How I Fell In Love With: Silvia Night (Silvía Nótt)

In October 2003, my boyfriend and I flew to Iceland. It was something I had been wanting to do since junior high when I first become obsessed with the remote country, most likely due to my fascination with its most famous export at the time, Alt-Rock band The Sugarcubes. Travelling to Iceland had normally seemed prohibitively expensive, but after signing up for Icelandair's e-mail list, I discovered a great package deal for Iceland Airwaves, a huge rock music festival that takes place each year in Reykjavik. Most of my blog readers have had to hear me tell this story over and over again, so I won't proceed any further with details of the trip, other than to say that it was then that I first became aware of Silvia Night. From the cover of the in-flight magazine to huge billboards all over town, Silvia was everywhere, with her red, black and white striped hair, drag-queen makeup and outrageous garb. But what was she? It was hard to determine why she was so famous or what she had done to become so omnipresent.
Turns out, Silvia Night had her own TV show in Iceland, where she would interview various people but would overshadow her guests with her self-obsessed antics.
While in Iceland, I checked out a local band that I had found online, called Ske. I noticed that the girl singer in the band had similar hair to Silvia Night and I think I may have even mentioned this to her when I met her at one of the various venues where Airwaves was taking place.
Anyway, I went back home and told some of my friends about this crazy woman from Iceland, but with nothing more than a handful of pictures I had downloaded, they had little reason to get excited. I even considered going as Silvia Night for Halloween, but considering the amount of work I would have had to put into the costume and the fact that most likely not one soul on Santa Monica Blvd. would know who I was, I decided against it.
Flash forward nearly a year and I read online that Silvia had won the Icelandic Eurovision Finals with her song "Congratulations." I found the video for the song and I about died! It was HILARIOUS. The song and video was like a big parody of teeny-bopper girl stars, most of all Britney Spears, but very much tongue-in-cheek. In the video, Silvia paraded around in a multitude of completely ridiculous outfits with glitter, long eyelashes, and huge wigs.
I played the video for my friends, and soon we had a small contingent of LA Silvia Night fans.
That August, I was lucky enough to go back to Iceland as my band was chosen to play at Reykjavik Pride. When we got there, the country was officially in a state of Silviamania! The song "Congratulations" was everywhere; you couldn't go into a bar and not hear it. Everyone knew the words. Even the drag queens from Norway had worked up a routine to "Congratulations," complete with a faithfully replicated costume. Although Silvia herself was not at Pride, her drag-queen doppelganger more than made up for it.
As Silvia progressed through the Eurovision experience, her larger-than-life persona was, for many, the highlight of the semi-finals in Greece. Her obnoxious and egotistical behavior won her fans and enemies alike. It wasn't until the controversy surrounding her use of a expletive in the lyrics for "Congratulations" (strictly against Eurovision regulations) had taken media coverage of her to a fever pitch when it was finally widely revealed that Silvia Night was not a real person, but rather a character played by Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir. Turns out that Agusta had been a temporary singer in the band Ske - so, I had in fact met and talked with Silvia Night all the while not even knowing that I was. Silvia is meant to be a satire of current girl celebrities of questionable talent, and a comment on the worst aspects of modern society.
Which brings me to why I am so in love with her!
Silvia seems to walk a fine line between being a spoof on "actress/singers" such as Spears, Paris Hilton, etc... and actually imitating these people. Her recently released debut album, "Goldmine" is actually a very solid pop album, short on novelty songs and not too far removed from the sound and flavor of the aforementioned "artists" current works. Unless one really listened to the lyrics and/or watched the video for the lead single "Thank You Baby", one may just lump Night in the same category as Spears and Hilton.
While Silvia most certainly started out as sort of an Icelandic female counterpart to Ali G and Borat (she even took her TV show to Japan where she offended many people by playing up stereotypes of Asian people), she has certainly moved into a realm that is much closer to bidding on fame rather than mocking it. Is she trying to infiltrate the media by smoothing out her character's rougher edges, or is Agusta Eva becoming Silvia Night?
Watching from afar, it's difficult to tell, yet extremely entertaining to speculate upon. Without the benefit of understanding the Icelandic language or having seen a single episode of The Silvia Night Show, it's nearly impossible to really get to the bottom of the character of Silvia Night and the actress who portrays her. As a lover of all things pop and campy, however, I find Silvia Night to be a godsend.
I purchased "Goldmine" on an Icelandic digital music website (www.tonlist.is) and it hasn't left my player now for days, and will probably be my personal feel-good record of the (indian) summer. It's got everything from girly-glam rock (title track Goldmine) to pop with just the slightest r'n'b flavor (Right Now) to a rousing distorted electro cover of Madonna's Material Girl. The last song on the album, The Gospel of Silvia Night, is simultaneously bombastic and over the top, as well as just being pretty and fun.
I highly recommend anyone who appreciates kitsch, satire, and pop - check out Silvia Night! You won't be disappointed.
www.silvianight.com