For composers in Iceland who are dreaming of hearing their song on the Eurovision stage, time is up. The submission gates have officially closed, and it is now up to a specially chosen jury to decide who will have the opportunity to compete in the Icelandic semifinals that will probably take place in February 2014.
Never in the history of Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins have so many composers entered the contest. A whopping 297 songs were submitted! Nordic success in the contest may be spurring them on. Finland won in 2006, Norway in 2009, Sweden in 2012 and Denmark in 2013. Poor Iceland must remain content with two second-place finishes in 1999 and 2009. Where is the victory people?!
The number of submissions is even more impressive when you consider that the rules have changed a wee bit this year. Composers were only allowed to submit two songs, instead of three as in previous years. As far as wiwibloggs.com knows, the other rules, like only performing the songs in Icelandic during the semi-finals, will stay the same. Will quantity outweigh quality? It is yet to be seen.
The jury will announce the contestants at the beginning of November. An guesses on who will follow in Eythor Ingi’s footsteps in Copenhagen next spring?
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.
Photo: Eurovision.tv (EBU)
Sigga!! Sigga!! Sigga!!
297?! I’m impressed! In a country of less than 350,000? They may need to have several rounds just to narrow it down to 100.
I want to back Blar Opal. They are amazing! The young contestants have made the difference in recent years. Such as Eric Saade, Maja Keuc, Donny Montell, Roberto Bellarosa, Emmelie DeForest, among others. Blar Opal was 2nd in 2012. They NEED to come back in 2014 for Iceland !!
I really want Unnur Eggertsdóttir back this year. I loved her song last year and also another one of her songs “Stolin augnablik.” I love how she sings uptempo dance-pop music, yet in Icelandic, something I’ve never really heard before. To be honest Eythor was one of my least favourites this year and I hope Iceland selects something that won’t put me to sleep from boredom.
Hoping for Euroband to return to ESC 2014!!
NO ME IMPORTA QUE NO GANE ISLANDIA,PARA MI NO ES RELEVANTE,ME ENCANTA LA CALIDAD QUE ESTA PROPONIENDO ESO PARA MI ES LO POSITIVO ESTOS DOS ULTIMOS AÑOS SUS CANCIONES DESTILABAN CALIDAD Y ELEGANCIA ESO SI LUEGO EN LA TABLA DE RESULTADOS FINALES POCOS PUNTOS, PERO QUE SE VA A HACER EUROPA ES ASI