The time to start our long journey to Iceland has arrived! With the island’s national selection event Söngvakeppnin being around the corner, their broadcaster RÚV has revealed the names and songs of the 10 entries that will fight for the Eurovision ticket.

As already announced, the participants number is down this year from 12 to 10. Therefore, each semi-final will see a set of 5 competing entrants, all obliged to interpret their songs in Icelandic. 2 entries from each semi-final will be qualifying for the final, while the competition’s commision reserves the right to “save” one more act via “wildcard” thus bringing the total number of finalists to 5. All finalists will be able to choose between Icelandic and English for their songs’ performances.

First semi-final (9 February)

Without further wait, the semi-finalists of Söngvakeppnin 2019 are:

• Hatari – Hatrið mun sigra
  Music and Lyrics: Hatari
  
• Hera Björk Þórhallsdóttir – Eitt andartak / Moving on
  Music: Örlygur Smári, Hera Björk Þórhallsdóttir and Valgeir Magnússon
  Lyrics (Icelandic & English): Hera Björk Þórhallsdóttir and Valgeir Magnússon
• Kristina Skoubo Bærendsen – Ég á mig sjálf / Mama said
  Music: Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson
  Icelandic lyrics: Valgeir Magnússon and Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson
  English lyrics: Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson and Valgeir Magnússon
  
• Þórdís Imsland – Nú og hér / What are you waiting for?
  Music: Svala Björgvinsdóttir and Bjarki Ómarsson
  Icelandic lyrics: Stefán Hilmarsson
  English lyrics: Svala Björgvinsdóttir and Bjarki Ómarsson
• Daníel Óliver – Samt ekki / Licky Licky
  Music: Daníel Óliver Sveinsson and Linus Josefsson
  Icelandic lyrics: Daníel Óliver Sveinsson
  English lyrics: Daníel Óliver Sveinsson and Linus Josefsson

Second semi-final (16 February)

• Elli Grill, Skaði and Glymur – Jeijó, keyrum alla leið  
  Music and Lyrics: Barði Jóhannsson
• Friðrik Ómar – Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað? / What if I can’t have love?
  Music: Friðrik Ómar Hjörleifsson
  Icelandic lyrics: Friðrik Ómar Hjörleifsson
  English lyrics: Sveinbjörn I. Baldvinsson and Friðrik Ómar Hjörleifsson
• Ívar Daníels – Þú bætir mig / Make me whole
  Music: Stefán Þór Steindórsson and Richard Micallef
  Icelandic lyrics: Stefán Þór Steindórsson and Nikos Sofis
  English lyrics: Stefán Þór Steindórsson and Nikos Sofis
• Tara Mobee – Betri án þín / Fighting for love
  Music: Andri Þór Jónsson and Eyþór Úlfar Þórisson
  Icelandic lyrics: Andri Þór Jónsson, Eyþór Úlfar Þórisson and Tara Mobee
  English lyrics: Andri Þór Jónsson and Eyþór Úlfar Þórisson
• Heiðrún Anna Björnsdóttir – Helgi / Sunday boy
  Music: Heiðrún Anna Björnsdóttir
  Icelandic lyrics: Sævar Sigurgeirsson and Heiðrún Anna Björnsdóttir
  English lyrics: Heiðrún Anna Björnsdóttir

Returning artists

Among the 10 participants, we meet two past Eurovision participants, who will try their best for a luckier Eurovision fortune. These are the 2010 Icelandic hopeful Hera Björk, Friðrik Ómar (Iceland 2008), as well as Svala Björgvinsdóttir, who is returning as a composer, two years after her 2017 performance in Kyiv.

Hera Björk appeared on the Eurovision stage in 2010 as a leading artist, when she represented Iceland with the song Je ne sais quoi and placed 19th. She has been a backing vocalist for the Icelandic entries several times in the past (namely in 2008, 2009 and 2015).

Friðrik Ómar is also back in the game, 11 years after his Eurovision performance as part of the group Eurobandið, who represented Iceland in 2008 in Belgrade, with the song This is my life. They had finished in 14th place.

Svala Björgvinsdóttir won Söngvakeppnin 2017 and flew the Icelandic flag at that year’s Eurovision. She performed her song Paper at the first semi-final of the competition but failed to qualify to the Grand Final. She is the daughter of the Icelandic 1995 hopeful Bo Halldorsson.

Söngvakeppnin 2019 agenda

• 09/2 – Semi-final 1 – Háskólabíó
• 16/2 – Semi-final 2 – Háskólabíó
• 02/3 – Grand Final – Laugardalshöll 

Iceland at Eurovision 2018

Following once again their annual tradition, Iceland used Söngvakeppnin in order to pick their hopeful for Eurovision Song Contest 2018. At the final on 3 March, the young artist Ari Ólafsson was crowned as the show’s winner, who would be representing the nation in Lisbon, with his ballad Our choice.

He finally didn’t manage to qualify to Eurovision’s Grand Final, coming only 19th at the first semi-final with a total of 15 points. Here is his live performance at the Altice Arena:

Following Netta’s victory with Toy, the 64th Eurovision Song Contest is set to take place on 14, 16 and 18 May at the EXPO Tel Aviv Convention Center in Tel Aviv, Israel.