Daði Freyr was supposed to be the Icelandic choice to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam in May 2020 but the whole event was cancelled due to the global pandemic. It is, however, back for 2021 and will take place between 18th and 22nd May with assorted safety and social distancing measures in place. Which means that Freyr and all the other acts can represent their respective countries. 

In the build up to the competition, AWAL is pushing his song ‘10 Years’ in a number of interesting ways. Central to this is a partnership with Landmrk (and its Virtual Tours platform) which will allow fans to place a holographic version of Daði anywhere around their homes. 

The twist is that he will “visit” a different location each day as part of a virtual tour as he wends his way to the Netherlands from the start of April. You can follow his progress on the Road 2 Rotterdam website, scanning a QR code, setting your location and then entering your email address to be given an alert when he is in your country. You also have to sign into the experience with Spotify, Google or Facebook, ramping up the data collection.

Across the “tour”, his digital incarnation will visit 50 destinations over 60 days, going far beyond the heartland countries for Eurovision to take in Asia, North America and South America. When we tested it, we got a mini Daði in the lotus position on our computer keyboard talking about his road to Eurovision. 

“I’m coming to your house but like a vampire, you have to invite me in,” he said in a (somewhat sinister) press statement. “Please have me in your personal space playing music. I think you will like it, I know I will like it.”

Fans who watch his digital doppelgänger can create their own unique piece of merchandise that draws on their custom avatar, their location and the date they saw the virtual performance. It all makes for a nice crossing over from the virtual world into the real world.