My favourite Icelandic songs (great for learning!)

One of the best ways to accelerate your progress when learning a new language is to listen to music in your target language. Here is a list of some songs I've been listening to to help me learn Icelandic.

Hoppípolla - Sigur Rós
You have probably already heard of this world famous band. Hoppípolla (Jumping in puddles) is a beautiful slow song with easy to remember lyrics. The end of the song features some lyrics in 'Hopelandic' though, which is Sigur Rós' made up language. Brits will probably recognise the intro from an old BBC advert.

https://youtu.be/JAYb8ZyjzD0

Fröken Reykjavík - Friðrik Dor
Translating to 'Miss Reykjavík', this is a new take on the original version by Ríó Tríó. This is my favourite Icelandic song and it was playing as I boarded the plane to move here! The video has some stunningly simple graphics of Reykjavík and the lyrics are on screen to follow.

https://youtu.be/zWeYdpoQVVE

Viltu Dick? - Sykur
This song is catchy, explicit and a lot of fun. The chorus is easy to memorise and adaptable to sentences used in everyday life (ég vil ekki.../ég vil bara...). The verse is very fast though and features a few Spanish lyrics. In English the title means 'Do you want dick?', which starts to explain the nature of the song...

https://youtu.be/HTH4_eIR8E0

Reykjavík - Sykur
Another catchy song by Sykur, but near impossible to follow along to! It has a great rhythm that will get stuck in your head. The lyrics are in the description beneath the video. Hats off to any non native speaker who can sing along to this!

https://youtu.be/Q2qAcNTjv3k

Einn dans - Páll Óskar
An icon in the LGBTQ community, Páll Óskar's songs are popular here and easy to dance to. This one is my favourite and has a lyric video which makes it easier to learn the words as you listen.

https://youtu.be/cobIK3jXHHQ

Neinei - Áttan
I have to admit that I hated this song when I first heard it, it was played everywhere and I found it irritating but it's grown on me. The video is funny and the lyrics are shown on the bottom of the screen. It's a useful song for learning a couple of new phrases. You can follow the story line of the song from the video pretty easily.

https://youtu.be/e4FC6cqSmuo

Reykjavík - Emmsjé Gauti
Yes, another one called Reykjavík! You will almost certainly have heard this song if you've spent time in Reykjavík city. I often hear it on the radio, at bars, in cafes and shops. This is not usually the kind of music I like but it's pretty good. The chorus is repetitive and easy to learn.

https://youtu.be/Pzxo66k84Ow

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