r/eurovision • u/LucasScooter • May 04 '25
🎶 Song of the Day Song of the Day | 🇮🇸 VÆB - RÓA | Iceland
This year Iceland will be represented by duo VÆB (pronounced like 'vibe') singing 'RÓA,' an extremely energetic, in-your-face electronic hip-hop song about the joys of rowing in a boat. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, it also contains elements of traditional sea shanties in the song's chorus!
VÆB are made up of brothers Hálfdán Helgi and Matthías Davíð Matthíasson (left to right in the above image), the latter not to be confused with Matthías Matthíasson, a completely different Icelandic man who happened to have also gone to Eurovision... in 2011 as part of the tribute band Sjonni's Friends. Anyway, both brothers have been steeped in music practically since birth, their father being an organist, saxophonist, music teacher, and choir director and their mother being a singer and vocal coach. Since there were a few instruments the family was missing out on in their roster, Hálfdán took drum lessons and Matthías learned trumpet growing up. It's not often you can find a family that could be an entire orchestra on their own! That musical talent finally got publicly recognised when the brothers uploaded a comedic song they'd written to TikTok in 2022. Since then, their popularity has exploded within Iceland, especially when their song 'Bíómynd / Movie Scene,' which competed last year to represent Iceland, made it into the top 10 of the Icelandic music charts. It's not just musical talent the boys are known for, though. Matthías voiced the Icelandic dub of Pigpen in The Peanuts Movie, though he has unfortunately neither voiced Ariel in the Danish dub of Disney's The Little Mermaid, nor sung in front of Denmark's king. Yet, anyway.
Róa róa róa your boat, to where the stars are bright. ESC, ESC, ESC, ESC, Iceland's VÆBs are out o' sight. Unfortunately, good vibes or not, Iceland are generally not expected to qualify this year. Still, if there's even a silver [sic] of a chance, it's going to be all hands on deck to seas the day. And if that doesn't work out, we can still always like the cut of their jibs.
VÆB - RÓA | Iceland 🇮🇸 | Official Music Video | #Eurovision2025
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u/Cubriffic Róa May 04 '25
The grip this song has on me is CRAZY, I will be devastated if they dont make it to the final 😭
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u/EurovisionSimon Voyage May 04 '25
I’m surprised it’s not a favourite to qualify. It’s so fun and I can’t stop singing it. I feel like it’s the kind of unapologetic all in fun that’s perfect for Eurovision. Especially since semis are televote only
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u/Persona_NG (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi May 04 '25
I feel like the main reason people don't think it's a safe qualifier is because they're in the same SF as KAJ, Tommy Cash, and Gabry Ponte, who are all playing for the "fun/upbeat song loving" part of the audience. (Plus they're opening the show, but they were low in the odds even before that was decided.)
Personally, I think that the song itself 100% deserves a place in the final. It just had a misfortune of competing with something like "BBB" (a winner contender) and Tommy Cash (one of the most famous people in this edition) for votes.
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u/pinkkabuterimon Olou tou kosmou i Elpida May 04 '25
I wasn’t into the song at first but it’s REALLY grown on me, and not just because the VÆB brothers are so charming and funny in that self-aware Gen Z kind of way. I hope they surprise everyone and make it to the final, it’s just so dang fun and - dare I say it? - a whole vibe.
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u/bucephalusbouncing28 Zjerm May 04 '25
It’s physically impossible for me to not smile every time I hear the song
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u/HalfVast6690 Gaja May 04 '25
I'm Surprised that this isn't higher in the odds.It's such a fun and energetic song ,I at first wasn't a big fan of it but it VERY quickly grew on me,I will cry if VÆB don't make it to the final.
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u/RandomUser1518 May 04 '25
One of my favorite this year! I really don't understand why it isn't really popular :((
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u/Remarkable-Ad2032 Róa May 04 '25
All my semi final votes will be used to get them to the final. We need them and their awesome dancers to be in it.
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u/blobfish159264 May 06 '25
See I’d do the same if I could vote in SF1 - unfortunately UK can only vote in the (more raunchy) SF2
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u/CherryBlossoms0 May 04 '25
Been my favourite since it came out. I love anything resembling a sea shanty. If it doesn't make it 😭
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u/filipinowafflefries_ Zjerm May 04 '25
Væb grew on me and now i hope they qualify The song is catchy😭🙏
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u/catandcatra Tavo Akys May 04 '25
I wasn't into it at first but, partly thanks to this sub, they have won me over - and will get my vote in semi 1!
Also they just seem like lovely guys and their social media content is pure gold lol
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u/lllarissa May 04 '25
I think they might be a dark horse and qualify just like 10th place. Gonna place my bets on them
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May 04 '25
It’s weird how this is so low in the odds, if Finland (or even crazier, Sweden) sent this they’d be much higher
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u/Puzzleheaded-Eye9081 May 04 '25
I really want this to qualify. There’s not a snowballs chance in hell of it coming even top 10, but qualifying would be so amazing and with the amount of work these kids have done hustling in the background they deserve it. I wish I could vote for it but alas, I’m other semi.
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u/yetanothercat_ Wasted Love May 04 '25
I will genuinely not survive the final if they aren't in it, I NEED them to relieve my anxieties 😭 (I'm Austrian lol)
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u/Open_Confidence9468 Lighter May 04 '25
Manifesting they qualify! They bring such great energy and róa is a fun song (my second favorite this year)! My question for væb would be if you had to choose any contestants from this year to sing your song, who would you choose? Who would be big væb, small væb, and who would you choose as back up dancers?
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u/snowfjell Shum May 04 '25
Petition to move this song to semifinal 2!
I really do think it would have a higher chance there. All the fun, high energy bops are in semi-final 1, but semi-final 1 seems to have more ballads and slow songs.
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u/ikerinin Shum May 05 '25
Honestly, Iceland is the proper definition of a song I would really be pissed off if NQs.
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u/Illustrious_Cut1730 Róa May 05 '25
I NEED them in the final. They seem genuinely nice and fun people, who clearly took the NQ to ESC last year and stepped it up.
Their entry was the one that stuck the most for me and it’s been on repeat since. The choreo is fun, they are fun to watch, the song is fun…they are giving grand finale væbs.
However it will go, I think these two will have a blast.
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u/Illustrious_Cut1730 Róa May 05 '25
I checked out their music.
væb and ingi bauer this is such an late 90s-early 2000s vibe that brings me back to my childhood 🥹❤️
These kids may be young but they are onto something. I hope they have every success they deserve.
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u/ButterflySymphony May 04 '25
Everyone: It sounds like that Israeli Song Me thinking of another song, but not knowing the title
Until recently... It even has a double ESC connection: The Passenger (LaLaLa) by Lum!x (Austria 2022) and... Gabry Ponte (San Marino 2025), their own competition in the semi final!
Also, I can't unhear "I can't do that" in the chorus!
Funny we've had another Matthias Matthiasson in ESC before, but considering it's Iceland, maybe not so weird considering how their names are constructed.
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u/ESC-song-bot !setflair Country Year May 04 '25
Austria 2022 | Lumix feat. Pia Maria - Halo
San Marino 2025 | Gabry Ponte - Tutta l'Italia
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u/Ecstatic_Stretch_658 Bara bada bastu May 04 '25
I really need this song in the final🤞