Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

Iceland originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Think About Things" by Daði og Gagnamagnið, selected through the national final contest Söngvakeppnin 2020 organised by the Icelandic broadcaster RÚV.

Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Country Iceland
National selection
Selection processSöngvakeppnin 2020
Selection date(s)Semi-finals:
8 February 2020
15 February 2020
Final:
29 February 2020
Selected entrantDaði og Gagnamagnið
Selected song"Think About Things"
Selected songwriter(s)Daði Freyr Pétursson
Finals performance
Semi-final resultCancelled
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2019 • 2020 • 2021►

Background
Main article: Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2020 Contest, Iceland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 36 times 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 seven times. In 2019, Iceland placed tenth in the grand final with the song "Hatrið mun sigra" performed by the band Hatari.

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 returned for the selection of their 2020 participation.

Before Eurovision

Söngvakeppnin 2020

Söngvakeppnin 2020 was the 15th edition of Söngvakeppnin, the national song contest that selects Iceland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Format

Ten songs in total competed in Söngvakeppnin 2020. The winner was decided after two semi-finals, a final and a superfinal. The two semi-finals were held on 8 and 15 February 2020, with five songs competing in each. The final was held in the Laugardalshöll indoor sports arena in Reykjavík on 29 February 2020. There, the top two songs from each semi-final competed, with the top two finalists then competing in a superfinal.[2] The Icelandic national broadcaster also reserved the right to select a wildcard act for the final out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from both semi-finals.[3]

Competing entries

RÚV opened entry submissions from 13 September 2019 until 17 October 2019. Söngvakeppnin entries must have a version in Icelandic which is performed in the semi-final. If a song makes it to the grand final, the lyrics can be performed in the language intended for Eurovision.[4]

Artist Song Composer(s)
Icelandic title English title
Brynja Mary "Augun þín" "In Your Eyes" Brynja Mary Sverrisdóttir, Lasse Qvist, Kristján Hreinsson
Daði & Gagnamagnið "Gagnamagnið" "Think About Things" Daði Freyr Pétursson
Dimma "Almyrkvi" N/A Dimma, Ingó Geirdal
Elísabet "Elta þig" "Haunting" Elísabet Ormslev, Zoe Ruth Erwin, Daði Freyr Pétursson
Hildur Vala "Fellibylur" N/A Hildur Vala Einarsdóttir, Jón Ólafsson, Bragi Valdimar Skúlason
Ísold & Helga "Klukkan tifar" "Meet Me Halfway" Birgir Steinn Stefánsson, Ragnar Már Jónsson, Stefán Hilmarsson
Iva "Oculis Videre" "Oculis Videre" [a] Iva Marín Adrichem, Richard Cameron
Kid Isak "Ævintýri" N/A Þormóður Eiríksson, Kristinn Óli Haraldsson, Jóhannes Damian Patreksson
Matti Matt "Dreyma" N/A Birgir Steinn Stefánsson, Ragnar Már Jónsson, Matthías Matthíason
Nína "Ekkó" "Echo" Þórhallur Halldórsson, Sanna Martinez, Einar Bárðarson, Christoph Baer, Donal Ryan
a. ^ Iva originally intended to perform "Oculis Videre" in English in the final, but later withdrew the English version and performed the song in Icelandic instead.[5]

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 8 February 2020 and five of the competing acts performed. The top two entries decided by televoting advanced to the final.

Semi-final 1 – 8 February 2020
Draw Artist Song Televote Place Result
1 Kid Isak "Ævintýri" 3,651 3 Eliminated
2 Elísabet "Elta þig" 1,989 5 Eliminated
3 Brynja Mary "Augun þín" 3,374 4 Eliminated
4 Ísold & Helga "Klukkan tifar" 6,654 2 Finalist
5 Dimma "Almyrkvi" 14,984 1 Finalist

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 15 February 2020 and five of the competing acts performed. The top two entries decided by televoting advanced to the final.

Semi-final 2 – 15 February 2020
Draw Artist Song Televote Place Result
1 Daði & Gagnamagnið "Gagnamagnið" 11,218 1 Finalist
2 Hildur Vala "Fellibylur" 1,336 5 Eliminated
3 Iva "Oculis Videre" 10,924 2 Finalist
4 Nína "Ekkó" 5,905 3 Wildcard
5 Matti Matt "Dreyma" 5,634 4 Eliminated

Final

The final took place on 29 February 2020 with the four qualifiers from the semi-finals and Nína, who was given a wildcard by the producers. The top two entries based on a 50/50 combination of the votes from international juries and televoting advanced to the superfinal, where the winner was decided by aggregating the results from the first round to the televotes of the second.

Due to technical issues, Daði & Gagnamagnið were allowed to re-perform after their superfinal performance.

Final – 29 February 2020
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Result
1 Ísold & Helga "Meet Me Halfway" 17,170 5,568 22,738 4 Eliminated
2 Daði & Gagnamagnið "Think About Things" 24,289 36,035 60,324 1 Superfinalist
3 Nína "Echo" 15,286 6,515 21,801 5 Eliminated
4 Iva "Oculis Videre" 18,426 19,072 37,498 3 Eliminated
5 Dimma "Almyrkvi" 14,867 22,848 37,715 2 Superfinalist
Superfinal – 29 February 2020
Draw Artist Song First
Round		 Second
Round		 Total Place
1 Daði & Gagnamagnið "Think About Things" 60,324 58,319 118,643 1
2 Dimma "Almyrkvi" 37,715 42,468 80,183 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 28 January 2020, 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 second semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[8] However, due to 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled.

In the Eurovision Song Celebration YouTube broadcast in place of the heats, it was revealed that the song would have performed 9th, between Poland and Switzerland[9]

References
  1. "Iceland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  2. Stratos, Agadellis. "Iceland: Here are the participants of Söngvakeppnin 2020!". ESCtoday.
  3. "Iceland reveals 10 national finalist hopefuls for Söngvakeppnin 2020". Eurovision.tv. EBU. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  4. Björk, Steinunn. "Iceland: RÚV confirms participation for 2020 along with dates for Söngvakeppnin". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  5. Agam, Åri (19 February 2020). "Iceland: IVA will sing "Oculis Videre" in Icelandic in Söngvakeppnin 2020 final". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  6. Gunnarsson, Davíð Roach (2 March 2020). "Daði og Gagnamagnið sigruðu með yfirburðum". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  7. Pajor, Patrycja (29 February 2020). "Daði Freyr z islandzką flagą w Rotterdamie!". eurowizja.org (in Polish). Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  8. Groot, Evert (28 January 2020). "Which country performs in which Eurovision 2020 Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  9. Eurovision Song Contest (14 May 2020). "Part two of Eurovision Song Celebration". Retrieved 3 June 2020.
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