Having previously competed in Söngvakeppnin 2024, sibling duo VÆB are second time lucky and will be representing Iceland at Eurovision 2025 with their song ‘RÓA’.
Read on to learn more about VÆB, their career so far and their journey to Eurovision.
Who are VÆB?
VÆB are a musical duo consisting of brothers Hálfdán ‘Bubbi’ Helgi MatthÃasson and MatthÃas ‘Matti’ DavÃð MatthÃasson. The pair come from a very musical family, with their mother being a singer and singing teacher and their father playing the organ, as well as being a saxophone teacher and choir director. Therefore, it was inevitable that the two brothers would go into music themselves: MatthÃas learned the trumpet while Hálfdán learned the drums and even won a televised singing competition at the age of 12.
The pair first became known when they posted a comedic tribute to Icelandic rapper Aron Can named ‘Aron Can (borðar kál)’ (literally translating as ‘Aron Can (eating cabbage)’ in English) to their TikTok. The song garnered enough attention that they posted it onto Spotify and started recording more songs.
In 2022, VÆB released their debut album ‘VÆB TÉKK’ and in 2023 they enjoyed chart success thanks to their remix of ‘Ofboðslega Frægur’ (‘Super Famous’) which was produced by Ingi Bauer, one of Iceland’s biggest music producers. The song peaked inside the top 20 of the Icelandic music charts and their follow-on single ‘Tölur Tala’ (‘Numbers Speak’) peaked at number 21. The duo would continue to collaborate with Bauer, releasing their EP ‘Væbauer’ in July 2024.
Söngvakeppnin and the Road to Eurovision
VÆB first competed in Icelandic national final Söngvakeppnin in 2024 with the song ‘BÃómynd’ (‘Movie Scene’). Their blend of dance, Scandinavian pop and rap proved to be a huge hit with the Icelandic public and they sailed through to the show’s final. At the final, while VÆB continued to prove hugely popular with the televote, placing second only to Bashar Murad‘s ‘Wild West’, they did not receive the points needed from the juries to progress to the televote-only super-final, placing 4th overall. You can remind yourself of their Söngvakeppnin 2024 performance below:
Hera Björk would ultimately go on to represent Iceland at Eurovision 2024 with her song ‘Scared of Heights’. However, VÆB’s participation brought them further commercial success as ‘BÃómynd’ peaked at number 10 in the Icelandic music charts, making this the only Söngvakeppnin 2024 entry to do so, as well as being the pair’s most successful single so far.
With such success under their belts and not to be deterred, VÆB again entered Söngvakeppnin 2025, this time with the song ‘RÓA’ (‘Row’). Once again, the brothers easily qualified for the final where, for the first time since 2012, there would be no super-final. Instead, a seven-person international jury consisting of a number of Eurovision experts and former participants would determine 50% of the vote alongside the Icelandic voting public. VÆB proved to be the favourite of both the jury and televote and were off to Basel!
Since their Söngvakeppnin victory, ‘RÓA’ has peaked at number 1 in the Icelandic music charts. Sonically, it contains the distinctive rap, pop and electrofolk sound VÆB are known for and lyrically uses the extended metaphor of building and rowing a boat to encourage listeners to weather turbulent times ahead.
VÆB will open the first semi-final on Tuesday 13th May. Iceland failed to qualify last year so will surely be hoping for a better result in 2025. However, regardless of how VÆB fare, they’re sure to kick the contest off with a bang and we certainly wish them the best of luck in May!
You can follow VÆB on social media!
Instagram – @bara_vaeb
TikTok – @bara_vaeb
YouTube – @bara_vaeb
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