On Saturday night the final of Söngvakeppnin 2017 burst onto our screens from Reykjavik’s Laugardalshöll Arena. Over the past few weeks Iceland has given us plenty of drama, some surprise qualifications and even the return of a wildcard.
Seven finalists performed tonight, and there were even appearances from former Eurovision winners Måns Zelmerlöw and Alexander Rybak. But tonight was all about one person. Congratulations to Svala Björgvinsdóttir, we will see you in Kyiv!
Following the first round of voting (50/50 jury and televote), the top two finalists, Daði Freyr Pétursson and Svala Björgvinsdóttir, had recieved the most votes and advanced to the superfinal.
Söngvakeppnin 2017: combined jury and televote results
Söngvakeppnin 2017: jury results
After Svala and Daði performed “Paper” and “Is This Love?” in the superfinal, the public got one last chance to vote for their favourite. And finally after what seemed like an eternity, it was revealed that Svala was the winner.
Svala came out on top with both our readers and the Wiwi Jury. wiwiblogger Kristin gave “Paper” 9 out of 10 and commented:
“I am prepared to buy myself a hat and eat it if Svala doesn’t represent us in Kyiv. “Paper” is THE song to beat this year. Strong, catchy and modern without being cliché, it’s fab and Svala herself is the epitome of cool. I’ve been waiting since 2008 to see her give Söngvakeppnin another try and I even put her on my wishlist from last year. The time has finally come for Svala. Of that I am certain.”
SÖNGVAKEPPNIN 2017 winner – Svala Björgvinsdóttir “Paper”
SÖNGVAKEPPNIN 2017: as it happened
The selection kicked off with Greta Salóme reprising her winning entry from last year, “Hear Them Calling”.
Aron Hannes was the first finalist to perform, and “Tonight” went down a storm with the audience (mainly for those leather pants).
Arnar Jónsson and Rakel Pálsdóttir ramped up the emotion for “Again”, and they spent much of the performance back-to-back, which was super romantic.
Aron Brink’s tropical banger “Hypnotised” was just as much fun performed in English, and he brought all of the confetti and glitter in Iceland. We love glitter y’all.
Wildcard Hildur got a second chance to prove herself after that semi-final performance of “Bammbaramm”, and this time around there were no problems.
Rúnar Eff followed Hildur, and he smouldered on his performance of “Make Your Way Back Home”, which he kept simple.
Wiwi Jury and fan favourite Svala Björgvinsdóttir was the penultimate act, and her performance of “Paper” remained unchained from the semi-final.
Daði Freyr Pétursson was the last finalist to perform, and the cute and charming “Is This Love?” really seemed to resonate with the crowd.
Måns Zelmerlöw then took to the stage for the first of two appearances. What followed was one of the most awkward interviews ever.
Måns, who said that he “absolutely loves Iceland”, admitted that there were two songs that stood out for him in particular, although he wouldn’t specify which ones. When asked if Iceland had a potential Eurovision winner, Måns hesitated (for ages, it was so cringe) but eventually conceded that maybe one of the entries could earn Iceland its first ever win.
Following the obligatory national final appearance of Alexander Rybak singing “Fairytale”, the voting began, and the superfinalists were revealed. Greta returned to present her new song, “Blues”, and just when it seemed that the show could not go on any longer, Måns came back and sang a “Heroes/Glorious” mash-up, with the help of the finalists.
#Songvakeppnin pic.twitter.com/s90ugTPI77
— wym (@oteujardim) March 11, 2017
Finally the moment we had been waiting three hours for came, and after a tense wait, the result was revealed. Social media users appear to be happy with Iceland’s decision:
Congratulations @svalakali! The best song won! ??? #songvakeppnin #eurovision #iceland
— Bogdan (@stingovision) March 11, 2017
Yay Svala! I like her hard femme aesthetic lol #songvakeppnin
— ClexaEurovision (@clexaeurovision) March 11, 2017
YES SVALA WON
atleast one good winner this night#songvakeppnin— Heamung (@Heamung_) March 11, 2017
But what do you think? Were you rooting for Svala? Can she make the final in Kyiv? Sound off below!
Iceland could’ve been modern and stand-out by sending Aron Brink or Aron Hannes. Their songs were modern and up-beat. Aron Brink was robbed on the jury votes. It’s a shame..
My top 39:
https://youtu.be/WqQ60h_77c8
Obvious Loreen’s PAPERLIGHT rip-off… even the stage presentation is a cheap copy of many Loreen’s moments. Problem is… this is just a cheap copy, not even as good as…
I don’t know what to say about this..it leaves me indifferent…
It was the best of a bad lot. It’s a decent song but it won’t really stand in in their final with all the other shouty women. After Greta Salome didn’t quailfy last year, I don’t have much hope for Svala
Although I like her voice (as it reminds me of swedish Robyn) but here everything screamed to pick Daði Freyr, for entertaining purpose. It’s never bad to step on the left side. Overall good selections.
The song itself is good but she’s really off putting on stage
I’m glad she won. It’sa solid song nad Iceland’s best chance of getting to the final again.
Thank you, Iceland! You saved the night!
The best song won! Svala is amazing!
However, the 1st semi is difficult and I can hardly see it going to the final.
P.S.: Måns Zelmerlöw and Alexander Rybak were amazing! I loved their performances!
She sings well and the second verse is great. But using “paper” as your song’s central symbolic metaphor reminds me of LeKlein using “Ouch!” as a hook. And so this song is not as deep as it’s trying to be. Ehhh. All the modern flourishes in the song don’t automatically make it musically interesting.
Reminds me of Aminata’s “Love Injected” a few years ago. I think with the right production it might be quite powerful. Good luck Iceland!
I swear Daði Freyr deserved to win more than anyone! The most entertaining performance ever!
Amazing decision Iceland ?
Congratulations Svala! This was the only winner who could make me happy last night. Svala’s song may not be as original as Dadi’s but still Paper is the only song I’ll be listening to among the competing songs at this NF. I can say that she is in my top 10 surely. But will she qualify? I hope so. It will be tough at the first semi. We have seen many unexpected qualifiers in the past though.
Won’t make the final. I wish more countries would start eing a little bit brave, but it seems everyone wants to go for the repetitive, generic, Scandi-pop route and I have no idea why – just look at the reaction to Occidentali’s Karma and Amar Pelos Dois.
Sure, a Scandipop song will probably win this year, but unless you have the *best* one of them, you’ll never get a good result. And this certainly isn’t the best of that bunch this year.
They NEEEEEEEEEEED a good staging for this, otherwise no final… AGAIN.
Greta was AMAZING, and she didn’t qualify, even with THAT performance. I am sorry 🙁
Meh…forgettable
i like it! her voice is just magical.
@Azeriboy96 Yes you did made negative comments to romania choice.I follow people like you who pretend they say and they do nothing and that’s the people I want to throw around.
It’s now obvious that this year Finland has the best Nordic song by a clear mile, then followed by Denmark.
I’m happy for Svala, but this song will find it tough in Semi Final 1. Having said that, quite a lot of those other entries disappointed us, so this could just qualify. The staging needs a re-vamp for ESC though – i’m sure Iceland will come up with something arty and unique. 🙂
The song is solid but I think we might be prepared for yet another Icelandic flop. It sort of just floats along the rest of the songs. Might get eaten by other entries.
The only country that got it right. This song is way too regular, though, so it might be yet another semi for Iceland. I hope not, still.
Svala is going to flop.
Her song has the charisma of a blank sheet of paper.
She can’t sell her song and has no personality.
Another Greta Salome type of flop.
Shame that Icelanders like to play it safe
What is she singing about? I recall hearing “Paper, you cut right through” & something about being stuck with glue. What is that about?
My first listen was not a positive experience. I will listen again but not any time soon.
It was my winner and I like it but I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t qualify.
Good for Svala. I was on Team Dadi, even from the beginning before the semis. But I like Paper. She should change the staging though.
Ranking the Nordics
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Iceland
Finland
Awful choice.. Iceland should have picked Aron Hannes or at least Daði instead..
That’s how you do it !!!!!!!
Svala = LOVE
Great Job Iceland
12 points
I think fans complain when songs start to all sound the same.
The NF season started with wall to wall female dramatic ballads, and now we have wall to wall noisy electronic sounds that aren’t even that fun or catchy.
We want some diversity,
Also very few songs are instant hits that you can hum immediately after the first listen
Guys, I’m not gonna say I’m a fan of this song/performance when I’m not! I think we need to be realistic so we don’t have big disappointments
Hi
Yes, but they don t have juries behind them like Sweden.
Good to see Julia Zemiro still involved with Eurovision even though she is no longer commentating.
@AzeriBoy96 “If you don’t like the song why waste your time and comment about it, just leave it there.” Exactly my thoughts, dear. I hate all these negativness.
Svala will be eaten by Belgium, Azerbaijan in I semi , they all 3 have similar sound song . Daði Freyr Pétursson was better option for Iceland this year .
This is so mutch better than Sweden.
@Azeriboy96 welcome to the world of Eurovision fans. We are an odd bunch and having a forum to speak about songs negatively or positively is something we treasure, we can be Eurovision freaks and not care hah. You will find every year the fans complain nothing is good enough and that this year is crap compared to previous year.
Basically, keep the mantra that opinions are like as*holes, we all have one and most are full of sh*t! It will help you keep your sanity haha
You complaint when you have full-on ballads. You also complaint when a new pop song comes out. Well, at least we still have a yodel.
Love this.
Only 4 songs left to go. Armenia have already named a song and singer just haven’t revealed it. Bulgaria have said they will reveal Monday. San Marino have picked two artists and said one is EU one is not EU.
And we’ve heard absolutely nothing from Russia and they won’t be at the HoD meeting on Monday 20th
All these comments below coming from butthurt fans lol.
This song is just a front runner for the trophy, meanwhile, the others must be thinkg what they can do to get a spot in the final and not staying in semis.
Robin Bengtssons song will beat this one… for sure…
The song shows splashes of brilliance but overall it feels like a sewn together mess.
Definitely the best of the 4 chosen tonight.
But as a whole pretty generic so should got in nicely with a pretty generic year.
After the storming year that was 2016 I guess 2017 was always going to pale in comparison.
This is just an Ice(land) on a cake of a dreadful ESC night. Aron Brink, Arnar and Rakel, Runar Eff and even Aron Hannes or Dadi Freyr would have made my top 15, some even as high as top 5. The song Paper is okay, but the performance is awful. Another NQ for Iceland, I’m afraid.
Cool hearing Mans and Alexander both live, though.
My personal highlight were the leather pants mentioned in the article. I should get one of these. Also, I enjoyed how dreamy Arnar looked. I had to drown the god-awful lyrics but I still enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch the voting. Seriously, with seven finalists, you don’t have to drag the show out way longer than both Sweden and Norway. I like how Iceland tends to have an underdog in their top two. I’m glad for Daði because it was always gonna be stunning Svala and frankly, after a few weeks, none of the songs do anything… Read more »
Next boring classic euro song. Very bad year. We have only two types of songs – ballads and electronic pop. Ammunition/The Woods in Norway and Nano/Henrik+Aninia should save this year with new genres. And Dadi in Iceland was funny at least. Pity. It is like the tragic Ideal contests on Youtube, where are every songs the same. And its reality now. Viewers wont be happy.
This one is good as well. Well done, Iceland. I really can’t understand why people doesn’t like anything this year. All of the comments section has the same phrases again and again “another ballad”, “another generic pop song”, “another electronic song”.. I just don’t understand what does people exactly wanna hear this year? :p I personally don’t even comment when I don’t like a song, because I hate to seem negative and I don’t like negative grumpy people. If you don’t like the song why waste your time and comment about it, just leave it there :p
It’s objectively a good song, but it leaves me cold, same as Greta last year. The staging doesn’t add anything to it either. I think it will be a borderline qualifier.