Today sees the sixth edition of the possible artists who we think would do well at Eurovision and in this installment, we will journey to the westernmost country in the competition; Iceland. Iceland is one of my favourite countries, not only at Eurovision as they always send the dark horse of the competition, but pop music in general, but could any of my suggestions become reality?

It’s obvious who I would primarily recommend Iceland to send to Eurovision, and that is the genius that IS Björk Guðmundsdóttir, though she is known by her first name; Björk. She is Iceland’s biggest export in pop music and one of the country’s biggest stars, with nine successful albums under her belt and career that spans nearly 40 years! She is also one of the eccentric and experimental artists the world has ever seen, probably known for her vocalising (all the chaa-anseman-chaaaa!). It’s hard to talk about Björk without going too much into her musical career, but in 1977, Björk released her first studio album at only 12 years of age and became a child star in Iceland. When she released her international debut solo album in 1993, then she became renowned internationally. In 1995, she released this little song that would eventually be the biggest hit of her career, so if you know it, do ‘ssh’ along!

This show-stopping, burlesque track shot Björk to the top of the charts worldwide and sealed her career as a pop artist. You can really tell how flexible her voice is, from crooning the syllables one by one to screaming and shouting in the riotous chorus. Luckily, the song was released after the September 1st rule so this song could have participated and done really well back in the 1996 Contest in Oslo. Other major tracks Björk had hits with in the 90s are ‘All Is Full of Love’, ‘Jóga’ and ‘Big Time Sensuality’. In 2000, she was even nominated for an Oscar for her musical contribution of the film she starred in (which is also my favourite movie of all time), Dancer in the Dark. She performed on the evening of the ceremony in her world-famous swan dress that has led onto many parodies. Come 2008, and with another two albums under her belt, she released this political song!

This military-influenced song is ‘Declare Independence’. Despite the insane catchiness of it, the song was, and still is, her most controversial single to date, and this is also another example of her flexible voice. As the EBU doesn’t allow political songs, this song would probably not be allowed to go to the 2008 Contest in Belgrade, especially when she has dedicated the song to many causes such as the independence of Greenland, the Faeroe Islands, Kosovo and Tibet, as well as the freedom of Pussy Riot. I forgot to put one of these in, but many of her songs include a form of vocalising, so if you wanna hear a couple of her songs that include it, listen to her songs:

It’s not easy to think of another Icelandic artist apart from Björk or previous Icelandic entrants at Eurovision because, let’s face it, Iceland isn’t really known for pop music. But the other artist I would recommend would be the 36-year-old Emilíana Torrini. She isn’t known as much as her female counterpart, but she did replace Björk when she declined to record ‘Gollum’s Song’, a song that was featured in Lord of the Rings, and in 2009, she released this song:

‘Jungle Drum’ became a massive hit all over Europe, reaching No.1 in Austria, Iceland, Germany and Belgium and No.5 in Finland. The song was even used to promote Iceland in an official tourism video for the country. You can view the video below. (No wonder it’s such an energetic country!) But let it not be said that Iceland has very fine female singers!

As well as Björk and Emilíana, we’d recommend the simply fantastic:

Sigur Rós – “Hoppipolla”

Of Monsters and Men – “Little Talks”

Hera Hjartadóttir – “Feels So Good”

Your views:

So, what would you think if Björk did Eurovision for Iceland? Or would you send another artist for them?

Marco Muntean from Romania: God I want Bjork in Eurovision!

Gavin A-Rainey from Australia: Would be awesome but Iceland has some great artists to choose from.

Anders Bach-Vilhelmsen from Denmark: I LOVE Björk, but as much as it pains me to say it, she’s too good for Eurovision. But Iceland has a huge bunch of good artists to choose from. At the moment I’m really into Retro Stefson, they’d be fun to have in ESC!

Haris Karas from Greece: She would come dead last and I would so enjoy it!

So the fans agree with me and say that Björk should go to Eurovision, as she is a very contemporary artist, but they would also prefer maybe another artist. Maybe she might enter the national final and win! Who knows, but what do you think? Are you a Björk fan like me or would you rather have another artist represent Iceland? Let us know your feelings by commenting below!