Iceland.
Iceland tends to be tricky business. I say this because, well, Iceland has a tendency to send understated songs. In past years, they’ve a tendency to get lost in the Feb – March National Final Season shuffle for me. I’ll listen to the songs one or two times, select my favorites and then move onto more exciting things (Like Sweden). Often times, the songs I chose as my favorites in Feb/March fall out of favor in the Summer, when I got back and review that years ESC (Because I have more time, I’m bored and there isn’t like a feelings of “I need to do this now because Melodifestivalen is on in 20 minutes and Melodi Grand Prix just ended so I have 30 minutes to figure out who to root for and about what songs I should be indignant if they don’t get through….otherwise what will ESC forum think of me?). For example, in 2006, “Tíl Hamingju Ísland” was my run away favorite and I barely listened to the other songs…but over time, I’m seriously considering “Þér Við Hlið´the top spot in my fantasy ESC 2006. Likewise, in 2008 I was completely outraged and angry that “Got No Love” didn’t win their NF, but they were sending some boring, lame song “Is it True?” (Which placed 2nd overall at ESC 2009). But that summer, not only did “Is It True” make me fall in love with it and become my overall winner for Iceland, it grew to be in my top 5 overall for ALL of ESC 2009.
Basically, the point is, sometimes the Icelandic Songs take some time to capture your heart…so this year, I’m trying to give them the attention they Deserve. In recognition of this fact, I’m granting the Icelandic National Finals a few things I don’t normally do. First, I’m listening to each song on repeat at least 4 times before giving any sort of Judgment (Usually, I don’t do this except for truly awesome songs as I believe I can learn to love any mediocre song if I listen to it enough). Second, I’m not giving my final points in each SF until after I’ve watched all the videos on youtube at least 3 times (Usually, I think this is unfair, because you only have a 3 minute performance at Eurovision to win over the crowd, so I extend the same courtesy to the songs in each NF. I only watch each song Once before I give my final rankings).
So for the Selection this year, this is how I’m gonna roll. For each Semi Final, I will award votes 4 times. The First time, I will divide 8, 000 points between the songs based on my First listen opinion. The Second time, I will divide 18, 000 points between the songs after 5 listens. The Third time, I will divide 25, 000 points between the songs after watching their performance on youtube. The Final time, I will divide 40, 000 points between the songs after one last listen. The 2 Songs with the highest scores from each Semi Final will advance to the Final. The 3rd place songs from each Semi Final will advance to a 3rd Semi Final, where I will select one last Finalist.
In the Actual Selection, 15 Songs were presented in 3 Semi Finals. In each Semi Final, a Televote chose the 2 Finalists.
Semi Final 01 –
Songs –
01 – Lagið Þitt (Your Song) – Böddi And JJ Soul Band – Ingvi Þór Kormáksson
02 – Ef Ég Hefði Vængi (If I Had Wings) – Haraldur Reynisson – Haraldur Reynisson
03 – Elísabet (Elizabeth) – Pétur Öm Guðmundsson - Pétur Öm Guðmundsson
04 – Huldumey – Hanna Guðný Hitchon - Ragnar Hermannsson And Anna Þóra Jónsdóttir
05 – Ástin Mín Eina (My Only Love) – Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir- Arnar Ástráðsson
Voting –
Number Title V 01 V 02 V 03 V 04 Total Place Q
01. Lagið 1 378 2 039 4 799 8 561 16 777 3rd SF
02. Ef Ég 796 3 721 1 023 5 994 11 534 4th
03. Elísabet 1 287 1 374 2 682 2 830 8 173 5th
04. Huldumey 2 960 4 945 7 938 12 826 28 669 1st F
05. Ástin 1 579 5 921 6 558 9 789 24 297 2nd F
My Reviews –
01 - Lagið Þitt – Starts off a little boring, and then theres like 20 Second of potential, but it fades. Eh…04 Points out of 10.
02 - Ef Ég Hefði Vængi – Almost catchy, but still boring. 03 Points out of 10.
03 – Elísabet – Yawn. Boring ballad sung by a guy who’s best feature is that he showed up with a beard singing to our about some girl I guess he might have liked? But broke his heart? Or like a car he once had that was more memborable then this song?
04 – Huldumey – FINALLY! A decent song. It’s meaningful and the performance is almost flawless (She went off key just a tiny bit at the start of the second verse…but oh well). Touching but not boring. 08 Points out of 10.
05 - Ástin Mín Eina – Aw. In a word, it’s cute. Its clear that she’s got potential. It’s a great first start, clear and nice, calm and beautiful. 06 Points out of 10.
Actual Results –
To the Final –
Ef Ég Hefði Vængi
Ástin Mín Eina
Out -
Lagið Þitt
Elísabet
Huldumey
UGH! And I was positive that Huldumey would get through. Sign.
Semi Final 02 –
Songs –
01 – Nótt (Night) – Yohanna – María Björk Sverrisdóttir, Marcus Frenell, Beatrice – Magnús Þór Sigmundsson
02 – Segðu Mér (Tell Me) - - Jakob Jóhannsson, Tómas Guðmundsson
03 – Þessi Þrá (This Desire) – Kristján Gíslason And Íslenzka Sveitin - Albert G. Jónsson
04 – Beint Á Ská – Rakel Mjöll Leifsdóttir - Tómas Hemannsson, Orri Harðarson, Rakel Mjöll Leifsdóttir
05 - Eldgos (Eruptions) – Matthías Matthíasson And Erla Björg Káradóttir- Matthías Stefánsson, Kristján Hreinsson
Voting –
Number Title V 01 V 02 V 03 V 04 Total Place Q
01. Nótt 3 561 4 399 8 872 14 548 31 380 1st F
02. Segðu 2 014 3 821 5 359 7 994 19 188 3rd SF
03. Þessi 1 502 3 351 7 519 9 735 22 107 2nd F
04. Beint Á 337 2 947 2 001 2 452 7 737 5th
05. Eldgos 586 1 482 2 249 5 271 9 588 4th
My Reviews –
Overall, a MUCH Better round than the first round.
01 – Nótt – Winner. Clearly. Winner. Yohanna can do wrong at Eurovision. She should quit her day job (I’m assuming it’s something like being a Fisherman or like erm…I’m pretty sure that’s just what all Icelandic people do…right? Oh Except Silvia Night, who just runs around being fabulous and loved). Yohanna knew that after her glorious Second place in 2009, she shouldn’t tarnish her immaculate reputation by just competing year after year with any old song she found lying around (Ahem..Ahem…Briggitta). Just a magical, tremendous song. Of course it’ll win Iceland. I’m sure RUV (The Icelandic broadcaster) just organized a National Selection as opposed to just sending this song the moment they heard it was to fill in some programming gaps. Go YOHANNA! I want to have your babies!
10 Points out of 10.
02 – Segðu Mér – Oh Iceland and their ballads. This one is actually quite good. She does an awesome job of performing and the song has a great build. 07 Points Out of 10.
03 – Þessi Þrá – Ok. So at first I dismissed this song as just something that was okay...but by the 3rd listen, it just clicked with me. Now I love it. It’s just so awesome. Such a great duet, such a great build. All the meaning of a heartfelt ballad but in no way boring. Awesome. Clock it, I’m in love. 08 points out of 10.
04 – Beint Á Ská – Aw. Look at her trying. This song is listenable, but it’s just kind boring and played out. 04 Points out of 10.
05 – Eldgos – It takes a few listens for this song to sound like anything more then just a huge amount of noise thrown together. I’m thinking it’ll get the ticket to the Final, just because it sounds like it’d have an insane performance and it’s the only fast song in this SF. Well, I mean even after you start to like it, it’s still just a lot of noise thrown together. It’s just ok. 05 Points out of 10.
P.S. can I just say that songs like Nótt fill me with such passion and joy, that it makes all the terrible ESC songs worth it just to find Gems like that?
Actual Results –
To The Final –
Nótt
Eldgos
Out –
Segðu Mér
Þessi Þrá
Beint Á Ská
Excellent. Even thought the awesomeness, sincerity and magic of Þessi Þrá
Lost out to the just craziness and drama of Eldgos, but the important thing is that Nótt got through. I’m 100% positive that it will, should and must win the ticket to Düsseldorf. If not, I will boycott all the numerous and every day products I use from Iceland….like erm…well…. Anywho.
Iceland, here’s your choice – Nótt or I hate you.
Songs -
Iceland 2011 SF 1 And SF 2.zip - 43.0 MB
No comments:
Post a Comment