The Swedish Mafia is coming to the Oscars. No, we don’t mean the euro house supergroup Swedish House Mafia, we’re talking about songwriters and producers, Rickard Göransson, Savan Kotecha and Fat Max Gsus. The trio is part of a group of Swedish or Swedish-adjacent musicians who have collaborated on some of the biggest pop hits over the past decade. Now, they are slightly unexpected nominees in the Best Original Song category for “Husavik (My Hometown)” from the Netflix comedy “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.”
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The trio’s credits include Ariana Grande’s “God is a Woman,” The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face,” Britney Spears “I Wanna Go” and Demi Lovato’s “Cool For The Summer,” among many others, but the opportunity to write for the David Dobkin film took them in an unexpected direction.
The film centered on Lars (Will Ferrell) and Sigrit (Rachel McAdams), two longtime friends whose band Fire Saga has been stuck in obscurity in their small hometown of Iceland. When they luck their way into becoming their nation’s contestant for the annual Eurovision Song Contest, their lives and relationship take a dramatic turn. That journey is encapsulated when Sigrit sings “Husavik (My Hometown)” at the climax of the movie.
“As with all the songs in the movie, we really approached it like Sigrit is an artist,” Kotecha says. “[We approached it like] when we’re working with a big pop star. We would talk about their problems and what’s going on in their lives and we would help them communicate that in song. And that’s how we thought about it. Sigrit is this person and she’s in love with this person who doesn’t see her because he’s so busy trying to conquer the world or win this contest. I think as COVID has taught us all, the fundamentals that matter and all of that’s the message she wanted to get to him and this was her moment to do that. “
The trio jumped on a zoom call last week to discuss their Academy Award nominations, if they are even going to be able to make it to LA for the ceremony, the contributions of pop star Molly Sanden and much more.
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The Playlist: The question I have to ask every nominee first, what was your reaction to the Oscar nomination?
Rickard Göransson: Yes, I watched the announcement live at five in the morning. I’m in L.A., so I was up bright and early. And obviously, when they announced it, I just started screaming. Woke up my girlfriend, texted everyone I know. Still, to this day, it almost doesn’t feel real. But in that moment, it was like, “What is going on? This is absolutely crazy.” But what an honor. It’s wild.
Fat Max Gsus: My first reaction was basically a ripple on the water from Savan’s reaction, because I had tried to not think about it at all, so I wasn’t in that mindset at all. I was just working as usual, and then my phone rang. It was Savan. I answered and I just heard some weird screams and stuff, and someone yelling, “Come out here! You need to come out here!” I ran out to the other end of the studio where Savan was, and I could just hear a lot of shouting and wooing. It was just Savan telling me, “It happened! It happened! They nominated us. We’re nominated for an Oscar!” Which is really, really insane. I don’t know, it took me a really long time to digest.
Savan Kotecha: Yeah, I was on the other side of the studio and I was watching the stream. I had just turned it on right the award before, because someone had reminded me, and I saw when it happened. At first, I didn’t believe it. I started cursing like a sailor, and then I ran down screaming, trying to get to where Fat Max was, but you need a key fob, and I’d left the key fob in the room I was, but I was just like, “Ahhh!” Everyone thought there was a fire or something, or the crazy American is running down the hallway again, shouting. I’m banging on the door and calling Fat Max and then he came out. He was super shellshocked. I was overly excited because he was not at the time, he was so shocked. “Call your family!” And then I went to go pick up my kids from school, 30 minutes later. That was a very interesting way to pick up your kids.
Another pressing question people have been asking the nominees, for both you and Fat Max, are you guys going to be able to come to the ceremony? Have you figured that out, or are you going to go to London or Paris or any of these other options? Have you guys thought about it?
Fat Max Gsus: It’s not figured out yet.
Savan Kotecha: Still figuring it out.
Fat Max Gsus: Everything is sort of up in the air. I’d kill to go and I’m trying to do everything that I can. We’re trying to really solve it. We’ll see. Time will tell, and it’s a lot of complications, obviously. If it’s going to happen, it has to happen in the safest possible way.
Even if you guys wanted to, could you get to the location in Paris? Are you allowed to travel to Paris?
Savan Kotecha: I don’t know what the European thing is. I’m a US citizen, but for me, it’s just a safety thing and I’ve got a wife and two young kids and do I want to do that and miss being with them during this awesome time? But I don’t know if we can get to Paris. You guys might know.
Fat Max Gsus: I’m not sure either, but being in a car by yourself, for example, is basically being in quarantine. I don’t know, I’m going to look at all the… We are looking at all of the options.
I don’t know if you guys can say anything, have you heard about who and how the song may be represented on the show? There are rumors going around that performances might take place before the ceremony. Or it might take place at the Academy Museum.
Savan Kotecha: We’ve had meetings with them and they told us they’re trying to figure out versions of both those things and other things. I think they’re just trying to work out the best way to do it for the telecast, but most importantly the safest way to do it, and what performers would feel comfortable and how they would feel comfortable. The last conversation was they’re still figuring out those details. I don’t envy them with the job they have to do, and they seem to be doing it amazingly well and working hard. They just look exhausted.
Let’s talk about the song itself. How did you each get involved in it? How did that process start?
Savan Kotecha: Yeah, I was executive producing the music for the movie, so I had one of the first drafts of the script and all that, and was in conversations with Dave Dobkin and Will Ferrell and Andrew Steele, and so I was already in that process of writing songs and collecting songs. This was sort of the one that we knew had to be cracked in the right way because it was the emotional heartbeat of the movie and the story. And as they were developing the script, even more, realizing how important Sigrit is, and her feelings are to the story, and then these two wonderfully talented people. Me and Rick have worked together before. We’re sort of all a part of a Swedish songwriting mafia, even though I’m not Swedish. I’m the only American in the crew, but me and Rick had had success before with “Bang Bang” and “God Is a Woman,” with Ariana Grande. Max is quite new to our collective, and he came to L.A. with Rick and I was talking to them and getting them briefed on what we’re looking for. If they want to do something, and they so graciously said they would, and there you go.
Rickard Göransson: When Savan called me and he’s like, “I’m about to work on this project for a movie with Will Ferrell, about Eurovision.” I was like, “Yeah, that checks all the boxes. I’m in.” And then the writing, it was obviously this song, like Savan mentioned, they needed a song at the end that would not only have the comical element, but also more serious and emotional tone to it. I love working with Max, and we both like writing songs that create emotions, so we took it from there. Obviously, we were given a lot by the story from the script, about the characters’ journey, and Sigrit, in this case, we aimed to write a song for her as an artist, and how she would feel about things.
Fat Max Gsus: Yeah, that’s very much how it started. We had a couple of different embryos for how it was going to sound and what kind of vibe we wanted, and also the kind of vibe that the directors liked and felt. We had sort of a tonal universe already worked out a little bit before, and then when it all started taking more shape, it started taking more shape when we just started putting our fingers on the piano and imagining what would Sigrit write, what would she feel? How would it sound? What kind of mindset and emotional place is she in?
Savan Kotecha: I think all the guys would agree, all the answers were in the script for us. As with all the songs in the movie, we really approached it like Sigrit is an artist. [We approached it like] when we’re working with a big pop star. We would talk about their problems and what’s going on in their lives and we would help them communicate that in song. And that’s how we thought about it. Sigrit is this person and she’s in love with this person who doesn’t see her because he’s so busy trying to conquer the world or win this contest. I think as COVID has taught us all, the fundamentals that matter and all of that’s the message she wanted to get to him and this was her moment to do that. We thought about that.
I’m honestly very naive about Eurovision itself. I’ve seen clips. I know how it works in general, and I know that there are well-known artists and fan favorites. It’s a universe, in many ways, that people follow and are fans of. Were you cognizant of trying to make the song sound as though it would be a ‘Eurovision-esque song’?
Savan Kotecha: The great thing with Eurovision is there’s this over-the-top production at times and there are these lyrics that sometimes feel Google translated, but at the core, I think most of the songs are really good songs. I think we wanted it to honor Eurovision, rather than make fun of it if that makes sense.
Rickard Göransson: Yes, and growing up in Sweden, Eurovision has always been a part of our culture and it has a special tone to it that I think we, from growing up in Sweden, you can tell. Sometimes we even used that as a term of, “Oh, it sounds Eurovision-y in a way.” It’s almost a special tone to it. I think we used some of that as well. And like Savan said, we really tried to write the songs as well as possible to make them credible as “real songs.”
Fat Max Gsus: Sometimes, when we were trying to nail the other songs of the film, and also with the song, at some points we were like, “Oh yeah, this sounds very, very Eurovision.” Then it was different from what the directors had in mind and we had to go back and forth a little bit, because sometimes it sounded too much like Eurovision, and perhaps sometimes it sounded too little like it. We didn’t aim for either. It kind of had to also adapt to the story of the script and land somewhere where it felt like this fits perfectly.
Rickard Göransson: But also what ended up happening was, when the song, as the song took shape and the directors, and when they heard it, it changed the story, because the original ending was supposed to be a different ending. Savan, if you want to jump in.
Savan Kotecha: Yeah, it was originally going to be a comedic ending. I think David Dobkin wanted an emotional ending, but you don’t know if you can earn that moment until you get a song that works. And yeah, it added to the heart that Rachel McAdams brought to the character already. I think this made them feel that they would earn this emotional ending.
Rickard Göransson: And the song could carry it too, yeah.
I’ve also read that you didn’t initially know what the town hat the song’s title was going to be. So correct me if I’m wrong, but you basically wrote a demo of the song and then they picked the town, and then you made it work?
Fat Max Gsus: That’s true. It was really, it somehow felt like that town name and this song just were sort of drifting nearer and nearer each other in whatever dimension, in the film’s dimension somehow. I’m not either clear about, “Oh, that’s what it’s going to be,” or when that happened.
Rickard Göransson: I remember also when we heard or read the script, we started leaning toward this hometown thing. I think that’s when I felt like this could be something that could speak to a lot of people and resonate with a lot of people all over the world. But like you say, I’m not sure exactly when Husavik came up, but it all came together.
Savan Kotecha: I’m going to go through the script again, the first draft, because people have asked us that question, my mind is literally blank. It was such a busy, crazy time.
Fat Max Gsus: Yeah, but once it was there, it just felt so ultimate. This is what it should be. This is what it is.
Once the town was chosen, and obviously, I’m assuming you had not written parts of the song in Icelandic yet, who was the person then responsible for translating the part that would be in Icelandic, making sure that it worked?
Fat Max Gsus: It was definitely a group effort. Yeah. It was a group effort just writing the whole thing, and then at one point the whole song was in Icelandic, but no one [could] understand it, not even the Icelandic people could.
Savan Kotecha: We had an Icelandic friend try and help us with translating. And I think we even asked, “Is this the right way to say this? Here’s the Google translate version, is this the right way to say that?” And then he would send a voice note of how you pronounce it properly, which we completely butchered. The mayor of Husavik has forgiven us.
Rickard Göransson: Yeah, absolutely.
Fat Max Gsus: The only part that is in Icelandic now is the full village name, the full town name. It’s shortened to Husavik, but it’s actually Husavik, the town by the Thunder River, I think. That’s basically what it is, and then it’s “you and me,” in Icelandic. It’s not that much, but it sounds pretty much.
Were you all part of the team that helped decide who was going to sing Rachel’s part? Did you guys know Molly or I’m sorry, I should say My Marianne?
Savan Kotecha: I can talk about that. Basically, the first song that was written for the movie was a song called “Double Trouble.” I was writing with two friends, one who was Icelandic, and we were like, “Oh, before we play it for the director and Netflix, it would be great to have a girl to sing the female part.” It’s been years since I used a demo singer because I’ve been lucky enough to be with artists when we write. And this time was like, “Oh, we need a demo singer.” My friend was like, “Oh my friend Molly’s in town. She’s a great singer.” And Molly was Molly Sanden, who’s actually, in Sweden is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest local star here, and she was just in L.A. on vacation. She was like, “Yeah, sure. I’ll come over.” And she sang it and she killed it and I didn’t intend that, oh, she’d be the voice. It was just like, “Oh, here’s the girl who’s going to sing it,” because by then they hadn’t cast that part, so we didn’t know if the person would sing or not. We sent it over and they loved her voice so much. As more songs were written, they were like, “Well, why don’t you get that girl? Can she be the voice?” And then they made a deal with her and she ended up being Sigrit’s singing voice. But I must say, we also spent a day with Rachel in the studio at the end, where she sang some vocals on the songs, and just like a lot of things with this movie, a lot of things were sort of kismet. Her timber, even though she’s not a singer-singer, the timbre of her voice was very similar to Molly’s, so you can blend them in at places that you were able to. And the scene where Rachel was actually performing it on the piano in that hotel room, that’s Rachel’s voice, but you kind of wouldn’t know the difference. You’d be like, “Oh, that’s the same singer, but she’s just in the middle of writing the song.” It all worked out, and Molly was incredible, incredible. She’s an incredible singer and it was super fun being in Sweden now, with the success of the movie has been super fun to see her all in the press and on the radio. They always bring it up, every time I’ve heard her in interviews since I’ve been here, they’re bringing up Eurovision, things like that. That’s fun.
How do you guys feel about the town basically doing an Oscar campaign for the song on their own? They’re like, “Screw Netflix and all your millions! We’re going to do our own Oscar campaign for this song.”
Rickard Göransson: It’s absolutely fantastic. And like we said, we were talking to the mayor of Husavik the other day, and I feel so honored the way they’ve embraced the song and turned it into an anthem for their town, and the kids are singing it and it’s just beautiful.
Decades from now, kids will grow up there and not even know it was from a Netflix comedy. They’ll just think it’s the town song.
Savan Kotecha: It’s amazing. It’s incredible. They’re actually closing the schools, they said, the day after the Oscars, so all the town can watch it, stay up that night and watch it.
No pressure to win or anything.
Savan Kotecha: I know. I know. We want it for Husavik. That’s the thing.
Fat Max Gsus: It’s become the main goal, yeah.
Savan Kotecha: We want to do this. We want it for Husavik.
Rickard Göransson: Yeah, it’s their win, yeah, definitely. It’s for them.
“Eurovision” is available worldwide on Netflix