Iceland: 157 entries submitted for Söngvakeppnin 2020

A total of 157 songs have been submitted to Iceland’s public broadcaster, RÚV, ahead of the Icelandic selection for Eurovision 2020, in the hope all to compete in the “Söngvakeppnin 2020” national final in February. The application period was open until October 17, with interest being particularly high. In fact, the total of applications this year exceeds 20% of the last year.

All songs will be evaluated by a seven-member jury composed of RÚV executives, professional musicians, composers and songwriters. In the process of listening to the songs, the committee will know neither the singers nor their composers.

The top-ten songs chosen by the experts will be revealed in January. Then, on February 8 and 15, they will take part in the two semifinals that will take place at the Reykjavik Háskólabíó Convention Center. Two songs from each semifinal will qualify for the grand final on February 29 at the Laugardalshöll Indoor Stadium.  RÚV reserves the right to issue a wild-card for the final in one of the 6 songs that failed to reach the final stage.

In the semifinals, all songs must be interpreted in Icelandic. Instead, in the final, the artists have to interpret the songs in the language they intend to sing in the Netherlands if they win the Icelandic national final. The winner of the “Söngvakeppnin 2020” will represent Iceland at the 60th Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam’s Ahoy Arena.

In the 64th edition of the contest held in Tel Aviv last May, the iconic Hatari represented Iceland with the song “Hatrið mun sigra” ranking 10th with 232 points.