Earlier this year, Icelandic songstress GDRN (real name: Guðrún Ýr Eyfjörð Jóhannesdóttir) swept the Icelandic Music Awards, taking home four awards: Pop Album of the Year, Music Video of the Year (which you can watch below), Female Singer of the Year, and Song of the Year for her track "Lætur mig," today's KEXP Song of the Day. “I have seen incredible growth among young women today," she said, accepting her awards, "and I wanted to encourage all young women who are watching this now: Let yourselves dream, let yourselves dream really big. It’s possible.”
Guðrún is an excellent example of that as the album Hvað ef is her debut release. “This is the first music I’ve released, so I was a bit surprised when I got this award, to be honest. I didn’t set out to get this into music-making this full on. It’s been a very special year,” she told the Reykjavík Grapevine. The album was co-written and produced by Ra:tio, her college friends Teitur Helgi Skúlason and Bjarki Sigurðarson. Today's spotlight track features guest vocals from Flóni, a.k.a. Icelandic rapper Friðrik Róbertsson. “Ra:tio are big hip hop fans, while my musical background is more conventional, so we managed to mix together various types of music,” she explained. “I’ve played concerts where both young kids and their parents seem familiar with my music. I enjoy seeing my music bridge a gap in this way.”
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Host Emily Fox and KEXP’s editorial team talk with artists about the stories behind their songs and the experiences that inform their work. Through each conversation, we uncover the humanity behind the music, allowing us to hear it in a whole new way.
