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Iceland: Söngvakeppnin 2022 is rescheduled!

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The newly imposed restrictions due to the rapidly spreading SARS-COV2, in several countries throughout the globe, have led to many events either getting cancelled or postponed.

This is exactly what has happened to Söngvakeppnin 2022, the national selection process of Iceland for Eurovision 2022.

In specific, the songs were initially planned to be released on January the 29th, the two Semi-Finals to be held on 19 and 26 of February, respectively and the Final to be held on March the 5th.

The decision

However, RUV, the public broadcaster of the country, has taken into account the decision of the health national authorities to actually postpone all the events held in the Country, consequently, Söngvakeppnin 2022 will be postponed as well, for a whole week.

The thoughts behind the rescheduling

The national final got postponed, aiming for it to be implemented in the most optimal way, also hoping to run this large-scale show at full capacity, by ensuring the safety of contestants, spectators and employees at the same time.

Iceland’s head of delegation, Rúnar Freyr Gíslason, said it would be better to postpone the national final even further, in order to increase the chances of it being held without any restrictions.

Unfortunately, this cannot be done, as the deadline for submitting Eurovision entries is set for March the 13th.

The detailed schedule of  Söngvakeppnin 2022 will be the following:

  • 5th of February – Announcement of artists and release of competing songs of Söngvakeppnin 2022
  • 26th of February – First Semi-Final
  • 5th of March – Second Semi-Final
  • 11th of March – Family Show (Jury Rehearsal)
  • 12th of March – Grand Final

10 songs will compete at Söngvakeppnin 2022, while the artists, composers and songs will be revealed at the RUV show called Lögin í Söngvakeppninn.

The songs have already been recorded and all the artists have already started rehearsing for their semi finals. The pre-sale of the tickets for the shows will also be announced soon.

Artists from Iceland have shown major interest in submitting their proposals for the Icelandic Eurovision 2022 entry, leading to a total of 160 song submissions, breaking a record of submissions for Iceland throughout the years. The songs have been judged by an expert committee, that decided which of those entries will eventually take part in the national final of the country.

In 2021, Iceland was represented by Daði og Gagnamagnið with their song “10 years” and managed to be ranked 4th. You can listen to the song below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORDK1XQToAY

Iceland: 157 entries submitted for Söngvakeppnin 2020

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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.