Subwoolfer

Norwegian pop music duo

  • Pop
  • electropop
  • EDM[1]
Years active2021–presentLabelsUniversal MusicMembers
Websitewww.subwoolfer.no

Subwoolfer is a British-Norwegian pop duo formed in 2021. The two members perform in black suits with white shirts with distinctive yellow stylized wolf-head masks and yellow gloves and ties and go by the pseudonyms Keith and Jim. Their identities were publicly revealed on 4 February 2023 as Ben Adams and Gaute Ormåsen, during the final of Melodi Grand Prix 2023. After winning Melodi Grand Prix 2022, they represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with their debut song "Give That Wolf a Banana". The name of the duo is a portmanteau of the words subwoofer and wolf.[2]

History

Subwoolfer performing at the Eurovision 2022 semi-final

On 10 January 2022, the Norwegian public broadcaster, NRK, revealed that Subwoolfer would compete in Melodi Grand Prix 2022, the Norwegian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.[3] Having been selected as an automatically qualified finalist, they were scheduled to showcase their entry "Give That Wolf a Banana" in the third heat of the competition on 29 January.[4] However, their performance was postponed to the fourth heat, due to a positive COVID-19 test.[4] They performed "Give That Wolf a Banana" again in the final on 19 February, and went on to win the competition with 368,106 votes from the public.[5] With their victory, they were selected to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, which was held in Turin, Italy.[6]

On 11 February 2022, Subwoolfer released a Valentine's Day version of "Give That Wolf a Banana", titled "Give That Wolf a Romantic Banana".[7] As of 17 June 2022, "Give That Wolf a Banana" has been streamed more than 20.4 million times on Spotify,[8] with its Valentine edition having been streamed over 918 thousand times.[9]

As Keith and Jim dress in yellow wolf-like masks during performances, the duo's real identities remained undisclosed throughout 2022. Their desired anonymity led to some speculation on social media regarding their identities. At the time, Keith and Jim's speculated identities included the Ylvis brothers, Gaute Ormåsen, Ben Adams and Erik & Kriss.[6][10][11] A fictional origin story about the duo states that they are the "most successful band in our galaxy," and began their career "4.5 billion years ago on the Moon."[3]

On 10 May 2022, NRK filmed DJ Astronaut taking off his helmet, with his identity speculated to be Tix, the Norwegian entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.[12][13][14] This was later denied by the Norwegian head of delegation, Stig Karlsen, and Tix himself. Tix was later revealed to be the Norwegian jury spokesperson for the Eurovision 2022 final.[15]

On 23 May 2022, Subwoolfer announced that "new music [would be] out soon" in a music video on YouTube for their parody of "Grace Kelly" by Mika, titled "Space Kelly" [16] which had gained over 1 million views as of 17 June 2022. On 1 July 2022, Subwoolfer released "Melocoton (The Donka Donk Song)", their first song since the Eurovision Song Contest.[17] It was accompanied by a music video.[18]

On 21 October 2022, Subwoolfer released a new single, "Howling", which features guest vocals from Luna Ferrari, the "sister" of Keith and Jim. The music video for Howling was released on 21 October 2022. In December 2022, Subwoolfer made a short guest appearance on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year after a question on their Eurovision entry was featured in the music round.

On 4 February 2023, Subwoolfer appeared in the final of Melodi Grand Prix 2023, where they took their masks off, and it was confirmed that Keith and Jim were Adams and Ormåsen respectively.[19]

On 3 March 2023, the documentary "Worst Kept Secret: The Subwoolfer Documentary" [20] was released. In the documentary was revealed that DJ Astronaut was played by Ormåsen himself on stage while a stand-in danced in the front row as Jim, excluding the idea of an actual third musician or singer in the group.

Discography

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
NOR
[21]
IRE
[22][23]
LIT
[24]
NLD
[25]
SWE
[26]
UK
[27]
"Give That Wolf a Banana" 2022 4 59 10 54 13 47 Non-album singles
"Give That Wolf a Romantic Banana"
"Melocoton (The Donka Donk Song)"
"Howling"
(featuring Luna Ferrari)
"Having Grandma Here for Christmas"
"Worst Kept Secret" 2023
"We Wrote a Book"
"I Think I Killed Rudolph"
(with a1)
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

References

  1. ^ Grace, Emily (2 March 2022). "Norway: Who Are Subwoolfer?". Eurovoix. Archived from the original on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  2. ^ Adams, William Lee (13 January 2022). "Grandma tastes the best: Do Subwoolfer's "Give That Wolf a Banana" lyrics encourage Covid vaccination?". Wiwibloggs. Archived from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  3. ^ a b Hyttebakk, Jon Marius (10 January 2022). "Disse skal være med i Melodi Grand Prix 2022" [These will participate in the Melodi Grand Prix 2022]. NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  4. ^ a b Strand, Marit Sofie (25 January 2022). "Subwoolfer rammet av korona" [Subwoolfer hit by corona]. NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 14 February 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  5. ^ "Give That Wolf a Banana! Subwoolfer wins MGP 2022 in Norway". Eurovisionworld. 19 February 2022. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  6. ^ a b Khorami, Aida (19 February 2022). "Subwoolfer er Norges bidrag til Eurovision" [Subwoolfer is Norway's contribution to Eurovision]. NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  7. ^ Bird, Lisa (11 February 2022). "Subwoolfer release 'Give That Wolf A Romantic Banana'". ESCXTRA.com. Archived from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Subwoolfer 'Give That Wolf A Banana'". Spotify. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Subwoolfer 'Give That Wolf Romantic A Banana'". Spotify. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  10. ^ Veen, Renske ten (10 January 2022). "Norway: Are Ylvis behind Subwoolfer's Melodi Grand Prix 2022 entry?". Wiwibloggs. Archived from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  11. ^ Muldoon, Padraig (21 February 2022). "Subwoolfer sleuths: Are Ben Adams and Gaute Ormåsen the men behind the masks?". Wiwibloggs. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  12. ^ Kvien, Elise (10 May 2022). "Her blir Tix avslørt som DJ Astronaut" [Here, Tix is revealed as a DJ Astronaut]. NRK (in Norwegian). Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  13. ^ Losen, Johannes Fjeld, Sofie (10 May 2022). "NRK: Tix er DJ Subwoolfer" [NRK: Tix is Subwoolfer DJ]. Se og Hør (in Norwegian). Retrieved 10 May 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "🇳🇴 Norway: TIX Revealed as DJ Astronaut For Subwoolfer's Eurovision Performance". Eurovoix. 10 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  15. ^ Khorami, Aida (13 May 2022). "TIX er ikke astronauten: – Det var et stunt" [TIX is not the astronaut - It was a stunt]. NRK (in Norwegian). Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  16. ^ Subwoolfer - Space Kelly. Subwoolfer. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2022 – via YouTube.
  17. ^ "Melocoton (The Donka Donk Song )". Spotify. Subwoolfer. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  18. ^ Subwoolfer - Melocoton (The Donka Donk Song ) [Official Music Video]. Subwoolfer. 1 July 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022 – via YouTube.
  19. ^ Aubrey, Elizabeth (4 February 2023). "The true identity of Norway's 2022 Eurovision entry Subwoolfer has been revealed". NME. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  20. ^ Worst Kept Secret: The Subwoolfer Documentary. Subwoolfer. 22 March 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2022 – via YouTube.
  21. ^ "Topp 20 Single 2022-09" [Top 20 Singles 2022-09]. VG-lista. Archived from the original on 4 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  22. ^ "Discography Subwoolfer". irish-charts.com. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  23. ^ "IRMA – Irish Charts". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  24. ^ "2022 20-os savaitės klausomiausi (Top 100)" [2022 20-Weekly Most Listened to (Top 100)] (in Lithuanian). AGATA. 20 May 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  25. ^ "Discografie Subwoolfer". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  26. ^ "Veckolista Singlar, vecka 20". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  27. ^ "Subwoolfer | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Tix
with "Fallen Angel"
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
2022
Succeeded by
Alessandra
with "Queen of Kings"
  • v
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ContestsArtists
Winners
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Participation
Artists
Songs
  • "Adieu"
  • "Aldri i livet"
  • "Alle mine tankar"
  • "Alltid sommer"
  • "Alvedansen"
  • "Attention"
  • "Brandenburger Tor"
  • "Casanova"
  • "Do Re Mi"
  • "Duett"
  • "Dukkemann"
  • "Fairytale"
  • "Fallen Angel"
  • "The First Day of Love"
  • "For vår jord"
  • "Give That Wolf a Banana"
  • "Grab the Moment"
  • "Haba Haba"
  • "High"
  • "Hold On Be Strong"
  • "I evighet"
  • "I Feed You My Love"
  • "Icebreaker"
  • "I'm Not Afraid to Move On"
  • "In My Dreams"
  • "Intet er nytt under solen"
  • "It's Just A Game"
  • "Karusell"
  • "Kom sol, kom regn"
  • "La det swinge"
  • "Lenge leve livet"
  • "Living My Life Without You"
  • "Lykken er"
  • "Mata Hari"
  • "Mil etter mil"
  • "Mitt liv"
  • "A Monster Like Me"
  • "Mrs. Thompson"
  • "My Heart Goes Boom"
  • "My Heart Is Yours"
  • "Nocturne"
  • "Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli"
  • "Oliver"
  • "On My Own"
  • "Queen of Kings"
  • "Romeo"
  • "Sámiid ædnan"
  • "San Francisco"
  • "Silent Storm"
  • "Småting"
  • "Solhverv"
  • "Sommer i Palma"
  • "Spiral"
  • "Spirit in the Sky"
  • "Stay"
  • "Stress"
  • "That's How You Write a Song"
  • "Touch My Life (with Summer)"
  • "Ulveham"
  • "Ven a bailar conmigo"
  • "Venners nærhet"
  • "Visjoner"
  • "Voi Voi"
  • Note: Entries scored out signify where Norway did not compete
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International
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