"Is It True?" - PRAVDA?

A special feature article on "Is It True", Iceland's Eurovision entry 2009 was published in today's issue of the Ukrainian edition of Komsomolskaya Pravda... Does anyone remember the "Pravda" anecdotes during the communist times? :-) It's still one of the leading post-USSR newspapers today, it really is!

Ironically, "pravda" translated from Russian means "true"... if you also add a question mark to "pravda?" it can be interpreted as "is it true?"

And so it's true... Have a look for yourselves!

Eurovision Gamble Begins!

Still very early days to speculate about the results of the semifinals in Moscow on May 12 & 14 followed by the actual grand finale two days later, however, an interesting non-Icelandic review written by Spain's Rodrigo Romero has been circulating through the internet over the last few days...........




"Iceland has secured a place in the final"

Posted by Rodrigo Romero

EurovisionFamily.tv

In the first super Saturday, when no less than five songs were chosen to fly to Moscow, it was no surprise to see Iceland pick Is it true to represent them in May. Everything works perfectly with this entry, the lyrics are simple, but really beautiful, Johanna is simply lovely, the tune is quite catchy, and one that is easy to keep humming after listening to it once, the voice is sweet but at the same time powerful, the live performance was flawless... it all ads up to the conclusion that there was no better choice to have made, and that Iceland is, I think, beginning to stand out as a real contender to win the whole thing.

One thing is sure: they have secured a spot in the final. There is no way they can be left out; on the one hand, they have televote to rely on; on the other hand, if Johanna doesn't pull it off with televote (and then European public can seriously be locked in a mental health home), she has the jury vote to back her up. Having had the luck to be drawn to a semifinal which still has to produce an impressive song (and a marvelous ballad, which is better than this), it's difficult to see this one blown away; the only real excellent songs so far there are Andorra's and Montenegro's; Finland's, Malta's and Turkey's are ok; Romania's is nothing special, and Armenia's and Belarus' are terrible.

And then, let's not forget that the final will see a 50-50 split between televote and jury vote, and this song is the exact kind that the latter wouldn't doubt to support. So, still expecting for 20 songs to be either presented or chosen, I'd be brave enough to say that it's not too crazy to think about a Reykjavik 2010.

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