Söngvakeppnin 2020 RÚV once again organised ("The Singing Competition") to determine the Icelandic entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition consisted of three shows held in the Icelandic capital
Reykjavík, with two semi-finals held in the on 8 and 15 February 2020 and the final held in the
Laugardalshöll on 29 February. All three shows were broadcast on
RÚV and online at the broadcaster's official website
ruv.is and were hosted by , Benedikt Valsson and . The 2020 contest was announced on 13 September 2019 and until 17 October, interested artists and songwriters were invited to submit entries for the contest through the website. Alongside this open submission process RÚV also held discussions with experienced Icelandic songwriters inviting them to write entries for the competition. Each composer could submit up to two songs for consideration, while lyricists could be credited on an unlimited number of songs. In addition to winning the right to represent Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest, any authors of the winning song received a prize of .
Competing entries The 10 competing artists and songs were revealed by RÚV on 18 January 2020, and were presented for the first time the same day through the special programme ("Introductory Episode of the Song Competition"). The songs were initially leaked on
Spotify a number of hours before the official presentation on RÚV, which inadvertently revealed the artists competing in the event. Per the rules of the contest, all entries were required to be performed in Icelandic in the semi-finals, with artists being given a free choice on language should their song reach the final.
Shows Semi-finals Two semi-finals took place on 8 and 15 February 2020. In each semi-final five of the ten competing acts performed and two entries determined solely by the viewing public through
telephone voting progressed to the final. Per the rules of the competition an additional optional qualifier could be selected by the contest organisers from among the non-qualifying acts, which would also progress to the final. A number of guest performances also featured during the two shows. The first semi-final featured performances by
GDRN and
2003 Icelandic Eurovision entrant Birgitta Haukdal and an appearance by Icelandic actress . The second semi-final featured performances by Flóni, who performed a rendition of the
1991 Icelandic Eurovision entry "
Draumur um Nínu", and Elín Ey, who performed the
1974 Eurovision winning entry "
Waterloo".
Final , who represented
Norway at Eurovision 2019 as a member of
Keiino, was part of the
2020 international jury. The
2020 final took place on 29 February 2020 and featured the five qualifiers from the semi-finals. In the final artists had a free choice in which language they could perform; three of the qualifiers subsequently performed their entries in English. "" by
Iva was originally scheduled to be performed in English, however the authors subsequently requested that the Icelandic version be featured in the final instead, a change which was subsequently approved by the contest organisers. Two rounds of voting determined the winning song: in the first round, the votes of the viewing public through telephone voting and the votes of a 10-member international jury panel determined two entries which would progress to the second round. The public and jury each accounted for 50% of the result in the first round, with the rankings of each jury member being added to the number of televotes cast by the public. In the second round a further round of televoting was held, with the winner determined by aggregating the results of the first round to the votes received in the second round. The full results of the semi-finals and the full breakdown of jury and televoting results in the final were revealed on 2 March 2020. A number of guests performances also featured during the show.
Stjórnin, who
represented Iceland in the
Eurovision Song Contest 1990, performed their Eurovision song "Eitt lag enn" to mark 30 years since its first performance. The reigning champions
Hatari, and
2019 Norwegian Eurovision entrants Keiino also performed during the show, with Hatari reprising their Eurovision entry "
Hatrið mun sigra" with a children’s choir and Keiino performing their latest single "Black Leather".
Promotion -winning actor
Russell Crowe showed his support for Daði when he tweeted about their entry with just the word "Song." Shortly after Daði 's victory in
2020, Iceland quickly became one of the favourites to win the contest according to bookmakers. Even before the final of however, "Think About Things" gained great attention online and became a
viral phenomenon following the release of the song's music video ahead of the contest's second semi-final. Following their performance at the semi-final, the track and performance gained traction online, and was shared on Twitter by several well-known personalities, including UK television presenters
Rylan Clark-Neal and
India Willoughby, and German journalist and satirist
Jan Böhmermann. The song also gained the attention of Irish comedian
Dara Ó Briain and New Zealand
Academy Award-winning actor
Russell Crowe, the latter who tweeted his support for the group with simply the word "Song." Before the contest each year, many Eurovision fan clubs host events with some of the participating acts from that year's event. The Swedish branch of
OGAE held its event,
2020 on 6 March 2020, which featured Daði alongside a number of other acts confirmed for the 2020 contest. However, several other pre-events, including
Israel Calling in
Tel Aviv, the
PrePartyES in
Madrid and the
Eurovision in Concert in
Amsterdam were subsequently cancelled or postponed indefinitely in March 2020 due to the rising severity of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, preventing further promotional activities in person. == At Eurovision ==