Reykjavik, here we come! Today sees a very important day for Iceland’s national selection Söngvakeppnin 2020, as it’s time to meet the 10 selected acts to take part in the live shows of the competition. Which artists are RÚV’s choice for this year?

A couple of months before, the Icelandic broadcaster RÚV released an open invitation for all singers and composers wishing to participate in Söngvakeppnin, the show which annually determines the nation’s Eurovision act.

The event sees no significant changes to last year’s format. 10 competing artists and songs will battle it out in the two semi-finals of the competition (8 and 15 February), fighting for a ticket to the Grand Final of 29 February and of course for the great honor to represent the country on the Eurovision stage.

A 7-member special jury shortlisted the 157 submitted entries to the following 10. From the two semi-finals of Söngvakeppnin, four acts will qualify for the final, two from each show. However, the event’s jury holds the right to offer a fifth ticket to the final to one of the eliminated artists as a wildcard.

The participants

RÚV made public the official list of participants for this year’s event and released all 10 songs as well. The contenders of the Eurovision ticket are obliged to perform their songs in Icelandic. However, the finalists will have the right to sing in the language of their preference. Let’s take a look at their names:

First semi-final

• Brynja Mary – Augun þín (In Your Eyes)
• DIMMA – Almyrkvi
• Elísabet – Elta þig (Haunting)
• Ísold & Helga – Klukkan tifar (Meet Me Halfway)
• Kid Isak – Ævintýri

Second semi-final

• Daði Freyr – Gagnamagnið (Think About Things)
• Hildur Vala – Fellibylur
• Iva – Oculis Videre
• Matti Matt – Dreyma
• Nína – Ekkó (Echo)

You may listen to all candidate songs below on Spotify:

Netflix to finance Iceland’s 2020 participation?

Over the last few days, several posts talking about a very interesting, newly-launched collaboration are making the rounds; the one between the Icelandic broadcaster RUV and Netflix streaming platform. According to them, Netflix is getting ready to finance the country’s 2020 Eurovision entry, with about 10 million Icelandic kroner (80,000 Euros)!

With more than 150 million users worldwide, Netflix is now involved with our beloved song contest too. Funding perhaps the most popular show in the country (since it achieves over 95% viewership every year!), Netflix seems to be adopting a clever way of approaching even more customers up there in the north.

The Icelandic newspaper Visir reports that Will Ferrell‘s movie about Eurovision, which is going to premiere on Netflix in the months to come could also have fostered this collaboration. The movie is partially filmed in the Icelandic city of Húsavík with the participation of famous stars such as Demi Lovato, Piers Brosnan, and Rachel McAdams.

Source: visir.is

Iceland at Eurovision

Iceland entered the Eurovision house in 1986 and has not snatched the victory yet. The country achieved its best results with two honorable second places; once in 1999 with Selma ‘s All out of luck and then 10 years later, when Yohanna finished 2nd with Is it true?. The Nordic nation has partaken in the contest show 32 times.

In 2019 Iceland selected Hatari to represent the nation in Tel Aviv. Iceland qualified to the Grand Final with Hatari for the first time in five years, after four eliminations in a row.

The Icelandic band placed 10th in the Grand Final in Israel with their entry Hatrið mun sigra.