At last it is official. The lineup for Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins, the national finals in Iceland, has been revealed. As in previous years, there will be two semi-finals and a grand final, now taking place on February 1st, 8th and 15th. Like last year, there will be a second voting between the top two songs during the grand final. 10 songs will be competing this year, and there are familiar names amongst the composers and performers as per usual. For example, we welcome back Vignir Snær from Sjonnis friends, who along with Thorunn Clausen wrote the song Elsku þú (My darling you) and will also be performing it. One of Gréta and Jónsi’s backing vocalists Guðrún Árný Karlsdóttir will be raising her voice as well.
But there are also new names this year. Like the composer/producer trio StopWaitGo, who are making it big in the UK, USA and Canada, writing and producing songs for groups like The Saturdays. Although new to the Eurovision scene, I believe they are a force to be reckoned with, along with their song Dönsum burtu blús (Dance the blues away). We will also have an actress on stage, an opera singer, a made up sextet and a punk band for children. At the moment it certainly looks like Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins is apologizing for a weak and in fact quite boring 2013 finals, by spicing things up and letting the next generation of composers, lyricists and performers shine! Hopefully they will stir things up a wee bit. God knows we need it!
Kristin Kristjans contributed this report from Iceland. You can keep up with the latest Eurovision news and gossip by following the team from wiwibloggs.com on Twitter @wiwibloggs and by liking our Facebook page.
Sounds like it will be a really exciting Songvakeppni. Never heard of StopWaitGo, but listened to a few of the things they produced and they sound promising 😀