Iceland: Ari Ólafsson – Our Choice

Martin: Not too long ago, there was a thing called the “Iceland result”. The tiny nation at the top left-hand corner of the European map had established itself as a reliable qualifier from the semi-finals – often as the occupant of the last envelope – followed by a finish somewhere between, let’s say, 15th and 20th in the grand final. No alarms and no surprises, just a friendly regular member of the Saturday night gang.

And now? Three successive failures to get out of the semi-final, and I’m afraid to say that 2018 will soon become the fourth consecutive flop. People seem to think that Ari Ólafsson is the best thing about this entry. I find him too smiley, too lightweight and weirdly uncomfortable to watch, yet still I agree: he’s the best thing about this entry. “Our Choice” is a gloopy, desperately old-fashioned song, and even the best singer in the world would be unable to drag it anywhere near the borderlands of qualification. No wonder the producers have decided to give it the cannon fodder slot of second in the running order: the quicker we can get past this one and move on, the better.

Felix: Task: Remember Iceland. Result: You see a grinning, young, blond man in front of your eyes, who sings a boring, pointless song with quite a strong Icelandic accent. Did I say pointless? I mean, literally, pointless.

Shi: He is lovely. I will still mute this come May and avoid it until then, rehearsals included. Sorry, Ari. I don’t necessarily think that being placed in second always means the powers that be think you’re dead in the water, but I think it’s safe to say that this time around they do.

video and title image source: eurovision.tv