Iceland: All the details of Söngvakeppnin 2025!
Iceland‘s national broadcaster, RÚV, has made official announcements for this year’s Söngvakeppnin, the national competition through which the country’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest is selected.
Benedikt Valsson, Guðrún Dís Emilsdóttir, and Fannar Sveinsson are going to present Söngvakeppnin 2025. They are no strangers to presenting the Icelandic contest as Benedikt and Fannar were presenters in 2020 and Guðrún in 2016.
As we mentioned in our previous article (here), until recently, only the date of the first semi-final of Söngvakeppnin 2025 was known. Now, the full program of the Icelandic competition has been announced, which is as per below:
- First Semi-Final – Saturday 8 February
- Second Semi-Final – Saturday 15 February
- Final – Saturday 22 February
As in previous years, five songs are going to compete in each semi-final. Three songs from each semi-final advance to the final, which is going to consist of six songs instead of the five that were used in previous editions of Söngvakeppnin. In previous editions of the Icelandic song contest, the fifth entry to the final was determined by RÚV itself.
Additionally, in previous years the top two songs in the Söngvakeppnin final would compete against each other again in an additional round where only the public voted to determine the representative of the land of ice and fire. This process was abandoned for this year’s contest. The winner and therefore Iceland’s representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 will be the one who comes first in the combination of the public vote and the vote of an international jury consisting of 7 members, with a 50% – 50% system.
Rúnar Freyr Gíslason, the executive producer of Söngvakeppnin, explained that this approach is used in both Sweden’s Melodifestivalen and the Eurovision Song Contest itself.
“We are very excited to adopt the Swedish method with this new format and believe it will create an even more thrilling competition.”
The competition returns to RVK Studios in Gufunes in the northeastern part of Reykjavík, which also hosted the competition in 2022 and 2023. There will be a significant upgrade in direction and production.
Selma Björnsdóttir, who represented Iceland twice at Eurovision (1999 2nd place, 2005 elimination from the final, 16th place in the semi-final), will return as a member of the artistic team. She has directed shows all over the world and has worked on shows such as Ísland got talent, Idol and Allir geta dansað. She will be joined by Thomas Benstem, a Swedish director, choreographer and graphic designer who has directed Melodifestivalen, So You Think You Can Dance, the MTV Music Awards, Eurovision and other major events. The team will also be joined by choreographer Baldvin Alan Thorarensen.
On Friday, January 17, the presentation of the artists and songs that will take part in Söngvakeppnin 2025 is scheduled at 20:40 CET through the special TV show “Lögin í Söngvakeppninni 2025”. For this year’s bid for the Icelandic representation, 110 entries were submitted to the Icelandic competition.
Source: RÚV
Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest 2025!
Sweden 2012: Loreen – Euphoria (+2)
Finland 2023: Käärijä – Cha Cha Cha (-2)
Spain 2022: Chanel – SloMo (=)
Netherlands 2024: Joost Klein – Europapa (NEW)
Croatia 2024: Baby Lasagna – Rim Tim Tagi Dim (NEW)
Switzerland 2024: Nemo – The Code (NEW)
Greece 2024: Marina Satti– Zari (NEW)
Ukraine 2021: Go_A – Shum (-3)
Ireland 2024: Bambie Thug – Doomsday Blue (NEW)
Italy 2021: Måneskin – Zitti E Buoni (-6)
Cyprus 2018: Eleni Foureira – Fuego (-5)
France 2021: Barbara Pravi – Voilà (-6)
Israel 2024: Eden Golan – Hurricane (NEW)
Norway 2009: Alexander Rybak – Fairytale (-2)
Iceland 2019: Hatari – Hatrið mun sigra (-8)
Slovenia 2023: – Joker Out – Carpe Diem (-16)
Serbia 2007: Marija Šerifović – Molitva (-4)
Portugal 2022: MARO – saudade saudade (+2)
Latvia 2023: Sudden Lights – Aijā (-2)
Lithuania 2024: Silvester Belt – Luktelk (NEW)
Belgium 2015: Loïc Nottet – Rhythm Inside (-9)
Estonia 2015: Elina Born & Stig Rästa – Goodbye to Yesterday (1)
Austria 2023: Teya & Salena – Who The Hell Is Edgar? (-27)
Armenia 2023 Brunette – Future Lover (-12)
United Kingdom 2022: Sam Ryder – SPACE MAN (-18)
Türkiye 2003: Sertab Erener – Everyway That I Can (-3)
Australia 2016: Dami Im – Sound of Silence (-15)
Denmark 2013: Emmelie de Forest – Only Teardrops (-22)
Russia 2016: Sergey Lazarev – You are the Only One (-20)
Hungary 2018: AWS – Viszlát Nyár (-9)
Bosnia 2006: Hari Mata Hari – Lejla (-10)
Bulgaria 2020: Victoria – Tears Getting Sober (-16)
Germany 2010 Lena – Satellite (-22)
Czechia 2023 Vesna – My Sister’s Crown (-43)
Luxembourg 1965: France Gall – Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son (-16)
Slovakia 2010: Kristina – Horehronie (+100)
Georgia 2024: Nutsa Buzaladze – Firefighter (NEW)
Malta 2024: Sarah Bonnici – Loop (NEW)
North Macedonia 2012: Kaliopi – Crno I Belo (=)
Montenegro 2015: Knez – Adio (+52)
Albania 2018: Eugent Bushpepa – Mall (-27)
San Marino 2021: Senhit ft Flo Rida – Adrenalina (-21)
Poland 1995: Justyna – Sama (+129)
Monaco 2006: Severine Ferrer – La Coco Dance (+819)
Spain 1990: Azucar Moreno – Bandido (-18)
Azerbaijan 2009: AySel and Arash – Always (-56)
Romania 2021: Roxen – Amnesia (-55)
Moldova 2022: Zdob si Zdub and Advahov Brothers – Trenuletul (-110)
