Iceland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "" written by Einar Hrafn Stefánsson, Klemens Nikulásson Hannigan and Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson. The song was performed by the group Hatari. The Icelandic entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel was selected through the national final 2019, organised by the Icelandic broadcaster (RÚV). The selection consisted of two semi-finals and a final, held on 9 February, 16 February and 2 March 2019, respectively. Five songs competed in each semi-final with the top two as selected by a public televote alongside a jury wildcard advancing to the final. In the final, the winner was selected over two rounds of voting: the first involved a 50/50 combination of jury voting and public televoting, which reduced the five competing entries to two superfinalists and the second round selected the winner exclusively through public televoting. "" performed by Hatari emerged as the winner after gaining 57.71% of the public vote.
Iceland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2019. Performing during the show in position 13, "" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 18 May. It was later revealed that Iceland placed third out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 221 points. In the final, Iceland performed in position 17 and placed tenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 232 points.
Background
Prior to the 2019 contest, Iceland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-one times since its first entry in 1986. Iceland's best placing in the contest to this point was second, which it achieved on two occasions: in 1999 with the song "All Out of Luck" performed by Selma and in 2009 with the song "Is It True?" performed by Yohanna. Since the introduction of a semi-final to the format of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004, Iceland has, to this point, failed to qualify to the final seven times. In 2018, Iceland failed to qualify to the final with the song "Our Choice" performed by Ari Ólafsson.
The Icelandic national broadcaster, (RÚV), broadcasts the event within Iceland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Despite calls to boycott the contest due to the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which included a petition that collected over 27,000 signatures, RÚV confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest on 13 September 2018. Since 2006, Iceland has used a national final to select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a method that continued for their 2019 participation.
Before Eurovision Söngvakeppnin 2019 2019 was the national final format developed by RÚV in order to select Iceland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The three shows in the competition were hosted by Fannar Sveinsson and Benedikt Valsson and all took place in Reykjavík: the two semi-finals were held at the venue and the final took place at the . The semi-finals and final were broadcast on RÚV and online at the broadcaster's official website ruv.is.
Format Ten songs in total competed in Söngvakeppnin 2019 where the winner was determined after two semi-finals and a final. Five songs competed in each semi-final on 9 and 16 February 2019. The top two songs from each semi-final, as determined by public televoting qualified to the final which took place on 2 March 2019. A jury also selected a wildcard act for the final out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from both semi-finals. The winning entry in the final was determined over two rounds of voting: the first to select the top two via 50/50 public televoting and jury voting and the second to determine the winner with 100% televoting. All songs were required to be performed in Icelandic during the semi-final portion of the competition. In the final, the song was required to be performed in the language that the artist intended to perform in at the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv. In addition to selecting the Icelandic entry for Eurovision, a monetary prize of one million Icelandic króna was awarded to the songwriters responsible for the winning entry.
Competing entries On 20 September 2018, RÚV opened the submission period for interested songwriters to submit their entries until the deadline on 22 October 2018. Songwriters were required to be Icelandic, possess Icelandic citizenship or have permanent residency in Iceland between 1 September 2018 and 19 May 2019. However, exceptions would be made for minor collaborations with foreign songwriters as long as two-thirds of the composition and half of the lyrics are by Icelandic composers/lyricists. Composers had the right to submit up to two entries, while lyricists could contribute to an unlimited amount of entries. At the close of the submission deadline, 132 entries were received. A total of ten entries were selected from the submissions by a seven-member selection committee formed under consultation with the Association of Composers (FTT) and the Icelandic Musicians' Union (FÍH), as well as from entries created by composers invited by RÚV for the competition. The ten competing artists and songs were revealed and presented by the broadcaster during the television programme on 26 January 2019. Among the competing artists are previous Icelandic Eurovision entrants Friðrik Ómar, who represented Iceland in 2008 as member of Euroband, and Hera Björk, who represented Iceland in 2010.
Artist SongSongwriter(s) Icelandic Title English Title Daníel Óliver "" "Licky Licky"Daníel Óliver Svensson, Linus Emanuel Josefsson, Peter Henning Göransson von Arbin Elli Grill, Skaði, Glymur "" Barði Jóhannsson Friðrik Ómar "" "What If I Can't Have Love?"Friðrik Ómar Hjörleifsson, Sveinbjörn I. Baldvinsson Hatari "" Einar Hrafn Stefánsson, Klemens Nikulásson Hannigan, Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson Heiðrún Anna Björnsdóttir "" "Sunday Boy"Heiðrún Anna Björnsdóttir, Sævar Sigurgeirsson Hera Björk "" "Moving On"Örlygur Smári, Hera Björk Þórhallsdóttir, Valgeir Magnússon Ívar Daníels "" "Make Me Whole"Stefán Þór Steindórsson, Richard Micallef, Nikos Sofis Kristina Skoubo Bærendsen "" "Mama Said"Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson, Valgeir Magnússon Tara Mobee "" "Fighting for Love"Andri Þór Jónsson, Eyþór Úlfar Þórisson, Tara Mobee Þórdís Imsland "" "What Are You Waiting For?"Svala Björgvinsdóttir, Bjarki Ómarsson, Stefán Hilmarsson
Shows
Semi-finals The two semi-finals took place on 9 and 16 February 2019. In each semi-final five acts presented their entries, and the top two entries voted upon solely by public televoting proceeded to the final. "" performed by Kristina Skoubo Bærendsen was awarded the jury wildcard and also proceeded to the final. The second semi-final also featured a guest performance by Bríet who covered the 2012 Eurovision winning entry "Euphoria".
+ Semi-final 1 – 9 February 2019 Artist Song Televote Place Result 1 Hatari "" 12,069 1 Advanced 2 Þórdís Imsland "" 4,271 4 3 Daníel Óliver "" 2,198 5 4 Kristina Skoubo Bærendsen "" 4,779 3 Wildcard 5 Hera Björk "" 8,408 2 Advanced
+ Semi-final 2 – 16 February 2019 Artist Song Televote Place Result 1 Elli Grill, Skaði, Glymur "" 2,572 5 2 Ívar Daníels "" 3,519 3 3 Heiðrún Anna Björnsdóttir "" 2,772 4 4 Tara Mobee "" 3,819 2 Advanced 5 Friðrik Ómar "" 14,968 1 Advanced
Final The final took place on 2 March 2019 where the five entries that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals competed. In the semi-finals, all competing entries were required to be performed in Icelandic; however, entries competing in the final were required to be presented in the language they would compete with in the Eurovision Song Contest. Two entries remained in Icelandic ("" performed by Friðrik Ómar and "" performed by Hatari), while the other three entries competed in English. In the first round of voting, votes from a ten-member international and Icelandic jury panel (50%) and public televoting (50%) determined the top two entries. The top two entries advanced to a second round of voting, the superfinal, where the winner, "" performed by Hatari, was determined by aggregating the televotes from the first round to the televotes of the second.
The jury panel that voted in the first round consisted of:
Anders M. Tangen (Norway) – television and radio host Birgit Simal (Belgium) – television producer Eleni Foureira (Greece) – singer, dancer, 2018 Cypriot Eurovision entrant Jan Bors (Czech Republic) – Eurovision Head of Delegation Karin Gunnarsson (Sweden) – music consultant Konstantin Hudov (Ukraine) – Head of Press for the Azerbaijani Eurovision Delegation Haraldur Freyr Gíslason (Iceland) – musician, member of the band and 2014 Icelandic Eurovision entrant Pollapönk Molly Plank (Denmark) – Eurovision Head of Delegation Sigríður Thorlacius (Iceland) – singer, composer, member of the band Hjaltalín Þorsteinn Hreggviðsson (Iceland) – program director for Rás 2
In addition to the performances of the competing artists, the interval acts featured guest performances by 2018 Icelandic Eurovision entrant Ari Ólafsson, and Eleni Foureira. + Final – 2 March 2019 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place 1 Friðrik Ómar "" 21,061 25,356 46,417 2 2 Kristina Skoubo Bærendsen "Mama Said" 20,582 17,391 37,937 3 3 Tara Mobee "Fighting for Love" 16,274 3,170 19,444 5 4 Hera Björk "Moving On" 20,102 9,488 29,590 4 5 Hatari "" 24,891 47,513 72,404 1 + Song Juror Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 "" 1,915 1,915 1,675 2,872 2,393 1,436 2,393 1,675 1,915 2,872 21,061 2 "Mama Said" 1,436 2,393 2,872 1,915 1,915 1,915 1,675 2,393 2,393 1,675 20,582 3 "Fighting for Love" 1,675 1,436 1,915 1,675 1,436 1,675 1,915 1,436 1,675 1,436 16,274 4 "Moving On" 2,393 1,675 2,393 2,393 1,675 2,393 1,436 1,915 1,436 2,393 20,102 5 "" 2,872 2,872 1,436 1,436 2,872 2,872 2,872 2,872 2,872 1,915 24,891
+ Superfinal – 2 March 2019 Artist Song Votes Place FirstRound SecondRound Total 1 Friðrik Ómar "" 46,417 52,134 98,551 2 2 Hatari "" 72,404 62,088 134,492 1
At Eurovision According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Iceland was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Iceland was set to perform in position 13, following the entry from Australia and before the entry from Estonia.
The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Iceland on RÚV with commentary by Gísli Marteinn Baldursson. Alex Elliott also provided English commentary on RÚV 2 for the semi-finals and for the online broadcast of the final. The Icelandic spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Icelandic jury during the final, was Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson.
Semi-final
Hatari took part in technical rehearsals on 3 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May. This included the jury show on 9 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.