Iceland: Did VÆB plagiarized their Söngvakeppnin 2025 song?
Icelandic duo VÆB is participating once again in Söngvakeppnin to represent Iceland in Eurovision. They are among the 10 acts that the RÚV selected for their national song contest.
VÆB participated in 2024 Eurovision in Söngvakeppnin. Last year they finished in fourth place with “Bíómynd“.
In 2025 the duo returned with the song Róa. Unfortunately for the duo, once the songs were released, the fans started noticing a remarkable similarity between Róa’s chorus and “Hatunat HaShana” by Israeli singers Eyal Golan and Itay Levy.
VÆB has already responded to the controversy saying they were not aware of the existence of the song “Hatunat HaShana” since they don’t listen to Israeli music.
However, the songwriter of the song was not satisfied with this response and is considering legal action against the Icelandic duo for the alleged plagiarism. Cohen says in response to VÆB’s defense:
Like all of us in the digital age, we’re on social media; it’s a different era. You can be musically fed from any playlist and any country on the globe. We’re not talking about similarity; this is copying. I believe they were exposed to the song. Even if it was done innocently, there’s an infringement here.
You can compare both Róa by VÆB and the song Hatunat HaShana in the videos embedded below:
Söngvakeppnin 2025
These are the artists competing in Söngvakeppnin with their songs:
- Birgo – Ég flýg í storminn / Stormchaser
- Stebbi Jak – Frelsið Mitt / Set Me Free
- Tinna – Þrá / Words
- Ágúst – Eins og þú / Like You
- VÆB – Róa
- Dagur Sig – Flugdrekar / Carousel
- Bia – Norðurljós / Northern Lights
- Bjarni Arason – Aðeins lengur
- Bára Kristín – Rísum upp / Rise Above
- Júlí & Dísa – Eldur / Fire
The final of Söngvakeppnin 2025 will take place on February 22, 2025, with the First and Second Semifinal taking place on February 8 and 15, 2025 respectively.
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