Iceland goes cowboy/disco as they select a country and western quartet and a leather-clad disco diva to progress to their national final in tonight’s third semi. Arnar, Edgar, Sverrir and Ólafur and Kaja Halldórsdottir won each their spot for the national final.
The third semi-final in Iceland’s National Final process, Sjónvarpsins, has just concluded with success for quartet Arnar, Edgar, Sverrir and Ólafur and Kaja Halldórsdottir. These two acts have progressed to the final, which will take place on 14th February.
The show started with a film of a variety of Icelanders dancing to Ani Lorak’s Shady Lady, on the streets, in factories and in classrooms – I shall expect to hear Shady Lady on the streets of Reykyavik if I am lucky enough to visit Iceland any time soon!
Performing first was Seth Sharp with Family. The writer described it as influenced by “70s disco” before the performance, and those influences showed in the performance. Seth was quite a striking sight in an orange jacket and bleach blond hair. The song also featured a “Buck’s Fizz” moment, with Seth shedding his orange jacket to reveal a black vest underneath.
Song two was Easy to Fool, a country-esque song with the two leads singers in cowboy hats, and similar to the Travelling Wilburys in style. The performers, Arnar, Edgar, Sverrir and Ólafur turned in a solid performance.
The third song was Close to You, sung by Kristín Ósk Wium, who brought a jazz-club feel to the television studio, with this ballad. A simple and effective jazz ballad, although it seemed that maybe Kristín was letting nerves get to her, as her vocals were a little “pitchy”. Perhaps she was worried that the black hat she was wearing might slip off?
A brief interview followed, as the presenters spoke to singer Hera, who will sing Someday in the Danish Melodi Grand Prix contest next Saturday, 31st January.
The last song to be performed in this semi was Lygin Ein by Kaja Halldórsdottir, and a complete change in style. Kaja was a vision in black leather and she sung this “RnB/disco” type of song well, despite some rather manic choreography going on all around her!
After an interval, the top two songs, Lygin Ein and Easy to Fool, were announced, and these now join Undir regnbogann (sung by Ingó), Vornótt (sung by Hreindis Gardarsdóttir), Is it True (sung by Jóhanna Gudrun Jónsdottir), and The Kiss we Never Kissed (sung by Edgar Smári Atlason – who performed as part of the quartet on Easy to Fool and therefore will sing on two of the six songs in Iceland’s national final on 14th February.
