Silvía Night is a fictional, satirical character on Sjáumst með Silvíu Nótt, an Icelandic comedy show of the television channelSkjár einn. The character was invented by Gaukur Úlfarsson and Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir; the latter plays Silvía Night. Silvía Night interviews people in real-life situations. Before the show made its début on TV, and when Silvía was still unknown, she used to upset the people she interviewed dramatically with her outrageous behaviour. Silvía Night was Iceland's participant in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. Her antics, both onstage and offstage, created controversy and garnered international media attention. Her album Goldmine was released in April. It topped the Official Icelandic Albums chart on 23 April 2007.
The character
Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, temporary singer of the band Ske and a young and unknown actress, and Gaukur Úlfarsson, decided to invent a character to adopt as an alter ego that brought out all the worst elements of human behaviour in modern society. Silvía's personality is highly affected by narcissism, self-centeredness and she sees herself as the most famous and talented person walking on the planet Earth. Her full Icelandic name is Silvía Nótt Sæmundsdóttir and she was born on 20 February 1973. Silvía originally means "wood nymph" and Nótt simply means "night". The name was probably not meant to have any learned connotations, but is rather typical for Icelandic pop culture Christening fashions of the new century. Silvía's boyfriend is the Argentinian alpha male Romario Hugo Estevez, performed by Icelandic actor Björn Thors. Silvía's favorite foods are sushi and feta cheese and she aims for a career as a model, singer and a movie star. Her use of language includes heavy slang and she frequently uses English words and phrases while speaking in Icelandic, not always correctly.
Reception
Silvía Night has greatly influenced many people in Iceland. Her unique style and behaviour is often imitated by loyal preteen fans. However, she has been criticised greatly for being vulgar and lewd, creating her image of nouveau riche. In February 2006, Silvía was voted Iceland's sexiest woman by the audience of the nationalradio stationRás 2. Ágústa Eva came in fourth place. Silvía Night received an Edda Award in 2005 for the Best Comical Show of the Year and as the best fictional character of the Year.
Silvía Night was Iceland's participant in Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Congratulations", after winning the Icelandic national finals. The song was originally in Icelandic, called "Til hamingju Ísland". The Icelandic lyrics, heavily filled with slang, talk about how lucky Icelanders are that she was born in Iceland and that she is going to win the contest, because she's better than all the other contestants. The song was controversial because it was being distributed on the Internet before the competition, which was contrary to the rules of the competition. Silvía Night was nonetheless not banned from the competition. This decision by RÚV has been criticised, with one participating song writer filing a complaint, but the case was dismissed. Silvía's song came 13th in the semi-final held on 18 May in Athens, leaving her out of the finals on 20 May.
Controversies
During her presence in Athens, Silvía behaved provocatively and rudely to technicians and journalists, calling them "Fucking amateurs." During the press conference she ordered the journalists not to look her in the eyes. One of them did and she ordered her "bodyguard" to take her out. The bodyguard obeyed and carried the "journalist" on his shoulders. She shouted on stage "Fuck you, fucking retards" which was misreproduced as "fucking Greeks" by the media; the singer was described as actually problematic and rude and that she had offended Greece and its people. Silvia also claimed the only reason Carola qualified for the Grand Final was that she had sex with the head of the EBU in a car before the competition. Asked if she was serious, she replied "Yes. I saw them in a car right outside my hotel room. What she's done is terrible... it's her fault I didn't qualify. She's been copying me ever since I got here". Another controversy surrounds the English lyrics to her Eurovision song, "Congratulations". In the first verse the lyrics say "The vote is in, they say I win", however in the video and at rehearsals she sang "The vote is in, I'll fucking win". According to Eurovision rules, songs shouldn't contain foul language. Silvía Nótt has personally responded on her website, that she will "fucking say what fucking ". In the semi-finals, on 18 May, she did not use the expletive, instead she sang "I'll freaking win". In her appearance for the semi-finals, a great part of the audience and artists from the other countries reacted by booing her, not tolerating her supposedly provocative and unprofessional behaviour. The song didn't make it to the finals. Silvía staged some photo-ops to indicate her 'regret'. She pretended to slap her boyfriend, and then threatened to jump from a bridge. Then she started yelling foul language and spitting at the journalists. At one point she yelled, "Ungrateful bastards! You vote some ugly people from Finland that don't even have real make-up artists, and you don't vote for me because I'm not a slut from Holland and I'm not an ugly, fucking, old bitch from Sweden!". A journalist said to her, "This is not too good, why are you saying this?", but she replied with a "Fuck you!". Then she said "Somebody has been telling lies about me, and I think it is you!", pointing to a random journalist, and added, "Your television station is telling everybody I hated Greece and I said that they're ugly and I never said it and you are a slut and I hate you! I will sue you, and I will sue the competition, and you will all go to jail!" Silvia Night's tantrum also trended on YouTube getting 1,300,000 views within four days.
Goldmine
Silvía's debut studio album was titled Goldmine. According to her official website she signed one of the largest record contracts in Icelandic music history. Goldmine topped the Official Icelandic Albums chart for two weeks, starting on 23 April 2007. The album also produced two charting singles, "Thank You Baby" and "Goldmine".
