She’s one of the frontrunners of Iceland’s national final, with her haunting song “Oculis Videre”. Now singer Iva has released the music video of her Söngvakeppnin 2020 entry, and it appears to solve the mystery of which language she will perform the song in.
The video has a simple concept — a car drives along a long, straight road in Iceland’s bleak but breathtaking chilly landscape. But there is a lot more to it than that, as the video is infused with as much mystery and atmosphere as the song itself.
The video was directed by Richard Cameron, camera by Róbert Magnússon and stying by Sæunn Kjartansdóttir.
Iva “Oculis Videre” music video
The video begins with aerial shots of a long straight road slicing through a frosty Icelandic landscape. The video is shot in black and white, but it almost feels like it could just be the natural colour palette of the stark landscape.
A car comes driving along the road, and soon enough we get a look inside. Iva is sitting in the passenger seat, while the car is being driven by an older man wearing a cap with “DIRECTOR” on it. We’re feeling the symbolism.
But this ain’t no crazy road trip. Suddenly, Iva vanishes from the passenger seat, with the Director continuing on, seemingly unbothered by her disappearance.
As a song that contains complex lyrics in three languages, it makes sense that the video hasn’t tried to literally illustrate the song. Rather, it takes inspiration from the song and complements its message with one of its own.
Icelandic, English and Latin
The music video also appears to solve the mystery of which language Iva will sing in the Söngvakeppnin grand final this weekend.
The lyrics feature a mix of the Icelandic and English versions for the verses and keeps the iconic Latin chorus. Doing this keeps the Icelandic language and sound that many fans — even those outside Iceland — have fallen in love with.
But it also ensures that the message of the song will get across by including some lyrics in English. The song’s dramatic ending remains, with Iva asserting in English, “This is all I have to say”.
The grand final of Söngvakeppnin 2020 will take place this Saturday, 29 February. Iva will compete alongside Ísold & Helga, Daði & Gagnamagnið, Nína Dagbjört and DIMMA for the right to represent Iceland at Eurovision 2020.
What do you think of the “Oculus Videre” music video? Do you like the mix of languages? Tell us your thoughts below!
I hope the song “oculis videre” wins the song contest. Daði is really fun and entertains a lot, but the Iva song is a piece of art! She represents a potential winner for the Eurovision2020 and her contribution would give something more to eurovision2020: mysticism, austerity, magic, enchantment. Please don’t waste this opportunity
Ég vona að lagið „oculis videre“ vinni söngvakeppnina. Daði er virkilega skemmtilegur og skemmtir mikið, en Iva lagið er listaverk! Þú ert fulltrúi hugsanlegs vinningshafa fyrir Eurovision2020. Framlag Iva myndi veita eurovision2020 eitthvað meira: dulspeki, aðhald, töfra, hreif. VINSAMLEGAST ekki eyða þessu tækifæri
To me this performance is stunningly beautiful. It’s refined but moving. It would also be wonderful to have Iceland send something in Icelandic again.
I think Oculis Videre, if selected, will give Iceland its best result since Yohanna’s Is It True and has the potential to go one step further.
This is very nice. In the early days I didn’t like it much, but it gets better and better. And the mix is very cool.
If this or “Think about things” wins I’m happy.
Much better when the song mixes 3 languages
Its better to mix 3 languages for this songs. I think its her better choice
This song can easily been used in Trapped, and I mean this as a compliment
[…] I den musikvideo som presenterades i dag, se nedan, är det dock en engelsk / isländsk version av “Oculis Videre” som hörs, vilket kan betyda att Iva valt att tävla med en kombination av de båda språken (och latin, som förekommer i samtliga versioner). (Källa: wiwibloggs.com) […]
Amazing, this is a Eurovision winner
That part at 1:36 omg…. <3
Bookmakers only have her 25% likely to win the final (Dadi’s on 50%).
I think it’s a lot closer than that but still, I expected her to be the favourite going into Saturday.
Do you know why this sudden shift? She was a heavy favorite only a week or two ago. I’m sensing a Monika Marija situation here and I’m afraid she won’t win. Fortunately, I like Dadi’s song far more than I did Running with Lions. Still, I love Oculis videre so much that it would be hard not to feel disappointed.
There are lot of rumours. Those supporting Iva say it might be true and other that support Dadi say that’s because of the intial hype of Iva that people ruled out Dadi until they listened to his song. Others say the reason for this hype could have been led by Netflix that as you know is basically helping Iceland in Eurovision finances possible as a way to help promote their own involvement with the new Eurovision film. They also say that many of these stars promoting Dadi have no relationship with Eurovision at all so that’s why they are suspicious.… Read more »
Iceland choose Iva . I love her !
It is so simple and pure and yet so beautiful and breathtaking. I keep my fingers crossed.
A song with 100% of the audience not understanding a single word almost won in 2003 and it should have won without the turkish diasporas. 90% of the audience watching Eurovision doesn’t care about the lyrics and the meaning of the songs and just enjoy them simply.
Isn’t it great when countries show creativity , imagination and diversity? Iceland, a small nation, is a great example of this – plus having fun with the whole ESC thing. And we as fans enjoy their participation too. Really enjoy many of these entries – Iva and Dadi.
Why on earth doesn’t UK come remotely near this in terms of taking part? and I am British.
the simplicity, the talent, the voice, the looks, the acclaim, the power…
Oh, this is actually really clever combining both Icelandic an English lyrics along with the Latin chorus. It’s the best Combo, But isn’t it too little too late at this point because her competitor dadi has released his video earlier than hers and his semifinal performance has earned more views than hers? We will see on Saturday. I want iva to win, But I won’t be surprised if dadi does
The performance saturday is full icelandic!
YEAY!!!! Love 100% Icelandic
That video blows my mind. Way too much symbolism for my head to cope with. Like why is the car sometimes driving on the left and sometimes driving on the right? I know I’ll be thinking about this video for a long time!
Richard Cameron: Songwriter, music video director, actor (kind of)…
Söngvakeppnin really giving him a chance to flex his artistic muscles!
Oooh, THREE languages! What a good way to please everyone! There is the mystic and mysterious qualities of the icelandic and the latin, while also having just enough english for people to know what the song is about. The fact that this studio version is now out gives me high hopes that this is what she’ll go with if she wins.
Ooo. Three languages in a song! When is the last time that happened? (Someone else please look this up.)
The video is far too minimalist for my taste. However, the power of the song is still there even with a minimal “canvas” on which to show it. That, in itself, proves something. Whether or not this will be enough to win Iceland’s final… I don’t know. It has strong competition. Tough call.
N.B. “Love is Forever” (Denmark 2019) apparently had multiple languages. There ya go. 🙂
omg haha I forgot about Leonora, I always forget that song
I wish I could forget it. 😉
still salty that Denmark qualified over Armenia, Romania, or Austria
I’m not. 😉 Altough I prefer Austria’s song, the fact that the singer sang in falsetto (unsuccessfully) the whole song was a big turn off. It was quite unnecessary! Romania was also good but the “visual” was poor. Armenia’s song was mediocre and unmemorable. So the Danish song ticked all the boxes the others did not, that is why it went to the final! 🙂
I think Sofi marinova with love unlimited but I’m not 100% certain
Theme song for the anime Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Russian, Latin, English. ‘Inner Universe’
One of the best songs ever made.