Hello from Madrid! I’m in town for the Eurovision-Spain Pre-Party, where I will be interviewing some of this year’s artists and seeing them perform live. I haven’t forgotten about the previews though.
Now that we have the semi-final running orders, we will continue in this order from now on. That means that the next country up is the land of volcanos, glaciers and Ja Ja Ding Dong. It’s Iceland!
History
Iceland was the last Nordic country to debut in the Eurovision Song Contest, first taking part in 1986. They will make their 40th appearance in the contest this year. They are also the only Nordic country that has yet to win the contest. Their best result ever is second place, which they have achieved twice; in 1999 when Selma sang “All Out Of Luck” and in 2009 when Yohanna sang “Is It True?”. At the 2023 contest, Diljá finished 11th in the second semi-final with “Power”, leaving Iceland out of the final for the first time since 2018.
Selection
The Icelandic broadcaster, Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV), organised Söngvakeppnin 2024 to select their 2024 entry. Ten songs competed over two semi-finals, in which all songs had to be performed in Icelandic. Public voting picked two entries from each semi-final to progress to the final. A wildcard finalist was also selected by the producers from the songs that did not originally qualify.
In the final, all songs had to be performed in the language they would be performed in at Eurovision itself. Voting took place over two rounds. In the first round, a jury (50%) and televoting (50%) picked two superfinalists. In the superfinal, televoting alone decided the winner. Despite finishing second in the first round, Hera Björk finished first in the superfinal and won Söngvakeppnin 2024.
Due to protests calling for Iceland to withdraw from Eurovision if Israel participated, Hera was not automatically selected as the Icelandic representative after winning Söngvakeppnin 2024. After discussions with RÚV and the Icelandic government, Hera finally accepted the Icelandic ticket to Malmö.
Artist
Hera Björk Þórhallsdóttir was born on March 29 1972 in Reykjavík. She began her music career in 1986, when she appeared on the children’s album “Göngum við í kringum” (We walk around in circles). In 1988, she came second in Söngkeppni framhaldsskólanna, a song competition for high school students in Iceland, with the song “Án þín” (Without you).
In 2000, Hera released her debut album “Ilmur af Jólum” (A scent of Chirstmas). She has followed this up with three more albums.
In 2013, Hera participated in the Viña del Mar International Song Festival with the song “Because You Can”. She won the festival, becoming the first Icelandic performer to do so.
Hera previously represented Iceland at Eurovision 2010 with “Je ne sais quoi”. She finished in 19th place with 41 points. She also performed as a backing singer for Iceland at the contest in 2008, 2009, and 2015, and finished 2nd in the Danish selection in 2009 with “Someday”. She also presented Söngvakeppnin 2000.
The song that Hera will perform in Malmö is called “Scared of Heights”. It was written and composed by Ferras Alqaisi, Ásdís María Viðarsdóttir, Jaro Omar and Michael Burek. As per the Söngvakeppnin rules, the song was originally performed in Icelandic as “Við förum hærra” (We go higher).
Song Review
I went to Iceland for the first time this year. Not only did I tick a bucket list destination off my list, I also got to go to Söngvakeppnin! It was a fantastic trip and I still have all of the Söngvakeppnin artist posters that they were giving out for free to support the artists.
Back in 2010, “Je ne sais quoi” was one of my favourite songs of that contest and it was robbed in the final. Unfortunately, I don’t feel the same way about “Scared of Heights”.
This song sounds like it was plucked straight out of Eurovision in the 2000’s. That sound is great for that decade but we’re in 2024 now. The song is dated and sounds too formulaic for my liking. In a year full of exciting and interesting songs, this song is just not it. I know it would mean the world to Iceland if they could finally get their first Eurovision win because no one loves the contest quite like them. However, it’s not happening this year and I don’t think they will even be in the final.
Side note: When Hera last represented Iceland at Eurovision, Eyjafjallajökull erupted and caused disruption to air travel around Europe. Now that Hera is back at Eurovision, Iceland is seeing increased volcanic activity. Coincidence?
The One That Got Away
With most of the discussions about this year’s contest being around Israel’s participation, Iceland almost made the biggest statement of all by almost sending a Palestinian singer.
Bashar Murad grew up in East Jerusalem. His global breakthrough occurred in 2019, when he collaborated with Hatari on the song “Klefi / Samed”. The song was released shortly after Hatari represented Iceland at Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv, during which they showed Palestinian flags when they received their points from the public.
Bashar’s entry for Söngvakeppnin 2024 was “Wild West”, a song about people moving to more developed countries to try and make it big. The song itself was not political but due to Bashar, a gay Palestinian man, performing it, it became a hot topic. Despite winning the semi-final and the first round of the final, Bashar finished second overall. This led to allegations of racism and a supposed campaign by an Israeli group to make Bashar lose. Quite a mess.
If we look at this song objectively, which we should, it slaps. There is a swagger, a sense of dread and clever lyrics all rolled into one. I was in the arena for this and when Hera was announced as the winner, a wave of disappointment washed over everyone except the Hera supporters. This could have been such a moment at Eurovision.
Palestinians should be made out to be inherently political just because they exist. They are people who eat, drink, have dreams, see friends, laugh at jokes and feel human emotions. They are humans like you and me and deserve to be treated as much.
Bashar, whatever you end up doing in the future, I hope it’s as brilliant as you are.
Gangi þér vel á Íslandi!
Is Hera taking you higher or are you scared of heights? Leave your comments below. Stay tuned tomorrow for another Eurovision preview!
(Sources: eurovision.tv, RÚV, YouTube)
Thinking About It 