Iceland are yet to win Eurovision, with a second place finish their best result thus far. The nation’s most recent two participations led to Top 10 finishes, and hoping to continue that streak is Systur. The trio will perform Með hækkandi sól, but how will it fare?
Anita
Song and Vocals
There were a few gems in the Icelandic selection this year, and admittedly I didn’t expect Systur to win. Looking back now, Iceland made a sensible decision, but will that be enough to qualify? Með hækkandi sól is a mellow yet haunting folk inspired track that is unique in this year’s field.
The guitar intro leads into angelic vocals from the sisters. The biggest appeal of the song is how they vocally interact, with no dud notes throughout the entire three minutes. The melodies are nice, however without much variation, the song does get repetitive. By the end of the first chorus, we’ve essentially heard the entire song. There’s no real build up, and I crave something more from this song.
Performance and Act
The performance is very slick, and I expect that same style of performance on the Eurovision stage. The focus will naturally be on the three sisters who come across comfortable on stage and on camera. With that said, similar to the song, the performance as it is doesn’t feature anything remarkable, which may lead to this song being forgotten.
Conclusions
This is a nice song, but not much more than that. I don’t know if there’s enough pull for voters, but perhaps the juries will respect the genuine songwriting and vocal aspect. It’s hard to say whether this will make it into the finals. I wouldn’t be surprised either way.
Rating 5.5/10
Dennis
Song and Vocals
A mellow and genuine guitar song from the three sisters from Iceland. It’s a very non-offensive song, but somewhat hard to digest in their own language. A choice they made before the victory in the Icelandic national final already. The sisters have nice harmonic vocals, but the build-up of the song lacks a climax or something to keep things interesting for the three minutes.
Performance and Act
A classy performance in Iceland is what I also expect from them in Turin. Maybe some more interesting camera angles, like The Netherlands did in 2014 with Calm after the storm, to give it just that something extra to stand out. I think this is necessary, otherwise this song has the risk to be overlooked in the voting sequences.
Conclusions
Iceland offers a calm quality song, but it lacks to make impact to me. The staging in Turin will be essential to let it have a shot of qualifying for the final. At this point, I think Iceland is in trouble with what we know this far from this song and how they perform it.
Rating
5/10
Team Scores
Steef: 4/10
Erik: 7.5/10
Josh: 7/10
Heath: 10/10
Kaitlin: 9/10
Selim: 6/10
Morena: 7/10
Average Score: 6.8/10
What do you think of Með hækkandi sól? Follow our Eurovision 2022 reviews here. You can support your favourite acts in our Eurovision 2021 poll, which you can find here.