Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Iceland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with a song selected through the national final Söngvakeppnin 2019 organised by the Icelandic broadcaster RÚV.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Country	Iceland
National selection
Selection process	Söngvakeppnin 2019
Selection date(s)	Semi-finals: 9 February 2019 16 February 2019 Final: 2 March 2019
Selected entrant	Hatari
Selected song	"Hatrið mun sigra"
Selected songwriter(s)	Einar Hrafn Stefánsson Klemens Nikulásson Hannigan Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (3rd, 221 points)
Final result	10th, 232 points
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2018 • 2019 • 2020►

Background

Main article: Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2019 Contest, Iceland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-one times; its first entry competed 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 2018, Iceland failed to qualify to the final with the song "Our Choice" performed by Ari Ólafsson.

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 2019 participation.

Before Eurovision

Söngvakeppnin 2019

Söngvakeppnin 2019 is the fourteenth edition of Söngvakeppnin, the music competition that selects Iceland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Format

Ten songs in total competed in Söngvakeppnin 2019, where the winner was determined after two semi-finals and a final. The two semi-finals took place at the Háskólabíó conference hall in Reykjavík on 9 and 16 February 2019, with five songs competing in each. The final took place at the Laugardalshöll in Reykjavík on 2 March 2019, where the top two songs from each semi-final competed.[2] In addition to that, the Icelandic national broadcaster reserved a right to advance a wildcard act to the final out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from both semi-finals.[3]

Competing entries

RÚV opened a submission period between 20 September 2018 and 22 October 2018 in order for interested parties to submit their entries. The submitted songs were not allowed to exceed three minutes. Songs have to contain lyrics in Icelandic for the performance in the semi-final, and be performed in the language they are intended to be performed at Eurovision in the final of Söngvakeppnin.

Artist	Song		Composer(s)
	Icelandic title	English title
Daníel Óliver	"Samt ekki" (Not really)	"Licky Licky"	Daníel Óliver Svensson, Linus Emanuel Josefsson, Peter Henning Göransson von Arbin
Elli Grill, Skaði, Glymur	"Jeijó, keyrum alla leið" (Yeah-yo, let's go all the way)	N/A	Barði Jóhannsson
Friðrik Ómar	"Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað?" (What if I can't love?)	N/A	Friðrik Ómar Hjörleifsson, Sveinbjörn I. Baldvinsson
Hatari	"Hatrið mun sigra" (Hate will prevail)	N/A	Einar Hrafn Stefánsson, Klemens Nikulásson Hannigan, Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson
Heiðrún Anna Björnsdóttir	"Helgi" (Weekend)	"Sunday Boy"	Heiðrún Anna Björnsdóttir, Sævar Sigurgeirsson
Hera Björk	"Eitt andartak" (One moment)	"Moving On"	Örlygur Smári, Hera Björk Þórhallsdóttir, Valgeir Magnússon
Ívar Daníels	"Þú bætir mig" (You improve me)	"Make Me Whole"	Stefán Þór Steindórsson, Richard Micallef, Nikos Sofis
Kristina Skoubo Bærendsen	"Ég á mig sjálf" (I own myself)	"Mama Said"	Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson, Valgeir Magnússon
Þórdís Imsland	"Nú og hér" (Now and here)	"What Are You Waiting For?"	Svala Björgvinsdóttir, Bjarki Ómarsson, Stefán Hilmarsson
Tara Mobee	"Betri án þín" (Better without you)	"Fighting for Love"	Andri Þór Jónsson, Eyþór Úlfar Þórisson, Tara Mobee

Shows

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 9 February 2019 and five of the competing acts performed. The top two entries decided solely by televoting advanced to the final.

Semi-final 1 – 9 February 2019
Draw	Artist	Song	Televote	Place	Result
1	Hatari	"Hatrið mun sigra"	12,069	1	Advanced
2	Þórdís Imsland	"Nú og hér"	4,271	4	Eliminated
3	Daníel Óliver	"Samt ekki"	2,198	5	Eliminated
4	Kristina Skoubo Bærendsen	"Ég á mig sjálf"	4,779	3	Wildcard
5	Hera Björk	"Eitt andartak"	8,408	2	Advanced

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 16 February 2019 and five of the competing acts performed. The top two entries decided solely by televoting advanced to the final.

Semi-final 2 – 16 February 2019
Draw	Artist	Song	Televote	Place	Result
1	Elli Grill, Skaði, Glymur	"Jeijó, keyrum alla leið"	2,572	5	Eliminated
2	Ívar Daníels	"Þú bætir mig"	3,519	3	Eliminated
3	Heiðrún Anna Björnsdóttir	"Helgi"	2,772	4	Eliminated
4	Tara Mobee	"Betri án þín"	3,819	2	Advanced
5	Friðrik Ómar	"Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað?"	14,968	1	Advanced

Final

The final tookplace on 2 March 2019 with the 4 qualifiers from the semi-finals, and a wildcard entry selected 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.

Final – 2 March 2019
Draw	Artist	Song	Jury	Televote	Total	Place	Result
1	Friðrik Ómar	"Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað?"	21,061	25,356	46,417	2	Superfinalist
2	Kristina Skoubo Bærendsen	"Mama Said"	20,582	17,391	37,937	3	Eliminated
3	Tara Mobee	"Fighting for Love"	16,274	3,170	19,444	5	Eliminated
4	Hera Björk	"Moving On"	20,102	9,488	29,590	4	Eliminated
5	Hatari	"Hatrið mun sigra"	24,891	47,513	72,404	1	Superfinalist

Detailed Jury Votes[4]
Draw	Song	Juror 1	Juror 2	Juror 3	Juror 4	Juror 5	Juror 6	Juror 7	Juror 8	Juror 9	Juror 10	Total
1	"Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað?"	1,915	1,915	1,675	2,872	2,393	1,436	2,393	1,675	1,915	2,872	21,061
2	"Mama Said"	1,436	2,393	2,872	1,915	1,915	1,915	1,675	2,393	2,393	1,675	20,582
3	"Fighting for Love"	1,675	1,436	1,915	1,675	1,436	1,675	1,915	1,436	1,675	1,436	16,274
4	"Moving On"	2,393	1,675	2,393	2,393	1,675	2,393	1,436	1,915	1,436	2,393	20,102
5	"Hatrið mun sigra"	2,872	2,872	1,436	1,436	2,872	2,872	2,872	2,872	2,872	1,915	24,891
Jury members[5]
– Birgit Simal – Jan Bors – Karin Gunnarsson – Anders M. Tangen – Eleni Foureira – Konstantin Hudov – Molly Plank – Þorsteinn Hreggviðsson – Sigríður Thorlacius – Haraldur Freyr Gíslason

Superfinal – 2 March 2019
Draw	Artist	Song
			First Round	Second Round	Total	Place
1	Friðrik Ómar	"Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað?"	46,417	52,134	98,551	2
2	Hatari	"Hatrið mun sigra"	72,404	62,088	134,492	1

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 2019, 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 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[6]

Once all the competing songs for the 2019 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 13, following the entry from Australia and preceding the entry from Estonia.[7]

Semi-final

Iceland performed thirteenth in the first semi-final, following the entry from Australia and preceding the entry from Estonia. At the end of the show, they were announced as one of the ten countries to qualify for the grand final, the country's first qualification since 2014. Subsequently, at the semi-final winners' press conference, the qualifying contestants all drew to see which half of the final they would compete in. Iceland was drawn to compete in the second half. It was later revealed that Iceland placed third in the semi-final, receiving a total of 221 points: 151 points from the televoting and 70 points from the juries.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released during the grand final.[8] While announcing the final result points, flags of Palestine were unveiled by the group.

Points awarded to Iceland

Points awarded to Iceland (Semi-final 1)
Televote
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Australia  Belarus  Finland  Poland	France  Hungary  Slovenia  Spain	Portugal	Belgium  Greece  San Marino	Czech Republic  Estonia  Georgia  Montenegro  Serbia
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
		Israel		Cyprus
Jury
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
France	Australia  Belgium	Cyprus	San Marino
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Poland	Finland  Montenegro  Slovenia		Estonia  Greece	Belarus  Hungary

Points awarded to Iceland (final)
Televote
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Finland  Hungary  Poland	Australia  Norway	Sweden  United Kingdom	Belarus  Italy  Latvia  Netherlands  Russia  Slovenia	Austria  Czech Republic  Ireland  Lithuania
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Estonia  Romania  Serbia	Denmark	Armenia  Belgium  Croatia  Georgia  Portugal  Spain	Germany  Greece  Montenegro  San Marino	France  Malta  Moldova
Jury
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
	Belgium	Australia		Lithuania  San Marino
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
France	Czech Republic	Poland	North Macedonia  Russia

Points awarded by Iceland

Semi-final 1 Score Televote Jury 12 points  Czech Republic  Australia 10 points  Australia  Czech Republic 8 points  Poland  Greece 7 points  Estonia  Estonia 6 points  Belarus  Serbia 5 points  Slovenia  Slovenia 4 points  San Marino  Belgium 3 points  Hungary  Belarus 2 points  Finland  San Marino 1 point  Belgium  Cyprus

Final Score Televote Jury 12 points  Norway  Sweden 10 points  Australia  Australia 8 points  Sweden  North Macedonia 7 points   Switzerland  Netherlands 6 points  Italy  Czech Republic 5 points  Netherlands   Switzerland 4 points  Denmark  Azerbaijan 3 points  Estonia  Italy 2 points  Czech Republic  Serbia 1 point  San Marino  France

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Icelandic jury:[8]

• Hrafnhildur Halldorsdottir – Chairperson – radio host, singer
• Oskar Einarsson
• Maria Olafsdottir – singer, represented Iceland in the 2015 contest
• Johann Hjorleifsson – drummer
• Lovisa Arnadottir – communication manager

Split voting results from Iceland (Semi-final 1)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		H. Halldorsdottir	O. Einarsson	M. Olafsdottir	J. Hjorleifsson	L. Arnadottir	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Cyprus	12	12	4	13	4	10	1	11
02	Montenegro	11	15	13	15	16	15		16
03	Finland	13	9	10	14	14	13		9	2
04	Poland	7	11	12	6	7	12		3	8
05	Slovenia	8	4	5	10	3	6	5	6	5
06	Czech Republic	10	3	2	3	1	2	10	1	12
07	Hungary	9	6	8	11	6	11		8	3
08	Belarus	14	7	3	7	8	8	3	5	6
09	Serbia	6	8	6	1	11	5	6	14
10	Belgium	5	10	7	9	2	7	4	10	1
11	Georgia	16	13	14	12	13	14		15
12	Australia	4	2	1	2	5	1	12	2	10
13	Iceland
14	Estonia	1	5	11	5	10	4	7	4	7
15	Portugal	15	16	16	16	15	16		13
16	Greece	3	1	9	8	9	3	8	12
17	San Marino	2	14	15	4	12	9	2	7	4

Split voting results from Iceland (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		H. Halldorsdottir	O. Einarsson	M. Olafsdottir	J. Hjorleifsson	L. Arnadottir	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	15	16	8	7	21	15		12
02	Albania	25	20	24	18	23	23		23
03	Czech Republic	10	10	3	2	9	5	6	9	2
04	Germany	14	24	5	22	16	17		22
05	Russia	9	6	12	24	17	14		18
06	Denmark	8	13	13	6	20	12		7	4
07	San Marino	19	23	25	20	25	24		10	1
08	North Macedonia	3	9	11	1	8	3	8	16
09	Sweden	2	1	1	4	3	1	12	3	8
10	Slovenia	16	19	15	15	5	16		15
11	Cyprus	23	17	9	19	12	18		19
12	Netherlands	7	3	4	17	4	4	7	6	5
13	Greece	22	21	21	23	18	22		21
14	Israel	24	25	23	14	24	21		25
15	Norway	17	5	14	8	13	11		1	12
16	United Kingdom	21	18	18	11	14	19		24
17	Iceland
18	Estonia	4	15	17	12	15	13		8	3
19	Belarus	18	14	16	21	19	20		17
20	Azerbaijan	5	7	10	9	6	7	4	13
21	France	11	11	6	13	7	10	1	14
22	Italy	12	8	20	16	1	8	3	5	6
23	Serbia	13	12	7	3	11	9	2	20
24	Switzerland	6	4	19	10	2	6	5	4	7
25	Australia	1	2	2	5	10	2	10	2	10
26	Spain	20	22	22	25	22	25		11

References

1. "Iceland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
2. Granger, Anthony. "Iceland: Songvakeppnin 2019 Final To Take Place On March 2nd". Eurovoix.com. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
3. Granger, Anthony. "Iceland: Jury Introduced to Semi-Finals of Söngvakeppnin". Eurovoix.com. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
4. "Hatari sigraði með yfirburðum". Morgunblaðið. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
5. "Þau eru í dómnefnd Söngvakeppninnar". RÚV. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
6. Jordan, Paul (28 January 2019). "Eurovision 2019: Which country takes part in which Semi-Final?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
7. "Exclusive: This is the Eurovision 2019 Semi-Final running order!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
8. Groot, Evert (30 April 2019). "Exclusive: They are the judges who will vote in Eurovision 2019!". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2019.

External links

• Official RÚV Eurovision site