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 Mist & Magnús with their song “Unspoken Words”. Do we like our words unspoken, or are we feeling more Unbroken (sorry Maria Ólafs). Read on to find out…
ERNA MIST & MAGNÚS – “UNSPOKEN WORDS”
“UNSPOKEN WORDS” REVIEWS
Josh: I think a folky ballad like “Unspoken Words” needs to have some sort of power behind it to make it memorable. Unfortunately this song lacks the pizazz I want. Erna & Magnús do sounds great together, and the song is pretty. I see a better fit for this at some sort of hippy-esque music festival, and not the Eurovision Song Contest.
Score: 4/10
Max: “Unspoken Words” isn’t going to set the world alight, but has beautiful harmonies and real charm. This reminds me of a chilled-out ‘Of Monsters and Men’ track and has the potential to be a perfect moment of calm amongst the acres of up-tempo pop in the Eurovision final. Choosing Erna and Magnus would be a sophisticated move by Iceland.
Score: 7.5/10
Robyn: This is sweet but I’m just not feeling it. Erna & Magnús’ voices sound great together and “Unspoken” words seems to be the perfect kind of folky duet for them. But maybe it’s just a bit too nice.
Score: 5/10
William: The most memorable part of this is that the fact the male singer looks like Harry Potter in the video thumbnail. They have lovely voices and blend beautifully, but it’s just a bit too sleepy to be compelling. Even when she starts meowing in the final minute. Folk is fine, but sleep-inducing music is not.
Score: 5/10
In the Icelandic jury we have seventeen jurors but only room for four reviews. The remaining thirteen scores are below!
Antranig: 5/10
Bernardo: 6/10
Cristian: 6/10
Dayana: 8.5/10
Denise: 5.5/10
Edd: 7.5/10
Gökhan: 7/10
Luis: 5.5/10
Maria: 4/10
Mario: 3/10
Mikhail: 6/10
Sinan: 6/10
Steinunn: 7/10
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 and a high of 8.5.
Nothing really happens.
I think Greta Salome is the unavoidable winner in Iceland. Her song is captivating, although it ticks too many Eurovision boxes, which mostly doesnt help win the whole contest. However Greta Salome for Iceland could turn semifinal 1 into a bigger bloodbath than it already looks like, although I would argue that Bosnia Herzegovina is not necessarily a lock for the final inspite their 100% qualification record.