Morten Thomassen also watched the 2023 Icelandic Eurovision selection and gives his comments. ESC Covers google translated it from Norwegian to English.

Our Icelandic friends had a final this weekend, there they had already had 2 semi-finals that each sent 2 songs to the final + that a wildcard was chosen so that the total number in the final was five songs and those are the ones I will judge now.

Melody 1 – Sigga Ózk

It sounds for a long time as if this is going to be a party song, albeit with a rather slow start and it takes off just fine. The song is slightly marred by strained vocals and that I feel that the artist lacks the charm such a song deserves. The whole show seems a bit too amateurish for me, they should be able to do better.

 

Melody 2 – Bragi 

Then it calms down and we get a piano-based ballad of the kind that goes off quite a few by the dozen. Such songs can only be good if the artist delivers the goods and I think this artist actually does. Great vocals and great empathy in the performance. It doesn’t hurt that there is a lot of melancholy in the song.

 

Melody 3 – Celebs 

The wildcard song this evening and this can probably be called alternative rock, a form of music this competition is not exactly flooded with. This particular flood of music was well and truly performed vocally as well. I love songs that stand out, but this was a bit too much of the good stuff to win me over.

 

Melody 4 – Dilja 

Sometimes there is so much energy that it becomes manic. manic can sometimes be delicious and other times just exhausting. For me, it will be the latter version that hits home. At times screamed vocals and the song itself gets too messy for me to join that journey.

 

Melody 5 – Langi Seli & Skuggarnir 

The final ended with good old-fashioned old rock, a form of music that occasionally appears in our beloved competition. The intro was possibly legally long, but when it starts to be sung, it is delivered superbly in that area. I think this is a catchy song, but there is a little too little going on in the song for me to take off.

 

Our Icelandic friends, together with a professional jury panel where Gaute Ormåsen also sat, finally managed to choose Dilja as the winner, yes, I can’t get my way, I always use to say, I think our Icelandic friends need all the support they can get in their semi-finals to get to the final, they only made it by a hair’s breadth last year as you remember.