Earlier today, the Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals – gathered in Reykjavik to discuss the contestants participating in Söngvakeppnin 2016, the national selection for Iceland at Eurovision 2016. Today we look at Erna & Hjörtur with their song “My Mind Is”. Do we want to find out what’s going on in their minds, or is it more a case of “out of sight, out of mind”? Read on to find out…
ERNA & HJÖRTUR – “MY MIND IS”
“MY MIND IS” REVIEWS
Josh: “My Mind Is” sounds like it’s fresh of the Icelandic charts of 1998, but I’m digging it. Both Erna & Hjörtur have great voices and they compliment each other beautifully. The song has great power and energy. If the two of them can share some chemistry on stage and convey the message the song offers, I think this could surprise us.
Score: 6/10
Mario: Introductory guitar bits usually lead to an explosive chorus, y’all. That fails to happen with this song, but I forgive it this time, solely because of the duo’s powerful vocals that do magical things on this bland number. It definitely is worthy of the Songvakeppnin line-up, but is it worthy of Eurovision? For a country that is freshly burned by an NQ, the answer is probably NO.
Score: 5.5/10
Robyn: Söngvakeppnin is celebrating its 30th anniversary, but that’s no excuse to bring back this slice of the mid 1990s. I’m a little partial to Erna & Hjörtur’s power harmonies, but that’s really the only thing that’s stopping me from disliking this song entirely. It’s expertly performed, but oh so dull.
Score: 6/10
William: God, this is boring. I appreciate that they have lovely voices and know how to blend, but in a competition filled with similarly down-tempo, atmospheric songs, it just feels like more of the same. The dated sound is fine — I think with duets one overlooks throwback melodies — but it’s just not inspiring. Sorry ’bout it.
Score: 4.5/10
In the Icelandic jury we have seventeen jurors but only room for four reviews. The remaining thirteen scores are below!
Antranig: 4/10
Bernardo: 7/10
Cristian: 6.5/10
Dayana: 7/10
Denise: 6.5/10
Edd: 5.5/10
Gökhan: 3.5/10
Luis: 5/10
Maria: 4/10
Max: 7/10
Mikhail: 4/10
Sinan: 5.5/10
Steinunn: 6/10
The highest and lowest scores are dropped prior to calculating the average score. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 3.5 and a high of 7.
This song may not be a winner but Erna has such a glorious voice I could listen to her sing all day long.
I love the song verry much!
Just a bundle of MEH
The song reminds me of burning a soufflé, it starts off so, so damn promising, then ends with disappointment. Both of their voices are great, their harmonies are delightful, but the song sounds like a slow dance song from the 1960s – something maybe Icelanders would dance to at a wedding but never touch the song again. The song showcases their voices perfectly, but it seems as though to do this any powerful sound structure was eliminated.
Score: 5/10
They have good voices and they sound great together, but the song goes nowhere for me.