ICELAND

The Icelandic Final was held on February 29th at Laugardalshöll in Reykjavik, hosted by Björg Magnúsdóttir, Fannar Sveinsson & Benedikt Valsson. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals where the  list of  10 songs was reduced to 5. The winner was chosen in two rounds of voting - in the first round the top 2 were chosen by televoting and jury but then these results were carried forward to the second round where the winner was chosen by televoting only. The winner was Daði & Gagnamagnið with "Think about things"

Daði and band are dressed in their signature personalised tops with a pixelated version of their own face on it and matching green bottoms. These faces as and up as part of the backdrop too. Daði has two female backing singers on our right (one of them being his sister) and on his left 3 instrumentalists (one of which being his wife!) Their electronic instruments then become cubist saxophones during the instrumental.

The whole band not only spreads itself out nicely on stage but they do their fair bit of moving around. There is basically a song-long dance routine that goes from start to finish that the band wholeheartedly takes part in. This in itself gives different things for the camera to focus on; individuals, small groups or the whole band. As I stated earlier the three instrumentalists have electronic instruments which then turn into cubist saxophones during the instrumental break. Daði also makes use of a wind machine (which gets a round of applause itself). It is easy to imagine shots of the hall doing to dance routine too!

The song has an 80's synth feel which gives it a sense of fun from the outset. The song starts out very sparsely with no beat and Daði singing a very slow intro in a slightly tongue in cheek way with coy looks to camera and air grabs. here the instrumentation comes in, as does the beat. There is then a very clear verse/chorus sequence leading to the instrumental break. This gets us to half way through the song. We then have another verse/chorus followed by a short bridge which leads into the final rendition of the chorus before ending with a big brass finish and a group pose worthy of an instagram selfie.

This is such a happy, fresh and fun song with a memorable stage show. There is plenty to see and follow along with in this performance and whether you like the song or not it is certainly something that cannot be forgotten. It's a catchy song and the dance routine goes with it perfectly. In many ways the song and performance goes as one, as one doesn't feel quite right without the other. It's going to appeal to children, especially with the dance routine , bright lights and minecraft-esque clothing. lt is going o appeal to those who hark back to the days when songs has a dance routine (Brotherhood of man, Izhar Cohen, Bucks Fizz, Euphoria etc) This may also be its downfall with some maybe questioning if it is too 'jokey'. There is also the question of the ties RUV (the Icelandic broadcaster) have with Netfix who are the ones making a Eurovision film based in Iceland. There has been a lot of odd tweeting by random celebs about this song and a lot of people are starting to wonder if there is more than meets the eye.
Personally there is no such thing as bad publicity and anything that brings the contest to wider audience and gets them watching the contest proper is no bad thing. Plus it is a family friendly song with a great message. It is a well written song and Daði has an amazing voice. He's like the millennium's Rick Astley... but with a band.

Artist - Daði & Gagnamagnið
Song - Think about things
Composer - Daði Freyr Pétursson
Lyricist - Daði Freyr Pétursson