The Soundtrack to Netflix’s ‘Eurovision’ Is Catchy Pop Paradise

Evan Romano

June 29, 2020 at 3:18 PM·3 min read

Somewhat quietly last week, Netflix released Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. But you can't keep a movie starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams (along with thrilling supporting performances from Dan Stevens, Pierce Brosnan, and, unexpectedly, Demi Lovato) quiet for long. Powered by the catchy, funny, and instantly meme-able songs and soundtrack at the film's core, it's instantly become a hit, jumping to the top of Netflix's Top 10 and simultaneously catching the internet's attention.

It helps, too, that it's a good movie. While Ferrell has had a few strong premises in the last half decade (The House, Holmes and Watson), the movies themselves have ranged from underwhelming to complete disaster. In Eurovision, the former SNL and Anchorman star teams up with director David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers) and returns to a familiar format of his successes—think Blades of Glory or Talladega Nights, but with a singing contest instead of Ice Skating or NASCAR. And, thankfully for viewers looking for big laughs, it works.At the very least, it's Ferrell's best comedy since 2013 (when Anchorman 2 was released), and one could make a strong case that it's his best in a decade (The Other Guys was released in Summer 2010).

It might come as a surprise to many United States viewers of Eurovision that the contest depicted in the movie, is, in fact, based on a real European singing competition—and its one that's been held every single year since 1956 (with the exception of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The opening scene where Erick (Brosnan) and Lars (Alfie Melia, a young version of Ferrell's character) are watching ABBA perform "Waterloo" on TV is actual footage of the Swedish pop legends participating in the 1974 edition of the contest.

By and large, that's where the real music in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga stops; the rest is originally recorded specifically for the movie, in a sort of Pitch Perfect/American Idol mash-up. Worth noting? Ferrell did his own singing, but the movie's other key performers, Rachel McAdams and Dan Stevens, did not. The vocals for McAdams (credited on Spotify as her character 'My Marianne') were provided by Molly Sandén, a Swedish pop singer who appeared in the real Eurovision contest four times, losing each one. Stevens' character's vocals are credited to Swedish singer Erik Mjönes.

Below, we've gathered all the songs from the movie together in one place, so you can jam out to the made-up and very catchy pop songs all you want.