ICELAND 2021

The Icelandic song was revealed on March 12th, with a live performance of their song during the RUV show "Straumar" with the official audio released a few days later. Back in November, the Icelandic broadcaster announced that last year's act, Daði Freyr and Gagnamagnið, had been internally selected to represent Iceland  this time with the song also internally chosen. Their song is called "10 years"

During the live show Daði is not only backed by Gagnamagnið but has a string section, live band and a children's choir, the last two obviously won't be on stage at Eurovision. The groups are sporting their customary green outfits with pixelated faces. Daði is centre stage with his two backing singers to his left and his three 'instrumentalists' to the right. As ever there are also some over-stylised dance moves to go with the song.

After a short string lead intro the synth bass and beat come in under the first verse. As it progresses the instrumental becomes more full with a clearer beat and funky style. During the pre chorus there is a brief lull where Daði shows of his amazing low vocal range but also provides the push the chorus needs to get going. The chorus feels rather short and could do with a repetition or two first time round to get it firmly in your head. We then have another verse followed by a brief synth instrumental which gives the gang a good bit of time to goof around a bit! Afterwards there is a shortened chorus sung with a choir and almost no instrumentation at all, providing enough of a low point to push the power of one last chorus to the finish.

Daði learnt to play drums and studied piano and bass guitar in his youth and formed the band RetRoBot with his school friends and released their one and only album in 2013. In 2014 he left Iceland to study music production in Berlin where hi still lives today. Daði's next project was Gagnamagnið, his super cool backing band which contains his sister, wife and three friends. They took part in Söngvakeppnin 2017 coming second. They won the 2020 Söngvakeppnin competition and planned to represent Iceland last year.

To be fair there is really not very much to say about this entry, unless you have never heard of "Think About Things"! This new song is in Daði's signature style and includes all of the aural and visual memes and tropes we've come to expect from hi performances. Unfortunately Daði's main competition is with himself. - comparisons to "Think about things" are bound to be made and personally this doesn't quite have the immediacy that his 2020 effort had. In particular the backing track doesn't quite have the required punchiness or hook that I was hoping for.  Also I feel like the chorus isn't earwormy enough and doesn't get enough repetitions to get firmly into your head. Ultimately though, this style of song really stands out on the Eurovision menu this year. What Daði has on his side is his popularity in Eurovision and away from Eurovision. A lot of people - rightly or wrongly - will vote for him no matter what. I suspect with many of the returning artists that some televoters may be voting for last year's entry as much as this year's effort.

ARTIST - Daði Freyr and Gagnamagnið
SONG - 10 years
WRITING CREDITS - Daði Freyr Pétursson