Iceland’s state broadcaster RÚV has opened the submission period for songs for Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins, the Icelandic national final which will be held in February.
The rules haven’t changed much since last year. Songs still have to be performed in Icelandic, and artists need to have lyrics in another language on standby. Composers must have Icelandic citizenship and employees of RÚV are not allowed to enter. Each composer can submit two songs, but no more.
Just like last year, the winner will be determined by a 50/50 jury and televoting split. When the winner is announced, RÚV has the right to eliminate performers and choose another, should the previous performer not meet the standards for some reason. Fun fact: Sigga Beinteins was NOT the original performer of Nætur back in 1994. It was her co-singer from Heart2Heart (1992), Sigrún Eva Ármannsdóttir, who originally performed and won with Nætur. That’s the only time, so far, that RÚV has changed the singer. Must have been some drama behind-the-scenes…
However, this year, RÚV apparently has the Bechdel test on their mind. The committee that chooses the songs will honor gender equality. Fifty per cent of competing songs HAVE to be written by a female composer. Better late than never! As you’ll recall, Sweden enacted similar rules this year.
So, dry facts and list of rules are over for now. Hope y’all enjoyed that. Further information about the upcoming contest and dates of the semi finals and finals will be posted as soon as possible.
I have to disagree once again with this like I did about the Melodifest quota article. I am not against encouraging more women to enter songs, but I am against quotas. It shouldn’t matter if the composer is a woman or a man, we should be able to look beyond the name of the composer to select the winning song. To me this is a step back for Iceland in fighting inequality because it is only going to make us start to label the composers! Sigh