Iceland: ‘Greta Salomé is running a one-horse race’

In Iceland the shows of Söngvakeppnin have started this weekend, and the big favourite Gréta Salóme made a good impression with her qualifying song “Raddirnar”. Our editor Neil MacInnes followed the show and thinks it will be “a one-horse race” this year in Iceland.

“The show was all about Greta Salomé. She stole the show, it is all everybody talked about on Twitter,” says Neil MacInnes in our weekly podcast Scout Around, in which we look back at the preselections in the Eurovision weekend we have had. “It is like Eesti Laul last year, when Elina and Stig won with 79% of the votes. It is gonna be a very big lead for Greta in the final, I think.”

‘Raddirnar’ is being performed in Icelandic, and in recent years we have seen Iceland change to their songs to English, or keep it in their own language. MacInnes thinks that this time, Iceland should stick to the Icelandic version: “I definitly think this song works in Icelandic. There were some songs that would have worked better in English, but with ‘Raddinar’ it just works. The visual show with the LED-screen that brings the whole thing to life. A lot of people compared it to Loreen or Mans Zelmerlow. It should to do very well.”