Tonight saw the second semi-final of Iceland’s Söngvakeppni, their selection for Eurovision 2019. Five more acts performed for their shot at the final.
Last week, we saw fan favourites Hatari and Eurovision diva Hera Björk advance to the grand final. Tonight, Friðrik Ómar and Tara Mobee joined them after topping the second semi-final.
Also joining them as well is Kristina Bærendsen, who received RÚV´s wild card.
Söngvakeppni Semi-Final Two
It was a star studded night of Eurovision extravaganza in Háskólabíó, when the five remaining acts of Söngvakeppni sang their hearts out. The variety was pretty solid. Dance pop, powerballad, soft electro pop, countryballad and last but not least, a trance-infused rap. Something for everyone, y’all!
Friðrik Ómar – “Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað?”/”What If I Can’t Love?”
There’s almost no need to introduce Friðrik Ómar to Eurovision fans. The former Euroband member brought a hardcore powerballad, which he says is about a personal journey of his, and comes straight from the heart.
His line up in backing vocals can be described as Eurovision royalty. He had his co-star of Euroband, Regína Ósk, along with Erna Hrönn (backup for Yohanna), Heiða Ólafs (backup for Hera), Jógvan Hansen (2nd place in Söngvakeppni 2010) and Selma Björnsdóttir on stage.
Tara Mobee – “Betri án þín”/”Fighting For Love”
Despite being relatively new to the scene, 19 year old Tara Mobee has already gained much attention for her music and her silky smooth voice. She debuted at Icelandic Airwaves 2018 and has already three very successful singles under her belt.
Tara has taken Iceland by storm and is in the finals without so much as breaking a sweat. You go girl!
RÚV also decided to award a wild card this year for the final. That honour went to Kristina Bærendsen — who rumors say came 3rd in the first semi finals a week ago.
This is the final lineup for Söngvakeppni 2019 and one of these lucky people will step in Ari Ólafsson´s shoes and represent Iceland in Eurovision Song Contest come May.
Do you like the line up? Did your favorite make it to Laugardalshöll? Who do you think will win on March 2nd? Please sound off your comments below!
Am I missing something……why have a wildcard. If a song is not good enough to qualify for the final, how is it ever going to win the contest itself. It reminds me of Sweden and their secomd chance edition. There cannot be many songs that won from that show.
Robin Stjernberg with the song “You” won Melfest qualifying through Andra chansen in 2013.
kristina charted higher than hatari in the icelandic top 40 this week so it was expected…. but hatari needs to win lbr
Decently performed entries, but I’ll sound like a broken record by stating that Hatari is their chance to stand out in Tel Aviv. And this comes from someone that wouldn’t even rank their entry that high.
As I heard Hatari is no longer the favorite of the bookies… Will hatred not prevail in the end?
(this post is a social experiment about how many negative votes I can get, so keep them coming LOL)
I just voted positively, as always.
well they are the bookies favorite again ;P hope they winn
Exactly. Now the bookies’ favorite is Friðrik Ómar
Weird day that Latvia made my favorite choice of the four selections.
I thought that too ^^
Thanks to Fridrik for showing the fools around here what vocal mastery is, instead of becoming a circus.
I really hope he can pull the adult vote and win the golden ticket instead of those freaks from Hatari.
As much as I like Friðrik, Hatari’s entry has been the best Icelandic entry in many years, I’d go as far as saying it’s the best since Yohanna
Imsland should have got the wildcard. I really hope Hatari wins, because the rest is just awful with no exceptions.
Agreed on Imsland. I liked that entry.
Look at all these people here with their “Hate Will Prevail”.
Yeah, cause that is totally the spirit of Eurovision.
All of this Hatari madness is just a joke.
Lol Deniz. You just don’t get the message.
It’s not like they are saying “Hatred must prevail”. They are singing about the sad reality of today’s world how hate takes over the world. You just don’t get the message, it may come across as aggressive but that’s their style, but the message is very powerful.
Hatari is a fanwank. If they win, the juries will make any kind of effort to eliminate them in the semi-final.
Even if the band wins in Iceland, the entry might not get to Eurovision. Contest rules are contest rules. That is all I can say on that, for now.
The song itself doesn’t break any rules and if you’re talking about the “protest on stage” thing, they never said they would do that. That was a misinterpretation.
Tara mobee for the win!!!
I’m so scared that Iceland will choose one of those ballads. Hatari has to win.
It comes straight from an uninspired brain. Nothing to see here, please move along and give into your destiny. Hatred will prevail.
Normally, that comment would be filtered anywhere else. But context is everything. 😛
Did you watch Iceland SF2?
And my reply got filtered.
I’ll just go make some tea.
Best possible choices, in fact.
Oh good my favorites qualified
Well based on the reaction already, I have a feeling this Semi result will be “iced” over. The person I feel sorry for is Kristin Kristjans – I’m sure she didn’t write the article just so everyone could go on about hell freezing over with Hatari!
I challenge someone to discuss this Semi Final. Did anyone watch it?
But like, what purpose does this wildcard serve? We all know Hatari will win, this is just nonsense.
Four songs seemed too few for a final, so it’s a good thing they could add one more.
I thought Hatari had already won everything? Hate will prevail!