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

ICELAND

The Icelandic Final was held on March 2nd at Laugardalshöll in Reykjavik, hosted by Fannar Sveinsson & Benedikt Valsson. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals where 2 songs qualified from each by right plus a wildcard. The winner waschosen in two rounds of voting - in the first round the top 2 were chosen by a mixture of televoting and a jury but in the second round the overall winner was chosen solely by televoting. The winning act was Hatari with “Hatrið mun sigra” (Hate will prevail)

The three members of the band are joined on stage by two female singer/dancers and one male dancer. One member of the band is stood on a small plinth whilst he bangs out the beat of the song on the boxes next to him whist the other two alternately sing parts of the songs in their very differing musical styles. The whole troupe is dressed in its signature bondage style whilst the back drop is mainly flashing red. Most of the dancing and action is very gestural with walking, pointing, fist-making and back bending motifs.

The song is a very raw industrial tinged electronic dance song. There is a very hard beat to the song which is further emphasised but the pendulum-esque drumming on stage. The verses are sung with a highly compressed effect on it to make it sound like it’s coming out of a megaphone. It also makes the voice come across as shouty and angry. The chorus is sung much more gently and as a kind of tune to it, however the hard backing track de not let up and you end up with a very odd juxtaposition of sounds. By the end of the song there is a false finish twinned with an even more unexpected key change which eventually brings both singers together at the same times which culminates in its finish. Although the whole song is sung in Icelandic, the emotion and passion of the song comes flooding through the screen.

Needless to say there has never been anything quite like this at Eurovision so working out how this will do is a real 'finger in the air and see which way the wind is blowing’ kind of moment. It is certainly a song and act that gives you a bit of a jolt and demands to be watched, whether that be with shock, awe or disgust. One also does have to wonder if they might be asked to tone the visuals down, especially for some of the afternoon shows or this might be another performance blurred out in some media strands. On the other hand their outrageous personas and their apparent political stance will get a lot of press for them and the whole contest.

Will this qualify? Who knows! What I will say is that although some western countries may well appreciate the dynamics of the performance and vote for something a it subversive, part of me thinks this might be a little be too much for more traditional countries but more so for some of the jury members. People working as vocal coaches, orchestral musicians or members over 60 might not see the funny side of this at all. Good for them for trying something new!

ARTIST –  Hatari

SONG –  Hatrið mun sigra (Hate will prevail)

MUSIC -  Einar Hrafn Stefánsson, Klemens Nikulásson Hannigan, Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson

LYRICS - Einar Hrafn Stefánsson, Klemens Nikulásson Hannigan, Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson