Ólafsson, was determined solely by televoting.[6]

Final – 3 March 2018
Draw	Artist	Song	Jury	Televote	Total	Place	Result
1	Fókus	"Battleline"	13,091	12,859	25,950	5	Eliminated
2	Áttan	"Here for You"	10,637	3,360	13,997	6	Eliminated
3	Ari Ólafsson	"Our Choice"	17,453	18,408	35,861	2	Superfinalist
4	Heimilistónar	"Kúst og fæjó"	14,183	17,619	31,802	3	Eliminated
5	Aron Hannes	"Gold Digger"	16,090	14,848	30,938	4	Eliminated
6	Dagur Sigurðsson	"Í stormi"	20,183	24,547	44,730	1	Superfinalist

Detailed Jury Votes
Draw	Song	Juror 1	Juror 2	Juror 3	Juror 4	Juror 5	Juror 6	Juror 7	Total
1	"Battleline"	2,182	1,636	1,636	1,909	1,364	2,182	2,182	13,091
2	"Here for You"	1,636	1,364	1,364	1,364	1,636	1,364	1,909	10,637
3	"Our Choice"	2,727	2,727	3,273	1,636	2,727	1,636	2,727	17,453
4	"Kúst og fæjó"	1,364	1,909	1,909	2,182	2,182	3,273	1,364	14,183
5	"Gold Digger"	1,909	3,273	2,182	2,727	1,909	1,909	1,636	16,090
6	"Í stormi"	3,273	2,182	2,727	3,273	3,273	2,727	3,273	20,183
Jury members
– Robin Bengtsson – Emmelie de Forest – Joana Levieva-Saywer – Aleksander Radić – Svala – Halldór Eldjárn – Hulda G. Geirsdóttir

Superfinal – 3 March 2018
Draw	Artist	Song	Televote	Place
1	Ari Ólafsson	"Our Choice"	44,919 (53%)	1
2	Dagur Sigurðsson	"Í stormi"	39,474 (47%)	2

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 29 January 2018, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Iceland was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[7]

Once all the competing songs for the 2018 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Iceland was set to perform in position 2, following the entry from Azerbaijan and preceding the entry from Albania.[8] It was later revealed that Iceland placed last in the semi-final, receiving a total of 15 points: 0 points from the televoting and 15 points from the juries.

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Icelandic jury: [9]

Védís Hervör – Chairperson – singer, songwriter
Hlynur Ben – singer, songwriter
Hannes Friðbjarnarson – musician
Jón Rafnsson – musician
Erla Jónatans – singer, music teacher

Points awarded to Iceland

Points awarded to Iceland (Semi-final 1)
Televote
Iceland did not receive any televoting points in the Semi Final 1.
Jury
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
			Belarus
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
	Czech Republic		Macedonia	Belgium Switzerland

Points awarded by Iceland

Semi-final 1
Score	Televote	Jury
12 points	Czech Republic	Albania
10 points	Finland	Israel
8 points	Israel	Ireland
7 points	Austria	Austria
6 points	Estonia	Estonia
5 points	Cyprus	Czech Republic
4 points	Ireland	Finland
3 points	Lithuania	Switzerland
2 points	Switzerland	Belgium
1 point	Azerbaijan	Greece

Final
Score	Televote	Jury
12 points	Denmark	Austria
10 points	Czech Republic	Albania
8 points	Germany	Israel
7 points	Israel	Estonia
6 points	France	Germany
5 points	Austria	Sweden
4 points	Norway	Ireland
3 points	Finland	France
2 points	Sweden	Cyprus
1 point	Cyprus	Czech Republic

Split voting results from Iceland (Semi-final 1)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
Draw	Country	H. Ben	H. Friðbjarnarson	J. Rafnsson	V. Hervör	E. Jónatans	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Azerbaijan	15	14	8	17	14	16		10	1
02	Iceland
03	Albania	2	1	7	4	4	1	12	14
04	Belgium	3	12	5	12	13	9	2	12
05	Czech Republic	7	13	1	6	8	6	5	1	12
06	Lithuania	6	15	11	9	17	13		8	3
07	Israel	5	3	3	5	2	2	10	3	8
08	Belarus	18	18	18	15	16	18		15
09	Estonia	10	5	4	2	6	5	6	5	6
10	Bulgaria	13	6	6	14	10	11		11
11	Macedonia	12	17	17	18	18	17		18
12	Croatia	11	16	16	16	7	15		16
13	Austria	9	4	10	1	3	4	7	4	7
14	Greece	16	10	2	13	11	10	1	13
15	Finland	4	7	9	11	5	7	4	2	10
16	Armenia	14	8	15	10	15	14		17
17	Switzerland	1	11	14	7	12	8	3	9	2
18	Ireland	8	2	13	3	1	3	8	7	4
19	Cyprus	17	9	12	8	9	12		6	5

Split voting results from Iceland (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
Draw	Country	H. Ben	H. Friðbjarnarson	J. Rafnsson	V. Hervör	E. Jónatans	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Ukraine	22	22	23	25	22	25		20
02	Spain	8	11	24	13	9	14		23
03	Slovenia	10	4	21	14	24	13		21
04	Lithuania	16	25	17	15	21	22		11
05	Austria	1	2	9	1	3	1	12	6	5
06	Estonia	9	3	6	2	10	4	7	12
07	Norway	17	20	15	19	17	21		7	4
08	Portugal	23	10	18	7	16	15		26
09	United Kingdom	3	12	20	10	11	11		15
10	Serbia	21	24	10	16	12	17		24
11	Germany	4	14	5	11	1	5	6	3	8
12	Albania	2	1	11	5	2	2	10	25
13	France	18	13	4	6	8	8	3	5	6
14	Czech Republic	12	19	1	17	14	10	1	2	10
15	Denmark	20	15	7	22	19	16		1	12
16	Australia	13	18	19	18	18	20		19
17	Finland	6	8	8	20	13	12		8	3
18	Bulgaria	26	23	22	23	23	26		22
19	Moldova	24	26	16	26	25	23		17
20	Sweden	15	6	2	4	7	6	5	9	2
21	Hungary	14	9	25	21	20	18		16
22	Israel	5	5	3	8	4	3	8	4	7
23	Netherlands	19	21	14	12	15	19		14
24	Ireland	11	17	12	3	5	7	4	13
25	Cyprus	7	7	13	9	6	9	2	10	1
26	Italy	25	16	26	24	26	24		18

References

"Iceland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
Avelino, Gerry. "Iceland: Söngvakeppnin Opens Submissions, Triples Prize Money". Eurovoix.com. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
Herbert, Emily. "Iceland: Söngvakeppnin 2018 Artists Announced". Eurovoix.com. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
Kristiansen, Wivian Renee. "Litir and Brosa to swap semis". ESCXTRA.com. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
Luukela, Sami. "Iceland: Söngvakeppnin 2018 semifinal split announced". ESCXTRA.com. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
"Afgerandi sigur Ara í einvíginu". visir.is. Vísir. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
Jordan, Paul (29 January 2018). "Which countries will perform in which Semi-Final at Eurovision 2018?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
"Running order for Eurovision 2018 Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.

External links

Official RÚV Eurovision site

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[1] "Iceland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 3 October 2014.

[submissions-2] Avelino, Gerry. "Iceland: Söngvakeppnin Opens Submissions, Triples Prize Money". Eurovoix.com. Retrieved 20 January 2018.

[3] Herbert, Emily. "Iceland: Söngvakeppnin 2018 Artists Announced". Eurovoix.com. Retrieved 20 January 2018.

[4] Kristiansen, Wivian Renee. "Litir and Brosa to swap semis". ESCXTRA.com. Retrieved 5 February 2018.

[sfdraw-5] Luukela, Sami. "Iceland: Söngvakeppnin 2018 semifinal split announced". ESCXTRA.com. Retrieved 24 January 2018.

[6] "Afgerandi sigur Ara í einvíginu". visir.is. Vísir. Retrieved 5 March 2018.

[7] Jordan, Paul (29 January 2018). "Which countries will perform in which Semi-Final at Eurovision 2018?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 29 January 2018.

[Draw-8] "Running order for Eurovision 2018 Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.

[9] Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.