Iceland: Song Selected But Who Wrote It?

Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir won the Icelandic selection with "Is It True".

At 18 Jóhanna is a relative newcomer to the Icelandic music scene but in true Icelandic tradition she has recorded some songs for children's cds as a young teen.

Listen to the song and all other Icelandic contenders at the RÚV Söngvakeppni page

You can also listen to the original demo version by Tinatin at reverbnation and read all about it at Tinatin's MySpace blog.

There is a little discrepancy though, RÚV only mentions Óskar Páll Sveinsson as the writer of the song, but Tinatin wrote it with Chris Neil and aforementioned Oskar Paul. Sort it out guys.

Tónlist has the album with all selections songs (digital), Eurovision CD out soon on Sena.


Special thanks to Jan @ the Moscow Collection !!

http://moscoweurovision.blogspot.com/2009/02/iceland.html

It’s True for Iceland!

Dear Friends,

I am thrilled to confirm that yes, indeed, it's true Iceland! My self-penned song, "Is It True" co-written with Iceland's very own Oskar Paul Sveinsson (Bjork, Steps, S Club 7, etc.) and Christopher Neil (Celine Dion, Rod Stewart, Mike & the Mechanics) has now officially been picked as the Icelandic entry for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Moscow this coming May.

As some of you may already know, "Is It True", performed by the wonderfully gifted and beautiful Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir, will be up against some of the upcoming highlights of the contest, including songs written and/or performed by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Diane Warren, Patricia Kaas, to name but a few.

For those of you interested in the details of how this year's Icelandic entry came about (and yes, as you know I am Georgian-born, a Russian citizen after moving to Moscow at the age of 9 and currently living in New York, so why Iceland?) .....

Two hundred and seventeen songs were submitted to the Icelandic broadcaster in their open call for songs for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest pre-selection. Sixteen of those were selected to proceed to the next phase which will include four televised heats in January, leading to the national final.

In an announcement made earlier this morning, Icelandic television broadcaster RÚV made it clear that just over 69,000 votes were cast by the Icelandic public when they chose Jóhanna's performance of the song "Is It True" as the nations representative for 2009 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The results clearly show that when it came down to choosing an entry to fulfill Iceland's Eurovision hopes and dreams, there was really only one choice.

To watch the youtube of both the national semi-final and final performances of "Is It True", please follow these links:

Semi-final Performance:

Semi-final performance

National finals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBQv4k3hu28


Official Eurovision YouTube homepage


Thank you all for your continued support and look forward to seeing you either in Moscow or live from the Russian capital on national European TV and/or online webcast!

In the meantime, stay tuned and don't forget to vote for Iceland (of all countries!) on May 12th! :-)

Tinatin

Is It True?

Yes, it is!

And moreover, it's official - a ballad that I wrote a few years ago with Chris Neil and Oskar Paul (Óskar Páll Sveinsson) called "Is It True" is now in the finals for this year's Eurovision Song Contest, which, ironically, will be held in Moscow (although the song will be represented by Iceland - that is, if and when it wins the finals!) next May.

"Is It True" performed at the semi-finals by Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir won the 1st round of semi-finals by staggering 44.8% according to the official poll results.

The finals, however, will be televised live on February 14th - so till then, fingers crossed and if by any chance you happen to be in Iceland, you can cast your votes, too!

And for those of you who haven't heard the original demo of "Is It True", feel free to have a listen!