He was one of the break-out acts of the sadly cancelled Eurovision 2020. But Iceland’s Daði Freyr has confirmed that he’s willing to return to Eurovision 2021. However, the “Think About Things” singer says he would only do it if broadcaster RÚV internally selects him.
Daði Freyr opened up in an interview with German newspaper Berliner Zeitung. He talked about how his life has changed since the success of “Think About Things” — and whether Daði og Gagnamagnið will make a return in 2021.
Daði told the newspaper that nothing has been confirmed for 2021 — but he is willing to return. But Daði is clear that he doesn’t want to go through the Söngvakeppnin national final process again.
But it’s for good reason. He explained (in German) that he just wants to focus on Eurovision:
“The only way we’ll be going is if they send us straight to Eurovision. […] I want to compete, but it’s just so much work to do the Icelandic competition, and at this point, it doesn’t really make sense for me to do that whole thing again. If we can go straight to Eurovision, we can focus on that the whole time instead of having to split the focus.”
Daði revealed that he already has some ideas for a 2021 entry, including potential staging for the song. And he’s serious about giving Iceland its first Eurovision win:
“I’m going to try to win – but I’ve got to make a song that’s got the goods to go high in the competition first […] If we can go with our group of friends to Eurovision and take home a trophy, that would be a good story. But the point is not to win. We’re going to aim for the win — but we’ll expect less.”
But he won’t have long to wait to find out Iceland’s plans for 2021. Daði told Berliner Zeitung that he expected to hear from RÚV “in the next few days”.
Will Daði og Gagnamagnið represent Iceland at Eurovision 2021?
Icelandic broadcaster RÚV has confirmed that Iceland will participate in Eurovision 2021, however the broadcaster has not released any details about how Iceland’s entry for Rotterdam will be selected.
In recent years, RÚV has confirmed details of their national final Söngvakeppnin in mid-September. The broadcaster usually accepts entries from mid-September to mid-October. As things are, it is too late for RÚV to use this timeline again, suggesting that the broadcaster may have other plans for 2021.
Fans have also noticed that Daði’s hectic 2021 tour schedule has nothing booked for the month of May. The tour ends in London on 30 April and resumes in Berlin on 2 June. This suggests that Daði may be keeping the month free for a possible Eurovision participation.
But when a fan asked Daði about the empty month, he simply responded “me-time”.
me-time
— Daði Freyr ? (@dadimakesmusic) October 2, 2020
What do you think? Should Iceland internally select Daði og Gagnamagnið for Eurovision 2021? Or should the broadcaster hold its usual national final? Tell us your thoughts below!
90% sure he’s returning. It’d be foolish to not have him again after being one of the favorites to win this year. He cleared out the entire month of May. This man KNOWS he’s going to be asked to come back any day now.
the threat continues
what threat
He is a smart guy! He knows that he had a big hit this year and he doesn’t want everyone to have high expectations for next year.
Iceland will definitely select him for 2021, he even managed to have free time in May next year.
#DadiFor2021
Aly Ryan go out of this body! 🙂
We definetely can’t joke here, it’s heavy, relax guys take a breathe
It’s a bad comparison. He doesn’t have anywhere near Aly Ryan’s attitude problem.
Not the end of the world , just a simple joke cause Aly said the same thing about Germany, she wanted to be selected internally, but the humor is not a speciality here…. guys don’t take yourselves too seriously, I repeat, breathe.
I have a sense of humor. Just didn’t think it was that funny. Nothing offensive to my sensibilities, just not that funny.
A little sense of humor then, anyway I don’t care, I assume for me it was funny, and I can see the funny and ironic similarities between Aly and Dadi, omg people here are so sad, DEPRESSING.
Don’t take it personally. We all make bad jokes here and there. What matters is that you found it funny!
Bad joke? You’re funny you are the absolute judge of what is a good or a bad joke? I know exactly what I wanted to mean with this joke, but I won’t explain more cause it won’t please the so much serious sad and monotonous wiwibloggs community and I don’t want to disturb them more. 🙂
Never seen someone get that defensive over one joke that didn’t land. If you think the Wiwi community can’t take a joke, you just gotta work on the material!
I give up this blog is definetely not for everybody, I didn’t know I could be hated for a joke, I thought the wiwibloggs community was more friendly, open, and fun.
yikes this thread is weird
Isn’t it though?
Wouldn’t RUV have opened up their submissions by now if Songvakeppnin was going ahead as planned? It’s not unheard-of for Iceland to do internal selections (heck, that gave us “All Out of Luck,” their joint-best finish), and seeing the potential goldmine they have if Dadi comes back, I’d be surprised if they didn’t pick him again.
Selma was selected internally in 2005 as well. It’s like they have a knack to hire her if she has a song
That hunch sadly didn’t pay off so much in 2005.
I said it didn’t pay off so much. In that it didn’t qualify. So getting her back on the basis of her previous result alone was a bad call.
It all kind of depends on how beloved the particular Eurovision selection show is, which also is in proportion to the size of the country and how much they value doing well at Eurovision. For the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, their selection shows are as much a beloved national institution as the contest itself. That’s why acts that had a strong chance (like the Roop, the Mamas, and Ulkrikke) aren’t getting a second go by default: people might be upset at them not going, but the alternative is no (to use the most famous example) Melodifestivalen, which is even worse… Read more »
These are all excellent points. I wonder if a compromise might be to give Dadi the ticket, but have Icelanders give the final verdict on his song, like in Romania or Israel this year. Given that Iceland’s pool of songs in a NF is smaller than in Sweden or Portugal usually, a smaller NF focused on one artist wouldn’t be too out of step with regular practice. I think Lithuania had the best approach – give the Roop a guarantee of being finalists in a multi-stage selection, and compensate them financially (around 20,000 euros I believe). Of course, it’s essential… Read more »
I think Dadi said he’d be willing to compromise on competing in a national final if he did all the songs. And Lithuania was great – I’m obviously sad the Roop didn’t get a guaranteed slot, but their being selected at all was the result of an incredible national final, the best Lithuania’s had in years. It’d be a shame to lose that, although I’d also be sad to lose the Roop.
Dadi is kinda thinking he’s some sort of god to them, i never liked him, but this arrogance i hope he never gets to perform on eurovision stage now
i find Eythor, Pollaponk, Hatari way better past esc alumni from iceland
i don’t care about dull snooze think about things, way too overhyped too, his boring monotone voice
You haven’t figured out how to leave a non-troll comment yet, have you? Also, let’s break it down point by point: Is Dadi really arrogant? I think he makes a fair point: if he’s asked to do Eurovision, he’ll be happy to do it again, but if not, he’s glad he had the opportunity and has already received a level of exposure usually only winners get. He wouldn’t want to compete against other artists since it’d be a tiring process and there’s no guarantee he’d be picked again. That’s just your opinion, but I think it’s odd that you find… Read more »