Just a quick question. If Iva or Dimma had won, would the same debate be going on? I.e. that it's sponsored by Netflix. I mean, if the movie is about Iceland & Eurovision, it really wouldn't matter what song won just as long as it's Icelandic.
And an fyi, Daði is extremely popular with kids here in Iceland and let me tell you who is the target audience for the whole Söngvakeppnin. You're right, it's kids. Kids that nag and whine to their parents for a chance to vote until they give in. People in their 20's - 40's think it's lame (with a few exceptions) and people 40+ think it's a drain on our resources and the money should be spent on our health care system and the elderly. Just spend 5 minutes with my grandpa during Eurovision season. It will drain any excitement you might have of this competition out of your body. But of course everyone has their own fans and those fans will vote. Dimma has a fan base, Daði has a fan base. Personally I had never heard about the other four before, except I read a thing Iva posted on Facebook that went a bit viral here a couple of months ago and was published in online papers. That was the extent of my knowledge.
Iva was a bit controversial here because of said opinion piece she wrote about a tv show where mentally and physically challenged people travel the country and experience things. It was her opinion but it rubbed some the wrong way and they remembered. I also didn't really see any hype for her over here, it's a beautiful song but it kinda went the way of Meet Me Halfway, no one was talking about it. Echo at least had the kids on its side so I definitely heard it and it was talked about.
Dimma is just extremely popular and, as I wrote before, my whole village (yes, we're from a village) and the countryside were voting for it hard so didn't really surprise me that much about it going through.
But the thing is, people over here just really seem to like both Daði and the song. It has a fun little dance (that I now have to spend time in May to teach my students, at least its not math), is meaningful (although I like it better in Icelandic but that's neither here nor there), the performance and performers don't take themselves too seriously and offer little jabs at the drama of Eurovision while still being insanely proud that they're going on this journey because, surprise, they do takes this seriously while still having fun doing it.
Also, Russell Crowe loves Iceland. No joke. He's been here loads, supports our football team, has sung at festivals here (wouldn't recommend tho, you've all seen Les Mis) so to me it's not really a stretch that he would like and retweet a fun song from here, Eurovision or not.