Music and family have always meant the world to Daði Freyr. They are the two essentials that inspire and motivate him to fulfil his ambitions, as well as keeping him closely connected to his beloved Iceland and the tight, close-knit communities he has always adored.
As an artist who enjoys obsessing over and dissecting the intricate craft of the three-minute pop song, Daði Freyr is a keen student of the fascinatingly diverse annual explosion of pop that is Eurovision. Daði’s 2021 Eurovision entry 10 Years radiates a joyous party atmosphere and warmly embraces the harmonious, glorious, festivity that the contest delivers every May, whilst simultaneously contributing some genuinely authentic and innovative sounds to the competition.
The road to Rotterdam all started in Daði’s studio base in Berlin. As a typical expatriate Icelander, he keeps a part of his native island close to his heart wherever he might find himself. Operating out of a tiny space in his small apartment, Daði Freyr’s powerfully inventive, do-it-yourself approach is matched by his devotion to analysing melody, rhythm and lyrics in order to transport them to new adventures in sound texture and musical inventiveness.
In 2020 Daði won the Icelandic Eurovision preselection contest, RÚV’s Söngvakeppnin, with the pure pop song ‘Think About Things’. The entry was directly inspired by the changes in his life since he recently became a father, and consequently wondering what his young daughter was going to end up thinking about things. The resulting hit has brought Daði even closer to those around him. Although there was no contest in Rotterdam last year, ‘Think About Things’ became a hugely infectious dance sensation: the song has been heard over seventy million times on Spotify and the official music video has over twenty-five million views on Youtube. Chart-wise, it reached Top 40 in the UK and Sweden, and Top 3 in Iceland and Ireland.
Daði was keen to have another crack at Eurovision and was internally selected by RUV to carry on the successful work at this year’s contest: 10 Years continues Daði’s musical commentary on his family, this time spotlighting his decade-long relationship with his beloved wife, Árný Fjóla Ásmundsdóttir.
Árný Fjóla is one of the members of Gagnamagnið (“data plan”). His sister, Sigrún Birna Pétursdóttir, undertakes backing vocal duties and friends Hulda Kristín Kolbrúnardóttir, Stefán Hannesson and Jóhann Sigurður Jóhannsson complete the grooves and moves in the rest of the line-up. The choir in the song is sung by 1000 people from all over the world. Daði even got his parents join in with vocals. Both Daði’s Eurovision songs are pop confections bursting with an irresistible joy that aim to bring together the whole of Europe, as well as linking together three generations of his own family.
10 Years is an impeccably assembled slice of pure pop funk. Each instrument is allotted space to express its individuality, with Daði gliding smoothly from the intro into the gloriously catchy chorus: from the multi-layered breakdown to the tongue-in-cheek wind machine section, the song is all set to be embraced by the rest of Europe, with a striking live performance.
Daði has once again collaborated Icelandic director Guðný Rós Þórhallsdóttir and cinematographer Birta Rán Björgvinsdóttir bring his vision into a reality, and devised his own choreography. This time the video is 10 times bigger. An idea for a video that Daði has had for a long time but never had the guts to make, until now.
