The dancing is a norwegian dance Hallingdal dance so it is cultural too. We are very proud of him

Fun fact, according to the system they where using that year, it was the song that got the most points ever

The melody and the dancing were spiced up with folk music. He is proof that traditional music can live on.

Fun fact: the dancers were doing a traditional Norwegian dance called Hallingdans at least parts of it was, there was parts specific to the song. Yes the hat is a part of the dance

Rybak is a classicly trained Norwegian-Belarusian musician, the dancers are among the best dancers in Norway (at least of that style at the time). Officially it is the melody that is to be evaluated, but in practice it's often politics (some countries often give eachother good scores), song, dancing, etc

Fun fact. Alexander Rybak audition for Norwegian Idol in 2005 and failed to go threw. The judges thought he was not a good singer 🤣🤣 they should eat their hat!

Alexander Rybak is amazing. My sister was nine in 2009 and was so happy when he won. Me and my sister listened to Fairytale so often in the months/year after and our parents were driven mad😂 Now i listen to it again and all the good feelings rush over me like a nostalgic tsunami❤

Ther is a distinction between a 'singing competition' where an artist's singing ability is judged, and a 'song competition' where it is the quality of the song itself which is judged. For Eurovision, each participating country submits an original song - so it can't have been a hit in their own country prior to thecompetition. The costumes and staging are also important factors in the performance of the song. Not only is the live audience huge- but the programme is aired live across Europe. This year's competition (2023) was watched by 162 million people!

As a Eurovision fan myself, I'm gonna telling you: you stepped into a very right place to make reaction videos. :) The show is lovely, and the level of talents are so unique and cool, hope to see you doing more stuff definitely. Great content!

The violin is so extremely used in Russia/Belarus, Norway & Sweden & Danmark 🎼👍 Btw Alexander Rybak made some amazing song in Russian after he won the Eurovision❤️

This final happened the day before our constitution day, where we met some Americans who asked what was going on. When I told them we were all celebrating the Eurovision victory they believed me

this is my favourite eurovision song ever, this is just a masterpiece honestly!!!

9:37 that stadium is "nothing", the eurovision has viewership of about 162 million, which is about 50% more than the Superbowl

Except for the lyrics being in English, this song is extremely Norwegian and that makes it even more special for us. Because the most famous Norwegian song of all time, is «Take on me», but that has nothing to do with Norwegian culture. This song won _because_ it was Norwegian. You might also check out Alessandra - Queen of Kings. It has many of the same qualities and everyone seems to agree that she should've won this years Eurovision Song Contest. Very strong Scandinavian tones, almost so you can smell the Norwegian taiga.

2009 was a good year in Eurovision! Loved the winner, but also Iceland and Estonia ❤

In the past, it was normal for a song to be in the native language in the national competition, and then have an English one in the finale. Some opted rot not have an English version. No, most song are in English from the start. Also, it was the strings on his bow that snapped, not the violin

The dancers are doing a "Halling" dance. It's a traditional Norwegian folk dance. It could be a good subject for one of your videos.

This guys looks so genuine its adorable

Back then I listened this song everyday. I still love song. Thank you 💖🇫🇮

Norwegian folk dance is just backflips, pushups and hat kicks to most non-Norwegians. Give Tyler a break , he does well as usual :)

This is deserved winner of Eurovision 2009. Top 5 Eurovision song in KZfaq views and Spotify streams. Everybody who follows Eurovision know this song, it's iconic. But still my favourite song of that year is from Estonia.

I like the video when AR sings as the winner and in the middle of the song he shouts out something in russian. Just so much feelings in that!

This song was really the one who revived my trust in Eurovision for some years and I had a list with a lot of eurovision songs from that year and 7-9 years forward. Most of the artists are choosing to sing in English, but there's still many who choose to go with their own languages, but more often than not they do better with English lyrics than local ones. Sometimes the artists perform in their local contests in their local language, but translate the song for the big contest. The audience you see is only the ones that got tickets, the rest of Europe watches live from their home. The Jury is giving thir own points, but the final decission goes to viewers who gets time to vote.

I was 17 in 2009 and absolutely in love with him 😂 this is still one of my favourite Eurovision songs to this day and I actually listen to it all the time - they aren’t allowed to play live in Eurovision so all the strings could be broken he would still have been doing the motions hahahah

I love Alexander Rydak so much. I've been listening to his songs for some years now, and Fairytale is still one of my favourites.

Norwegian lady here. The night Alex won was AMAZING. Ho-ly mo-ly! It was the night before our National Day too, so we joked that we'd gotten a new national anthem :D PS: 8:00 it wasn't just one of his strings that broke. He broke most of them with each performance.

There's a guy called Schlager - Lucas. He has all you need to know. And you can watch all the winners through years and all of Norway's competeting Songs through the all times...

Both the violin play and the dancing is based on Norwegian folk traditions. Cool that he won, but now go listen to ABBA's contribution from 1973 or1974; Waterloo! Real fun, and changed Eurovision Song Contest to a great deal.

He is a treasure,a real artist.

5:14 its Norwegian folk dance

Our best and funniest in all of the Eurovision Contest performances.💞🇳🇴

Loved this reaction. Would be cool to see a some more reactions of Norwegian music. I recommend AURORA, in particular I recommend you to watch her performance of her song Runaway at the Nobel peace price concert. She takes influence from Norwegian folk music in her songs and vocal style which gives her music a unique sound.

Still listen to Fairytale at least 8 times a year. The song always makes my happy 🥰😀🥰!!!!!!!!!!

Yes people in other countries liked it, that's how you win, you can't vote for your own country (and the point-system is balanced so all participating countries have the same "say")

I saw it live on TV and it was AMAZING! Singing, lyrics, performance, costumes simply perfection! And he was so humble and very sympathetic!

YAY! Finally we get some Eurovision! We also won in 85 and 95 too. There is so much good eurovision material. You should check out the flashmob we did when norway hosted in 2010

Alexander Rybak is also the norwegian voice of Hiccup in how to train you dragon

I got to see it in 1988. The young lady from Switzerland sang in French and won it. You've heard of her: Celine Dion. Prior to that, she was building a career in Canada but she had no international exposure. That was what opened up her career and put her on the map, internationally. Pretty sure one of her parents is originally Swiss. Sometimes, the rules are that you have to sing in a native language for your country; that was the case in 1988. Sometimes, you can sing in whatever language you want. In 1974, ABBA won Eurovision, singing in English. That launched their careers, internationally. If you've seen "The Martian," he's disassembling the MAV to the tune of ABBA's "Waterloo;" that was their winning song. These days, it's not just the vocal performance: it's the whole package. Music, dancing, stage production, etc. Eurovision is a HUGE deal over there. Will Ferrell looked into it, some years ago, and loved it. He subsequently did a movie around it; check out the final song "Husavik (My Hometown)." It'll blow your mind.

idk why is it only me or this guy just literally pauses at the best momment which kills the vibe

In my opinion, Fairytale is top song of the whole Eurovision. I love it so much.

You really managed to pick a great song to judge! One of the best 😍

My tip would be taking a look at that very old traditional dance in a video. These guys normally dance around in a circle and are eventually expected to do a high jump and kick a hat off a stick held quite high to impress his girl (...or guy. we're Norway after all). ;)

If you want to watch a powerful and breathtaking Norwegian performance, check out Aurora's "Murder Song" from the Nobel Peace concert. Only Aurora would/could perform in bare feet on a concert like that, at 16!

This was such a good reaction - tak! You should do more ESC reactions :)

So happy that you enjoyed this, it really deserved every single point it got and was such a worthy winner. If you are ever interested in a couple of good eurovision winners from the next door neighbor country (Sweden) I suggest you check out Måns Zelmerlöf "Heroes" and Loreen "Euphoria". Fun eurovision fact: Australia participated in this contest a few times because based on their enormous interest in Eurovision

This is so funny, so American haha. This was very entertaining, and I hope you keep reacting to Eurovision.

I'm hooked on your channel, had to subscribe finally! It helps that you're low key adorable.

i really enjoyed your reaction, i would live if you delved a bit more into the contest. please react to other eurovision songs :)

My friend showed me this 2 years ago and I am still mesmerized by the song!!

eurovision is huge and by far the biggest music contest not only are there a ton watching it in the arena but there are about 100-200 mil people watching it live yearly

Once you go down that Eurovision rabbit hole, there is no going back.. but my goodness Eurovision reactions will get you SO many views, Enjoy!

I loved this song and it still makes me happy whenever I see this performance. It has a kind of nordic folk music vibe to it with the violin and melody.

I saw a clip of this song in reels and honestly i love this song ❤ I listen it almost 5-6 times a day❤

I was at my neighbor's (and friend's) house, and we were busy in the kitchen while the TV was on in the background during the Norwegian contest. Then Alexander came on. We stopped what we were doing, looking at each other in awe. Never heard about this kid, but we knew he'd win. Not just in Norway, but the international one, too. I had no idea that it would set a record in most top scores in ESC history, because - well - it's Norway...

As a Norwegian, I’m proud of Alexander rybak. He’s Norwegian gold.

Yesss keep up the good work, there is plenty of good material to react to 👏👏

I’m glad you found it. This is my favourite ever Eurovision song, and by a very yummy singer.

As a dancer/gymnast yes tumbling can be scary which was the “back flip” that the dancer did and truly it isn’t scary you put so much trust into your self in your first back hand spring that by the time you do layouts there is nothing to fear

You should do more eurovision reactions! :) Huge fanbase out there - so you'll get a lot of views as well.

well the arena is huge but they also perform for around 50 milion people through the television

This song got stuck in my head for 2 weeks

I remember seeing Alexander Rybak on stage about a year prior to his participation in Eurovision. He played the fiddler in a production of "Fiddler on the roof" and he really stood out in that role. Which says a lot because the role of Tevye was played by the great Dennis Storhøi and that man is HARD to upstage!

Alexander Rybak is awesome

A lot of songs in recent years are in English so that they can increase their winning chances, since then most people can understand the lyrics, but because of this you are kinda special if you do it in your native language, so in the last 2-3 years the winners have been people doing it in their native language.

If you want to hear a Norwegian Eurovision winning song in Norwegian, I would recommend Let it Swing by Bobbysocks. It was the first time we won in 1985. Fairytale was the third and last time we won.

This year ESC was so great for me and Germany bc last year we where last place (26/25) and now 11 it even was one day before my B-day

At around 2: 35 in the performance, you can see one of the dancers kicking a hat off a stick. You saw this reference in the "This is Norway" video. The dancing in this is called "Hallingdans", a Norwegian folk dance, you should check that out.

Eurovision is really big, nowadays you can see it from all over the world, and you can vote also for your favorite song. It’s the biggest music competition in the world

Absolutely loved this. Got my vote. Also really loved Heroes Mans Zelmerlow (Sweden) 2015.

Another good song is 2015's winner, 'Heroes', sung by Måns Zelmerlöw of Sweden. It has some amazing visuals too

Yep, the melody is really catchy. As a Norwegian this song was stuck in my head for months

The violin-playing and the Halling-dance in the background is very Norwegian.

Look up Trodlabundin. She is from the Faroe Islands but sings in something that is Ol d Norse or at least similar. Filmed in Norway. Spectacular scenery

Fun fact: the string on his violin did *not* break. What you are seeing is ''hairs'' coming from wear on the violin bow which accumulates when he is playing :)

This got a huge amount of votes . He was cute and talented😅😅😅😅

The criteria given to the jury to rank each song by are: Composition and originality of the song Quality of the performance on stage Vocal capacity of the performer(s) Overall impression of the act I think in 2009 they had only jury votes. Today the results are 50/50 jury votes/ televotes. Each country has its own jury and televoting. Please react to 2006 Eurovision winner, Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah" 😄

8:0 It happens quite often in violin preformances with high notes per second. It also happens with pieces like summer by Vivaldi, and flight of the bumblebee. Usually the strings are quite cheap to restring, and the string is horse hair

Another year Norway won, was in 1985, with Bobbysocks. I was an UN-soldier in Lebanon at that time, well... I had this weekend off, so I was in Eilat diving. That evening, at the hotel, my fellow soldiers sat in the bar, while I found a more quiet place, watching the Eurovision Song Contest, silently talking to a woman (in English) for an hour. When Norway won, I jumped up and shouted to my friends in the bar that Norway won (in norwegian!). The fun part is that the young woman turned towards me and asked (in norwegian); "Are you norwegian?" Yep, she was from Bergen, and we had a very, very nice evening celebrating the win. 😁

Hey Tyler. I believe they still air Eurovision on Logo TV. And I believe they broadcast it on KZfaq now as well.

I highly recommend you watch the other two winning songs from Norway. The first one is in Norwegian, and the second one is almost entirely instrumental, which never happened before or after from any winner. 1985 - Bobbysocks! - La de swinge 1995 - Secret Garden - Nocturne

I love Alexander’s facial expressions with his performance

I remember watching this as a kid and the hat kicking would be my highlight of every performance Idk why but I liked it every time the men managed to kick the hats off

Rybak's song is the 'perfect' Eurovision song. It's not my favorite of all time, and maybe not even my favorite in 2009 but it encapsulates everything about Eurovision plus it's one of the highest voted songs of all time by both juries and the public. The performance is as iconic as the song, and one doesn't outshine the other

I found this song on youtube 6 years ago. You need to watch the video of Alexander and Franziska Wiese sing this. Total chemistry both awesome even though she’s singing in her part in another language. Awesome awesome awesome.

He's a trained violinist actually.🙂

this was such a sweet and genuine reaction i couldn't help but smile like a big dummy lol

Nice 👍 React to the winner of the only world idol ever. Kurt Nilsen, who won Idol in Norway and was back then a plumber won the whole thing (Kelly Clarkson 2nd). His performance first and then comments from the judges from different countries (Simon Cowell was a real bully and Kurt has later said he cried backstage in the toilet b3cause of what was said).

The song is still popular in partys and in some pubs in Norway 😊

You should react more to Eurovison, i think you would really enjoy it. Lots of love from Norway ✨

If you like Norwegian perfomans, we gave worlds best singer right now. Her name is Angelina Jordan. She started to sing at 18 mnd. Now she is 17, and the internet goes bongus over her. Love yor content. Keeper it up. From 57 year hag from Norway

I like your reaction ❤👍

Its the biggest music contest in the world and its the most watched music show in the world. It is broadcast live in more than 140 countries including Australia that now also compete in the Eurovision and have up to 600 million viewers on the final day. It’s the longest living annually tv music song contest ever. Since 1956 annually.

There is a video on all Norway entries in the Eurovision. You should check it out👍🏼

"Infectious," indeed; so is the clap....

It goes hard if it has the right edit or like a perfect scene that fits with the song

Rybak

I think one of the very undervalued aspects of song/performance contests of the scale of Eurovision, is how the people who perform have no retakes, no studio audio tuning, no noise filtering and corrections - it's all just pure live "show us what you've got". Then afterwards you get the released studio versions of the performances of course, but the actual stage shows that don't just push talent, but also emphasize unique qualities and daring to do something new tends to get highly valued (note Finland's winning song from 2006 for a perfect example haha). I'm not personally super invested in the Eurovision, even though my family has traditionally watched it for most of the years. But I truly appreciate that original productions of this scale still exist and stay true to their origins and have kept them for decades.

More Eurovision please! ❤

The fiddle he use is called a Hardanger fiddle. It is Norway's national instrument.

in 2009 I won the audiance prize at a festival in norway called Rock Mot Rus.. ( Rock against Drugs is english translation)