ESC United Mod Team
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Iceland ICELAND 2024 - Hera Björk - Scared of Heights
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No we see if Hera goes to Eurovision or if this was a disguised internal selection for Bashar orwithdraw. The guidelines stated the winner of Songvakeppnin this year isn't necessarily going to Eurovision. We'll have to wait. Not a fan of her song though. A shame Sigga Ozk had no chance. Hera and Vaeb were my least favorite songs of the final. Sadly the best song was eliminated in the semifinals.
"Hera Björk had commented earlier this week that she would compete in Eurovision 2024 if she won the selection." At least this is what a rewrite in Eurovoix says. Let's see when the truth unveils next week.
Nelisa
Well-known member
Although the song lacks something memorable about it, I think it will qualify anyway. Can't wait to see Nebulossa and Hera competing together in GF
PlasticToad
Active member
The only winner in my eyes tonight was that blond dancer from Downfall and Into The Atmosphere. So glad we got to see him twice
ArmpitOfEurope
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Why would an artist enter a national selection for Eurovision if they dont want to go to ESC?
For promo for their music someone will say, but thats kinda a scam for all the people that spend money on the votes having Eurovision in their mind.
I believe Hera will go, shes a 50yo singer in a country with not many opportunities, why would she waste this.
For promo for their music someone will say, but thats kinda a scam for all the people that spend money on the votes having Eurovision in their mind.
I believe Hera will go, shes a 50yo singer in a country with not many opportunities, why would she waste this.
han-g
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As someone who is not a big edm fan it was genuinely my favourite of this nf. But I don't think I would have ranked it highly overall... definetley outside my top 10
ZoboCamel
Well-known member
Another day, another NF surprise, lol. My opinions aren't as strong as some others here - I neither loved nor hated Bashar - but I do think he had the better song and performance than Hera.
Bashar would've been a low 7 or something for me - i.e. a touch above average - with the drawback of then facing two and a half months of angry "Eurovision is/isn't political," "will Iceland win with a song that isn't winner quality and what should we think about that" discourse in the fandom and broader media. Hera likely avoids that, but her song is kind of just a pile of nothing. Inoffensive, vaguely pleasant nothing, but nothing nonetheless. It's serving "we've got Embers at home" energy, and I'm not really sure you want to come across as a cheap knockoff of a song that came dead-last three years ago. Plus, this is coming from someone who absolutely loved her 2010 entry, and still listens to it regularly. This one, though... points.
---Warning: the following devolves into a rant against superfinals at national selections.---
As far as the NF voting goes... yeah, this is probably another entry into my endless #bansuperfinals campaign. Or, rather, superfinals with four or more songs are fine, but when you go down to three - or especially two, as is the case here - you just open up a whole can of anti-voting worms.
Sure, there would've been people still voting for their favourite song, but any time you narrow things down to two choices, one of which is controversial, you're practically begging its detractors to vote against it, as opposed to people just voting for what they like. It gets you compromise winners that minimise unhappiness, as opposed to maximising the number of people who actually love the song. That might be a perfectly good reason to use those kinds of runoff voting systems in, say, political elections, but at Eurovision... Well, a contest full of "broadly acceptable compromise winners" wouldn't exactly be exciting.
It's the same system that two years ago saw the risky Turn This Around, which was winning in the initial Songvakeppnin 2022 vote, lose to the much more broadly agreeable Með hækkandi sól in the superfinal. And with Bashar, of course, those anti-votes aren't just about the song but also, potentially, from people who want to avoid sending a politically charged entry, or avoid sending a pro-Palestine entry specifically, or avoid sending a Palestinian in general, or anyone not of Icelandic birth / long-term Icelandic residence...
Which ironically, I think, could make choosing Hera political itself. Even if her song isn't, her becoming a proxy vote for "we don't want the Palestinian guy representing us," or for "we'd rather stay out of the whole dispute," could sort of make the choice of Hera political.
Of course, maybe I'm wrong here; if Hera was leading Bashar in the first round of voting, and/or she beat him in the semifinal, you can't exactly say that she only won because of the superfinal and/or anti-voting. Maybe Icelandic voters just had odd taste this year? It's certainly not impossible, given what we've seen from a bunch of the other NFs this season. And I did see some talk around over the past week that Hera's Icelandic social media stats (e.g. on the Songvakeppnin Facebook page or something) were actually stronger than Bashar's during/after the semifinal. Still - I'll be very interested to see the full results, whenever they're released.
Bashar would've been a low 7 or something for me - i.e. a touch above average - with the drawback of then facing two and a half months of angry "Eurovision is/isn't political," "will Iceland win with a song that isn't winner quality and what should we think about that" discourse in the fandom and broader media. Hera likely avoids that, but her song is kind of just a pile of nothing. Inoffensive, vaguely pleasant nothing, but nothing nonetheless. It's serving "we've got Embers at home" energy, and I'm not really sure you want to come across as a cheap knockoff of a song that came dead-last three years ago. Plus, this is coming from someone who absolutely loved her 2010 entry, and still listens to it regularly. This one, though...
points.---Warning: the following devolves into a rant against superfinals at national selections.---
As far as the NF voting goes... yeah, this is probably another entry into my endless #bansuperfinals campaign. Or, rather, superfinals with four or more songs are fine, but when you go down to three - or especially two, as is the case here - you just open up a whole can of anti-voting worms.
Sure, there would've been people still voting for their favourite song, but any time you narrow things down to two choices, one of which is controversial, you're practically begging its detractors to vote against it, as opposed to people just voting for what they like. It gets you compromise winners that minimise unhappiness, as opposed to maximising the number of people who actually love the song. That might be a perfectly good reason to use those kinds of runoff voting systems in, say, political elections, but at Eurovision... Well, a contest full of "broadly acceptable compromise winners" wouldn't exactly be exciting.
It's the same system that two years ago saw the risky Turn This Around, which was winning in the initial Songvakeppnin 2022 vote, lose to the much more broadly agreeable Með hækkandi sól in the superfinal. And with Bashar, of course, those anti-votes aren't just about the song but also, potentially, from people who want to avoid sending a politically charged entry, or avoid sending a pro-Palestine entry specifically, or avoid sending a Palestinian in general, or anyone not of Icelandic birth / long-term Icelandic residence...
Which ironically, I think, could make choosing Hera political itself. Even if her song isn't, her becoming a proxy vote for "we don't want the Palestinian guy representing us," or for "we'd rather stay out of the whole dispute," could sort of make the choice of Hera political.
Of course, maybe I'm wrong here; if Hera was leading Bashar in the first round of voting, and/or she beat him in the semifinal, you can't exactly say that she only won because of the superfinal and/or anti-voting. Maybe Icelandic voters just had odd taste this year? It's certainly not impossible, given what we've seen from a bunch of the other NFs this season. And I did see some talk around over the past week that Hera's Icelandic social media stats (e.g. on the Songvakeppnin Facebook page or something) were actually stronger than Bashar's during/after the semifinal. Still - I'll be very interested to see the full results, whenever they're released.
Sabrewulf238
Well-known member
I'm a fan of Je Ne Sais Quoi but this song doesn't do a lot for me...
Really surprised with this winning, though this entire NF has seemed weird to me so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised.
I'd probably give it a maybe.
Really surprised with this winning, though this entire NF has seemed weird to me so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised.
I'd probably give it a
maybe.
Last edited:
RainyWoods
Croak-kay
It makes me feel sad how we seem to all (very rightfully) love Hera but are disappointed with the song
Can't she like... you know...... Malta it or something? Make it a quick, discreet disposal.
Can't she like... you know...... Malta it or something? Make it a quick, discreet disposal.
I think a bit like MGP, the list of contestants for (Im sorry I already know I will probably write this horribly wrong) Sognvakeppin was probably ready before the events that happened in October. And if Sognvakeppin and MGP is similar in any way format wise; Margaret Berger said in an interview that they were under some kind of contract that said they could not withdraw from MGP just like that, but I suppose the contract also in theory doesn't necessarily bind them to go to Eurovision. Which makes sense to me, because unforeseen things can always happen that might make an eurovision participation difficult, wether it be medical reasons or say death in near family or other things, idk. But anyway, it could be there is something similar with RUV/Sognvakeppin?
ShoeFlo
Well-known member
I suggest we shall cancel this whole trash-ass NF and put @ShoeFlo in charge for finding a great artist & a song for(he'd do it for free)
Not only would I do it for free, I would actually pay the RÚV for engaging me. For me that's worth it
But I'd only do it on condition that I could act as the manager for the artists and spend every minute at their side, getting really deep into the whole Eurovision bubble The major problem for me and the artists I would consider is actually the three-minutes-limit but well that's a challenge we could somehow overcomeBack to topic: Eh, well, I didn't watch the final because I was devastated after the Semi Final results. Bashars song is by far better than the one of Hera Björk. But I didn't want any of them to win. My favorites were Heiðrún Anna, CeaseTone and Blankiflúr. In my view the Icelandic audience couldn't mess it up more than they did. No offense though, we Germans are also experts in shameful votings.
Heras song is atrocious and imo she is past her best. I wouldn't mind if she decide for a boycott lol
Oh no.... Iceland....
Why?
This song was bound to be at the bottom of already selected songs.... I'm SO SO sorry, for real.
I personally was for Sigga from the start, but I acknowledged, that's not probably an universally popular choice.
Since 90's beat is the hype these days (MY beat btw), I sincerely thought she might have a chance in the Final.
But yeah... For the selected song, I predict definite NQ. Sorry again for my harsh words...
Positive thing, I'll have both last years and this years Sigga's songs in my personal playlist for a LONG time and thank her for that!
But that's only my taste. This year, Anita (or MAYBE even Bashar) would have been a better choice.
Anyways, Good luck, Iceland!
Why?
This song was bound to be at the bottom of already selected songs.... I'm SO SO sorry, for real.
I personally was for Sigga from the start, but I acknowledged, that's not probably an universally popular choice.
Since 90's beat is the hype these days (MY beat btw), I sincerely thought she might have a chance in the Final.
But yeah... For the selected song, I predict definite NQ. Sorry again for my harsh words...
Positive thing, I'll have both last years and this years Sigga's songs in my personal playlist for a LONG time and thank her for that!
But that's only my taste. This year, Anita (or MAYBE even Bashar) would have been a better choice.
Anyways, Good luck, Iceland!
Zeus
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- March 16, 2020
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WorldVision community to take over ESC. Sweden sending old folksy bitches from Svealand only. Ireland sending Celtic Woman every year. Austria never qualifies.I suggest we shall cancel this whole trash-ass NF and put @ShoeFlo in charge for finding a great artist & a song for
SirPeterGriffin
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- March 18, 2016
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Look at how far we made it...and look how far we fall. I'm sorry Hera, Je ne sais quoi was such a big moment in my formative years as a fan of the contest but this is the blandest wine mom song i've heard in quite a while.
cassio
Well-known member
I remember Hera from Denmark 2009 the song this year is not as good as then. There are so manny good pop songs this year that Iceland might not qulify for the final. Together with Denmark this is a boderline qyalify 6 pts