In the spotlight: Daði & Gagnamagnið
22 April 2020 at 10:10 CESTDaði & Gagnamagnið was chosen to represent Iceland at the Eurovision after triumphing over 9 other finalist hopefuls for at Söngvakeppnin 2020, Iceland's annual national selection show for the Contest. It certainly wasn’t easy; they had to compete in 2 semi-final rounds and 2 rounds of voting in order to win. Daði’s previous attempt at representing his country was in 2017 when he participated in Söngvakeppnin with the song Is This Love in 2017. He advanced to the superfinal then too but was outvoted by Svala Björgvinsdóttir who finished 15th in the First Semi-Final at Eurovision 2017.
Who are Daði & Gagnamagnið?
Music and family serve as a driving force and inspiration for Daði Freyr; it is what keeps him settled in Iceland and with his beloved community. Music and family are, in fact, so important to Daði that he combined them together with Gagnamagnið. His band name - which translates to ‘data plan’- includes his wife, Árný Fjóla Ásmundsdóttir, on the keyboard and his 2 sisters as backing vocalists. He even used his sound engineer father’s vintage microphone to get his desired sound.
The song - Think About Things - is no exception, either. It links 3 generations of his own family and was directly inspired by becoming a father, the things that brought him closer to those around him and by the changes that life brings.
READ MORE: Daði & Gagnamagnið's participant profile
Daði is seriously passionate over the art of pop music creation and his Eurovision song is an example of that. Despite it originating from his small Berlin studio, Daði always takes a part of Iceland with him into his music. It is intricately crafted as part of his complex masterplan, and the performance is carefully designed to work within the Eurovision rules - instruments cannot be plugged in onstage - so, instead they provided a wind machine section and a stunning live performance.
Think About Things has been a viral sensation, gathering 6.1 million views on Daði’s own YouTube page and his Spotify account has a staggering 766,282 monthly listeners. He recently took to his Instagram page to express his gratitude for the love and support he has received over their Eurovision 2020 song: “Thank you so much! The last few weeks have been crazy. I could have never imagined where this song could take me when I was writing it! Thank you!”
In another post, he let fans know that they could expect something new from him very soon: "I’m putting the finishing touches on a new song, stay tuned. It’s made for dancing <3".
You can follow Daði Fryer on the following social media platforms:
LISTEN: Stream Think About Things and other Eurovision 2020 songs on Spotify
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
Iceland joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 1986 and has yet to win the contest. Their closest attempts were in 1999 when Selma finished second with her song All Out Of Luck and 10 years later in 2009 with Yohanna and her ballad Is It True? In 2016, the country delivered the largest viewing share of all 42 participating countries with 95.3% of those watching TV in the country watching the Grand Final.
READ MORE: Iceland's country page
Last year, Iceland’s representatives, Hatari, finished in 10th place in the Grand Final with their song, Hatrið mun sigra.
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