Iceland has the entry with perhaps the most moving story. This song was originally supposed to be performed by Sjonni Brink, but he passed away before he got a chance to compete with it so his friends decided to team up and continue the show as a last tribute to Sjonni. Nevertheless – these are no ordinary friends – they’re all known musicians in Iceland who have all competed in the ESC before on various occasions. And needless to say – it would be very heartless and cruel for the Icelandic nation not to vote for this one to represent them in Düsseldorf – so Sjonni’s friends triumphed and off to Germany they are to give a last tribute to Sjonnis memory.
But let’s put this touching story behind us and look at the actual song. I guess this is one of those
songs I wouldn’t mind hearing on a Sunday morning while I’m having my coffee in the garden as I’m casually reading a newspaper or a book or something. In other words – this is decent background music, perhaps not the greatest compliment – but I don’t hate it. I’m not going to dread seeing this on stage in Düsseldorf at all; I might even sing a long a little bit when it comes on – but I would never cross my mind to vote for it – unfortunately.
However I think this could be a hit with the 50+ ESC crowd. It’s a typical feel-good song from Northern-Europe, it’s natural, it’s pure and free of gimmicks, something that a lot of people seem to vote for these days as the ESC has become too much of a show and not a song-competition. These ordinary guys will probably charm some middle aged ladies and should be able to collect a good amount of votes in the Scandinavian countries. Sure it has a moving story to it, and whoever hears it might throw in a sympathy vote or two, but it’s one of those songs everybody will forget about within a week or two after the competition – and clearly it’s not the winner.
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