top of page
Search

The Legacy of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

  • Saskia McKenna
  • 1 day ago
  • 3 min read

ree

We’ve blinked and it’s already the five-year anniversary of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.


It’s hard to believe that it’s been half a decade since this movie debuted on streaming during the pandemic; and with the recent announcement of a Broadway adaptation, the film is seeing a second wave of popularity and a re-evaluation. Let’s look back at Fire Saga and its legacy.


Fire Saga stars Will Ferrell as Lars Erikssong and Rachel McAdams as Sigrit Ericksdóttir, childhood friends who form the titular duo Fire Saga; an avant-garde music project.


Lars’ dream is to win Eurovision and the two find themselves on the world's biggest stage by a comedy of errors that includes the Central Bank of Iceland, Elves and the untimely death of Demi Lovato (you’ve got to see it to believe it).



Reception by the public, fans and critics


The film received middling reviews when it premiered in June 2020. Critics were frosty, and the public found it sincere if not innocuous.


For Eurovision fans however, the movie seems to have a complicated reputation. From anecdotal evidence, it seems most fans can appreciate the positive impact of the movie; it exposed a new (particularly American) audience to Eurovision, and it filled the COVID-shaped hole of the contests cancellation and gave fans something to discuss.


However, many fans were mixed on the film. You can read the Aussievision team’s reviews from 2020 here.


Many found the film to be overly cringey (personally I don’t think it was cringey enough, and thought that the performances weren’t nearly as insane as the real life contest can be), but found the humour and heart at the films core to be solid.


The timing of this movie couldn’t have been more perfect (maybe the work of the elves?). After the cancellation of the 2020 edition, several broadcasters instead played the movie to fill the now empty slot in May.



PLAY JA JA DING DONG


Arguably the most iconic quote to come from the movie was “PLAY JA JA DING DONG!”.


“Ja Ja Ding Dong” was the name of one of Fire Saga’s songs, and one of the most beloved songs by their community.


The quote was a surprisingly common feature during the 2021 contest, with actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson presenting Iceland’s jury points in character as Neils Brongus and Finland’s Blind Channel holding up signs with the quote in the green room.



Song-Along and Cameos


By far the contribution of Fire Saga most beloved by fans is of course the song-along. When Lars and Sigrit attend a party hosted by Russian contestant Alexander Lemtov (Dan Stevens), fans were treated to a medley of songs performed by some of the class of 2019 as well as Eurovision All-Stars.


These included (in order of appearance):


  • John Lundvik (Sweden, 2019)

  • Anna Odobescu (Moldova, 2019)

  • Bilal Hassani (France, 2019)

  • Loreen (Sweden, 2012)

  • Jessy Matador (France, 2010)

  • Alexander Rybak (Norway, 2009)

  • Jamala (Ukraine, 2016)

  • Elina Nechayeva (Estonia, 2018)

  • Conchita Wurst (Austria, 2014)

  • Netta (Israel, 2018)


2017 winner for Portugal Salvador Sobral also appeared in the film, however his cameo was not during the Song-Along.




The Soundtrack and Húsavík


One of the biggest successes out of the movie was its Grammy and Oscar nominated soundtrack, particularly Húsavík (My Hometown).


The track currently sits at over 60 million streams on Spotify and has been adopted by the real town of Húsavík as an anthem that is taught in school!


In fact, eight of the songs featured on the soundtrack have between 8 to 22 million streams.


Additionally, My Marianne (who provided the vocals for Sigrit) has over 300,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, despite the Eurovision Movie being her only credit, showing that these songs are still being listened to and loved five years later.



It also appears to be much loved by contestants with both Iceland’s VAEB, and the UK’s Remember Monday covering songs from the movie for the Eurovision YouTube channel!



With a Broadway adaptation on the horizon, the legacy of Fire Saga is still being written. It's place in Eurovision history is a complicated one, but no-one can deny that it adds to the rich tapestry of the Eurovision story.


For continued updates on all the Eurovision Song Contest news follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Bluesky Threads and TikTok. All links at: https://linktr.ee/aussievisionnet 

 
 
 
bottom of page