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Iceland ICELAND 2020 - Daði & Gagnamagnið - Think About Things

How do you rate this entry?

  • 12

    47 30.7%
  • 10

    20 13.1%
  • 8

    18 11.8%
  • 7

    14 9.2%
  • 6

    7 4.6%
  • 5

    14 9.2%
  • 4

    5 3.3%
  • 3

    6 3.9%
  • 2

    1 0.7%
  • 1

    7 4.6%
  • 0

    14 9.2%

  • Total voters
    153

escYOUnited

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Iceland-scaled.jpg


 

Uto

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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.
Thank you for this elaboration.

We are all humans. I look at metrics and see things are quite a way out of the ordinary with Iceland this year. I go looking for an explanation as one would do and I run into a rather plausible narrative involving collusion with Netflix. This is something that has been on the radar for quite a lot of Eurovision fans. Eurovision as it stands has much more potential for marketing than we currently see. We all know of how Americans turn marketing into a national sport during Superbowl, 4th of July and Thanksgiving. Eurovision is not quite the same category, but it's still huge. Given the outlook of Netflix as a company it stands to reason that they would be the ones to colonize Eurovision. There's a motif, there's an easy plan that will work without running into great risks, there's a story there. Is it fiction though? I do not know.

You give alternative explanations to a lot of strange things we see and tell us that from the perspective of someone who knows much more about the particularities of Iceland a narrative can be constructed that has no malicious aspects to it. I think you are correct and apparently Dathi was asked about the whole Netflix thing and it has been said that he was genuine in his rejection of these accusations.

What does remain odd is the fact that Iceland suddenly went viral out of nothing based on retweets by celebs and just having inorganic metrics. The Roop went viral, but that had a very natural looking curve to it. Diodate has a strange beginning to his curve, but it's been natural looking ever since he won San Remo, which can be explained by missing data from his performance at San Remo (the video was taken down by RAI). Roxen hasn't really gone viral, but she's a good case to look at given her 5 songs. She has almost perfectly natural curves that prove slight viral effects for Cherry Red and Alcohol You. Iceland is the one that stands out. This stuff has happened before, it's much the same with other event-like viral videos (fi Grammy performances), they also have rather inorganic curves to them. It just smells like targeted marketing.

In short: it does not do to conclude anything nefarious with what is in front of us now, but I will always remain skeptical. There will be a day large companies will try to influence Eurovision through very aggressive social media influencing and Netflix is one of the most likely companies to be involved. It seems like that day is not yet upon us.
 

BorisBubbles

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Lulz, Daði has now reached the Belgian papers as well.

What A Joke Act. Totally nothing to do with the song, y'all.
 
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BorisBubbles

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The butthurt Iva fans can keep burying their heads in the sand and continue to stand on their soapbox preaching tinfoil lies. Such a positive response (Even the facebook comments are mostly positive. Facebook comments!!!) Would never have happened if people didn't genuinely like the song. No amount of crying riggage-wolves will release you from your sad and losing game.
 

Iker

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The butthurt Iva fans can keep burying their heads in the sand and continue to stand on their soapbox preaching tinfoil lies. Such a positive response (Even the facebook comments are mostly positive. Facebook comments!!!) Would never have happened if people didn't genuinely like the song. No amount of crying riggage-wolves will release you from your sad and losing game.


I am a fan of Iva but I am happy for Dadi too so don''t throw us into one bag.
 

Alaska49

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one way to see it is that where mikaela minga opens one door, russell crowe closes another lol ^_^ karma exists and hates snobbish eurofans, it seems
 

njdevils94

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I don't see this winning but also don't buy it will flop now because of Little Big and The Roop (I don't consider Lietuva a novelty act really) but I think there still can be room for all three.

@njdevils94

Are you engaged in 2020 US elections like Alesia Michelle is?

:lol: Absolutely not whatsoever. I prefer following sports. Politics gets really tiring really quick and of course we have to make elections an 18 month event in the news.

I can just about deal with ESC politics but that only lasts a month or two.
 

crashworld

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I don't believe it won just because it went viral. We can definitely say, yes, it went viral and gave the song the boost in visibility. But people will still have to decide whether they like the entry enough to vote for it. And at the end of the day, only the Icelandic people can vote for the song. Plus I doubt most people are going to waste their money to vote for something just because it went viral. I believe it's because people genuinely like the song and vote for it. Plus it is a light-hearted and nerdy in a cute way performance. It's hard not to like it.

And also, people are comparing this to Lithuania's entry. Both are quirky acts but I feel Dadi will be more accessible to the general public due to the overall package (ie. the performance, the lyrical meaning of the song and the imagery).
 
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Romeo

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Iceland is STILL in the UK iTunes chart. It has now moved up to number 30
 

Zonne147

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Tbh I still don't get the hype around this and why it is still first in the betting odds, there are still 11 songs to be released and 2 months to Rotterdam anyway it's very surprising for me to see :is: leading

From last decade there are 3 winners I don't agree but I understand why they won but I will never agree and understand if this wins... It's just a catchy below average song for me
 

cripesdude

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Purely anecdotal but a number of friends that watch the final ‘if they’re in’ have now mentioned the Icelandic entry to me... I’ve not noted this level of awareness for a song before the final in the ‘general population’ ever before... maybe Reykjavik 2021 is calling... :eek:
 

AleksTheDino

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I somewhat can get behind the catchyness but the whole act is just insanely cringey. It's meant to be cringey but that doesn't make it uncringey.
Thank you for putting into words what I couldnt describe. I find it cringey, the song itself is boring to me...there isn't anything to laugh at either, it's not like many of the Moldovan entries for instance that can entertain you. Anyway I seem to be in the minority of people who dislike this, :1: point
 

AleksTheDino

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Tbh I still don't get the hype around this and why it is still first in the betting odds, there are still 11 songs to be released and 2 months to Rotterdam anyway it's very surprising for me to see :is: leading

From last decade there are 3 winners I don't agree but I understand why they won but I will never agree and understand if this wins... It's just a catchy below average song for me
Totally agree.
Your complaints have been heard! Lithuania is back in the lead, thank god :D Hope for Bulgaria to go up tomorrow too.
 

Ezio

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So, we have a new Queen in the North. Congrats, Iceland!
 
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