🇮🇸 Söngvakeppnin 2022 Pushed Back by 1 Week

As countries are currently preparing for their National Finals, some news has come from Iceland, as its broadcaster RÚV revealed that their National Final Söngvakeppnin has been delayed by one week.

Postponement due to COVID-19.

Iceland’s broadcaster, RÚV, had consultation talks with epidemiological authorities and decided to postpone the show by 1 week. The first semi-final will take place on February 26th, with the final on March 12th.

The managing director of the competition, Rúnar Freyr Gíslason, has said;

Of course, this is not an easy decision, we realise that this affects a lot of people, employees and competitors. However, we believe it is important to work. With this, we hope that the competition will be able to speak in a natural way, with the spectators in the hall. These events have been very popular in recent years, sold out at most competitions and it has done a lot for spectators at home and locally. As everyone knows, there is no room for complacency in these matters rather than others, but we hope for the best. In this situation, of course, anything can happen, but we are determined to move forward and we intend to bring people of Iceland this joyous bomb that is the competition”.

With the ongoing global pandemic, Rúnar also added how they are going to ensure those attending Söngvakeppnin will feel safe in trying to reduce the spread of the virus.

Adult activation vaccinations and children’s vaccinations are now in full swing and every day matters. We follow the strictest requirements for infection control during exercises and recordings these days to reduce the risk of infection and their spread.

The new dates for Söngvakeppnin 2022 are as follows:

• February 26th – 1st Semi-Final
• March 5th – 2nd Semi-Final
• March 11th – Family Show (judge show)
• March 12th – Grand Final

Rúnar also concluded by saying that it would have been preferable to delay the contest further, however, the deadline for submitting Eurovision songs is March 13th. A deadline that will not be extended.

We have met with great understanding from the great people who run the competition and no less from the competitors themselves who are all unanimous in making it as great as possible. We are incredibly grateful of that.

10 songs will be competing at this year’s Söngvakeppnin. All acts have submitted their songs and rehearsals for the competition have begun. All 10 songs will be released to the public on Saturday 5th February during the TV Show “Lögin í Söngvakeppnin”.

Iceland’s Eurovision Journey

Iceland made its debut on the Eurovision stage in 1986, finishing 16th with the song “Gleðibankinn” (Bank of fun) by ICY. In their 33 appearances, Iceland has finished in top 10 an impressive 7 times. Their best result to date is second place, which they have achieved twice. The first time was in 1999, where Selma Björnsdóttir received 146 points for her performance of “All out of luck”. The second time was in 2009, with Yohanna singing “Is It True” and receiving 218 points. Iceland’s most recent representative on the Eurovision stage was Daði og Gagnamagnið with the song “10 years,” finishing 4th with 378 points.

Do you think Iceland will improve on their Eurovision 2021 result? What’s your favourite Icelandic Eurovision entry? Let us know in the comments below or at social media. Don’t forget to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ over at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

News Source: RUV

Photo Source: EBU / Thomas Hanses