The grand final of Iceland‘s Söngvakeppnin 2020 is due to take place in just over ten days. But already one of the finalists has gone viral, with attention from European media stars. Daði Freyr‘s entry “Think About Things” is causing a stir on social media, including a supportive tweet from UK Eurovision commentator Rylan Clark-Neal.
Last weekend, Daði Freyr and his group Gagnamagnið qualified for the Söngvakeppnin grand final with the Icelandic version of their song, also titled “Gagnamagnið”. But they’ll be taking the English version, “Think About Things” to Iceland’s grand final on 29 February.
It’s the music video for “Think About Things” that has caught people’s attention. The video was released ahead of the second semi-final. In it, the singer and his band appear at a traditional family gathering and perform their song in the most non-traditional way.
The video caught the attention of UK journalist Rob Holley, who tweeted an excerpt from the video. So far, it has clocked up over 191,000 views.
Meanwhile, in Iceland…. pic.twitter.com/YuJVzS6dDy
— Rob Holley (@robholley) February 17, 2020
This in turn got on the radar of Rylan Clark-Neal, the UK television host and BBC’s Eurovision semi-final commentator. He retweeted the video, and wrote: “This could do well”.
This could do well https://t.co/N20BpyCZTv
— Rylan Clark-Neal (@Rylan) February 18, 2020
Also taking note of Daði and friends was the UK newsreader, television personality and Celebrity Big Brother star India Willoughby. She was certain that “Think About Things” was destined for greatness, writing “Cancel Eurovision 2020. Contest over. Played this all day! Real ear-worm. Surely the winner?”
Cancel #Eurovision2020 . Contest over. Played this all day! ?Real ear-worm. Surely the winner? pic.twitter.com/cW1ciEfNLH
— India Willoughby (@IndiaWilloughby) February 18, 2020
The song has also got attention in Germany. Journalist Stefan Niggemeier retweeted a post of the video from the Common Eurofan Girl account. He described it as “Stranger Things meets Eurovision”, perhaps referring to the 1980s synth sound of the song and the retro style of the video.
Stranger Things meets Eurovision. (Einer der Finalisten im isländischen Vorentscheid am 29.2.) https://t.co/O2bNHd2LA6
— Stefan Niggemeier (@niggi) February 18, 2020
German satirist Jan Böhmermann — who has 2.2 million followers on his Twitter account — is also a fan of the song. He posted the video simply with emojis of hearts and the Icelandic flag along with “OMG!”.
?????? OMG! ??????https://t.co/MCMfkgsgeo
— Jan Böhmermann ? (@janboehm) February 18, 2020
Update: The buzz continues. The acclaimed actor Russell Crowe has also tweeted a link to “Think About Things”, simply saying “Song”. The Academy-award-winning actor also has a musical background, from his days as 1980s pop icon Russ Le Roq, to his Aussie rock band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts to starring in the film adaption of the hit musical Les Misérables.
Song.
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) February 19, 2020
Towards the Söngvakeppnin 2020 grand final
But it’s not quite time for Daði & Gagnamagnið to start booking their flight to Rotterdam. Despite the hype, they will still need to win Iceland’s national final Söngvakeppnin 2020 on Saturday 29 February.
Also competing for the right to represent Iceland at Eurovision 2020 will be Ísold & Helga with “Meet Me Halfway”, Nína Dagbjört with “Echo”, Iva with “Oculis videre” and DIMMA with “Almyrkvi”.
The Söngvakeppnin grand final will also feature guest performances from 2019 winners Hatari and Norway’s Eurovision 2019 stars KEiiNO.
What do you think? Should Daði & Gagnamagnið represent Iceland in Rotterdam? Who is your Söngvakeppnin favourite? Tell us your thoughts below.
[…] the song that became a viral hit earlier this year in the United Kingdom, and the love for “Think About Things” continues across the […]
I want to see him at Rotterdam
Iceland has to send this. It reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite
Yas, this is my absolute winner from Iceland’s selection.
Better in English
This and Lithuania!! I’m on the 3 month countdown and I can’t wait.
Not my cup of tea, but it is funny and still cool. Sounds like something Czech Republic would send. The beat is cool, the video will probably push it further and if they can manage some charisma, they might take the cake.
Hmmm, guess I’m missing something with this song. Definitely not my favorite, but glad people seem to be enjoying the song nonetheless.
BTW… KASIA DERE? FROM POLAND WILL RELEASE ”UFAJ MI” ON FRIDAY
THE SNIPPET IS ON HER INSTA STORY!
Please send him to Rotterdam
I want him to represent Iceland
The video is brilliant. If it wasn’t for Iva, Dadi would be my clear frontrunner for Iceland. But national selections can be cruel. Sometimes you have this and “Oculis Videre” fighting for the ticket. Sometimes you can’t find anything much interesting and have to pick between half-baked acts. It’s part of the game. Just ask Lithuania, who had a strong final and had to discard at least 2 or 3 things that could perfectly work for them in any other year.
This song was my favorite when I listened to it in Icelandic. That English version brings all the comedic element to it and that video is pure gold. True banger, I’m really hoping it qualifies!
It would be nice if you could react to the live versions of the Fab5 in the nation final 😉
It it 100% for sure that Iva will go with English version ?
There were rumors that she will change it back to Icelandic version because she enjoys it more to sing in Icelandic
https://escbubble.com/2020/02/iva-i-am-seriously-considering-to-perform-the-song-in-icelandic-if-we-get-to-the-finals/
Hope it will be Icelandic version
I don’t mind, whatever which makes her more comfortable to perform.
Wiwibloggs got all the info before any other websites once more: https://wiwibloggs.com/2020/02/19/iceland-iva-will-sing-oculis-videre-in-icelandic-in-songvakeppnin-2020-final/250254/ 🙂
Alekseev reaches 1 million views with all his videoclips in just a couple of days. Is he viral too? XD
Gagnamagnid or Dimma will be in super final. Who will be the winner? We will see but both songs will bring a diversity in Rotterdam. Well done Iceland!
Dimma!
The song is very enjoyable. Wouldn’t mind see it winning. It comes down to Dadi or Iva. All of Dadi supporters seem to be coming from the rest of Europe and not from Iceland though. It kind of reminds me of THE ROOP’s “On Fire”. Both songs are weird but serious. Perfect balance for Eurovision.
Funny you say that when Daði Freyr is BY FAR this line-up’s most popular artist among Icelanders (together with DIMMA, but more to the metal crowd)
That’s nice song, but I prefer Iva for the win.
I would be happy actually if UK would send entry like this.
iva’s “oculis videre”, which doesn’t even have an official music video, still outviewed dadi freyr’s viral hit on youtube (166k views to 118k views for all combined videos of audios and performances). why?
it’s not viral, it’s awful, Iva will win for sure
191,000 views? Is that viral?
I mean, if we consider that as one view per person in Iceland, maybe, but worldwide I’m not so sure
It’s a lot for a song from Iceland, but that pales significantly when you look at Lithuanian entry, Which is clocking close to 1 million on the official you’re having a channel and it has reached 1.1 million views on the roofs on YouTube channel. Lithuania is a similarly small country like Iceland.
Lithuania population: 2.794 million
Iceland population: 364,260
It is in the media now in The Netherlands, it has been picked up by a few radio stations.
What is not mentioned here is that even famous actor Russell Crowe retweeted it.
We’ll see how far it goes..
People like more the concept of the video rather than the song. He can’t recreate the video on stage
On stage it looks even more quirky.
Wrong, I didn’t get the video at all but love the song.
I’m super glad this is getting a second look because IMHO it has a chance to do a lot better in Rotterdam than Oculis Videre would. It’s definitely more immediate as a song, plus these guys know how to put on a show and I think got the perfect balance between the “weirdness” needed to be memorable and the musical competence that juries would appreciate.
And let’s face it, Daði Freyr probably deserved to win in 2017 as it was (but had no chance against such a big name as Svala).
Makes me think of Ireland 2018 in Junior Eurovision…
I guess he owes them
LITERALLY thought that when I first saw them
The heteros are discovering ESC 2020, guys.
I love this website and visit it multiple times daily between Eurovision season – but come on. Viral because some rylan tweeted it?
There’s so much to cover, why this?
yeah a few hundred likes is definitely NOT viral…
In all honesty this truly has an enormous shot at a high placement at the contest. Personally I don’t think oculis videre will even come close to the potential this song has. Iceland just think which song Europe wants to hear fully for another time.
https://youtu.be/tIAZbctRkDo
India. Willoughby.
Jesus
If he is good live it might be a winner. As we all know the winner has to deliver a good live performance.
He’s perfect live, just listen to his performance in the SF. Backing vocals are great too
I love this more than Lithuania’s entry. So catchy and so fun! If this wins, this will be in my top 3. And I think jury will like the English version.
Why they are covering children’s eyes?
It’s my winner but even I have to admit, 81,000 views is not “going viral”.
So catchy and addictive.. Loved his effort from a few years back too.. Rotterdam bound Dadi!
My goodness, this is insanely beautiful and addictive to my ears. Can’t wait to see the whole video and their actual performance.
Finally something amazing after Lithuania.
I was really into oculis videre and didn’t pay too much attention to Gagnamagnid at first… then came the music video, and now I have it on repeat non-stop since then. I still love oculis but man, can you really not move your bu*t to this?
Been saying this for ages! Let me make some room for you all on this bandwagon.
look, think about things is my winner. I don’t really like oculis videre, especially not in English. this is fun and cute, and I dont get all the people saying dadi is creepy. I doubt he’ll win, but I love the song so much. just wanted to write a positive comment before the others about dadi being creepy come pouring in.