Iceland was represented by Jónsi, with the song "Heaven", at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest final, which took place on 15 May in Istanbul. For the first time since 1999, the song was chosen internally by Icelandic broadcaster RÚV.
Jónsi was a member of the band Í Svörtum Fötum, and one of Iceland's most popular male singers.
RÚV announced on 23 October 2003 that the Icelandic entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 would be selected internally. Following their announcement, the broadcaster opened the submission period for interested songwriters to submit their entries until the deadline on 17 November 2003. Both Icelandic and foreign songwriters could submit entries.[1] At the close of the submission deadline, 117 entries were received. A selection committee was formed in order to select the Icelandic entry, which was originally planned to be revealed in early December 2003 but later delayed.[2][3]
On 9 February 2004, RÚV announced Jónsi as the Icelandic representative for the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Heaven", composed by Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson with lyrics by Magnús Þór Sigmundsson.[4] The song was presented to the public along with the release of the official music video on 20 March 2004 during the television programme Laugardagskvöld með Gísla Marteini.[5]
At Eurovision[]
For the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, a semi-final round was introduced in order to accommodate the influx of nations that wanted to compete in the contest. However, Birgitta Haukdal's 8th-place finish in 2003 meant that Iceland was given one of the ten automatic qualifying spots in the 2004 final. On the night of the final Jónsi performed 17th in the running order, following Greece and preceding Ireland. At the close of voting "Heaven" had received 16 points, placing Iceland 19th of the 24 entries.[6] The 12 points from the Icelandic televote were awarded to Denmark in the semi final and to contest winners Ukraine in the final. Iceland's low placement saw them relegated to the semi-final for 2005.[7]
Iceland
