Hálfdán Helgi Matthíasson

Hálfdán Helgi Matthíasson (born 4 June 2003) is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. He represented Iceland with the song RÓA in his electronic music duo, VÆB alongside his brother, Matthías Davíð Matthíasson. ^[1]

Hálfdán Helgi Matthíasson
Background information
Birth name	Hálfdán Helgi Matthíasson
Born	4 June 2003 (age 21)
Origin	Kópavogur, Iceland
Years active	2015–present
Member of	Væb

Hálfdán was born on 4 June 2003.^[1] His father, Matthías, is an organist, saxophone teacher and choir director. His mother, Áslaug, is a singer and singing teacher.^[2][3]

In 2015, aged 12, Hálfdán won the popular Icelandic television singing competition, "Jólastjarna Björgvins" (Björgvin's Christmas Star).^[2][4]

In 2022, Hálfdán collaborated with his brother, Matthías and formed the electronic music duo VÆB to post a comedy TikTok song, "Aron Can (Borðar kál)"lit.'Aron Can eating cabbage', which got enough views that the duo decided to release it on Spotify. They made their debut in the recording industry with the studio album Væb tékk. In 2023, they would see their first charted song, a remix of Ofbođslega frægur (2023) in collaboration with Ingi Bauer, which debuted at 17 on the Tónlistinn.^[5]

In February 2024, Hálfdán alongside his brother in the duo music group VÆB, participated in Söngvakeppnin, the Icelandic national selection method for the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "Bíómynd".^[6] They were placed in semi-final one and competed on 17 February 2024. They received 7,347 votes, coming first and advancing to the finals.^[7] In the finals, held on 2 March, they 29,282 votes. This got them fourth place.^[8]

The following year, 2025, Væb were selected again to participate in Söngvakeppnin with the song RÓA. ^[9] They were placed in semi-final one and competed on 8 February 2025. They received 12,649 (30.40%) votes, coming first and advancing to the finals. In the finals, held on 22 February, they received 73 points from the jury and 36,535 televotes, or 93 points from the public vote, for a total of 167 points. This got them first place from both the jury and televote, and the right to represent Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.^[10]

Furthermore, the song marked their best placement in the Tónlistinn, climbing up to 4th place, before reaching number one.^{[11] [12]} They opened the first Eurovision semi-final on 13 May^[13] and finished as the sixth best scoring entry with 97 points, therefore qualifying to the final, as they were in the top ten.^{[14] [15]} They got these points from the televotes of different countries, 12 from Sweden, 10 from the Netherlands, 8 from Norway and the Rest of the World, 7 from Croatia, Cyprus, and Estonia, 6 from Poland, 5 from Albania, Belgium, Slovenia, and Spain, 4 from Italy and Switzerland, 2 from Portugal and Ukraine, and none from San Marino and Azerbaijan.^[16] At the final on 17 May, they performed 10th and placed 25th with 33 points.[26] They got these points from the televotes of different countries, 10 from Denmark, 6 from Finland, 5 from Estonia and Sweden, 3 from Norway, 1 from Austria, Croatia, Germany, and Slovenia, and none from everyone else.