🇮🇸 Iceland’s Eurovision 2024 participation is uncertain

With Iceland being announced as one of the participants at Eurovision 2024, it has been revealed by Iceland’s broadcaster RÚV that it is not sure of whether or not their participation will go ahead.

Participation to be decided in March

As revealed by RÚV, the broadcaster has reported that the participation for this year’s competition will be made in March, with consultation of the winner of Söngvakeppnin 2024, the national final used to select Iceland’s Eurovision representative.

This in effect breaks the connection between Söngvakeppnin and Eurovision, thus making it a separate competition. The reason for this is due to the conflict in Israel and Gaza. With this Stefán Eiríksson (the Director-General for the broadcaster), the broadcaster has mentioned that they have informed their concerns to the EBU.

They [the contestants] apply with the goal of becoming Iceland’s contribution to Eurovision. They are concerned about the state of affairs just like we are. This has been our preparation for Eurovision and we have announced that we intend to participate in Eurovision without any changes, but we do not know what the future holds

Meanwhile, Bragi Valdimar Skúlason, chairman of the Association of Composers and Lyricists, has mentioned that it is a complex issue, commenting:

One is quite a bit worried about what the pressure will be like and what the situation will be like then. This is a huge decision to make and hopefully RÚV will take good care of the winner. Whoever it will be, and support the person in making a decision. This is a hugely complex issue.

At the time of writing, Iceland’s selection Söngvakeppnin will continue to go ahead, with the participants of this year’s competition set to be revealed this Saturday, the 27th of January.

That Eurovision Site is currently restricting its coverage of Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest for the forseeable future. For more information on how our coverage is being affected, please read the following statement.

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 35 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 Diljá, singing “Power” in Liverpool. At the close of the voting, Diljá finished 11th in the semi-final with 44 points from the televote. This meant that Iceland missed out on qualifying for the final.

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News Source: RÚV

Photo Credit: Chloe Hashemi/EBU