Birkir Blær Go On – Icelandic Soul Meets Stockholm Swagger

From the North with Soul

Some voices carry weather. Birkir Blær carries soul, grit, and whatever’s been brewing in the icy winds of Akureyri. Now based in Stockholm, Birkir brings all that northern fire into Go On, his latest release dropped on April 4. He’s 24, almost 25, and already seasoned like he’s lived five lifetimes in studios, green rooms, and festival stages.

This track comes packed with the pulse of blues, the heartbeat of R&B, and that soul thing you can’t fake. Birkir moves beyond any genre cage, and that’s exactly what makes his sound so compelling. He follows the music wherever it leads. Sometimes smooth, sometimes raw, always human. Go On hits with clarity and carries its own pulse.

Stockholm Stages, Swedish Idol, and the 6-Million Club

As far as I’m concerned, Birkir plays music like most people breathe. Since winning Swedish Idol in 2021, he’s been everywhere the real music moves. Swedish TV, radio, online platforms, and music festivals, including Lollapalooza Stockholm. His Spotify numbers stretch close to 6 million streams, and that’s just scratching the surface of the noise he’s made across Iceland and Sweden. He drops on with the EDM’s Weightless in 2021 – amazing outcome. Then came Thinking About You in 2023, followed by Leaders the year after, each one adding a new layer to his evolving sound. There’s plenty to listen, hear and feel.

Concerts? Countless. Performances? Constant. Birkir operates across borders and genres with the ease of someone who knows his path without needing a map. Influences like Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway, Lauryn Hill, Bruno Mars, Daniel Caesar, and Anderson .Paak echo through his style. There’s also a certain poetic respect for Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, an album Birkir calls his favorite, straight up.

Go On – A Writing Camp Jam with Icelandic Firepower

The story behind Go On is pure vibe. It was born at the Airsongs writing camp hosted by Iceland Sync – less boardroom, more playground for musicians. The session morphed into a jam led by Birkir, Baldvin, and Halldór. They let the groove lead. They followed. What came out of that room had heat, rhythm, and no filter. It wasn’t planned to death or polished into plastic. It had life in it. The kind that shows up when the right people are in the right room with no one watching the clock. It moved because it was meant to, not because someone told it to.

The track was recorded and produced by Birkir himself, alongside Baldvin Hlynsson, Halldór Gunnar Pálsson, and Birkir’s brother, Hreinn Orri Óðinsson. Writing credits include the crew plus Helga Soffía Ólafsdóttir. Sæþór Kristjánsson took the mixing desk, and Glenn Schick did the mastering work, bless him. All hands on deck, no passengers.

As for the cover art – imagine Birkir as a kid, locked in at the piano with oversized headphones and a red scarf that says everything without trying. No posing, no pretending. Just a moment caught in the middle of becoming something real.

Let It Play

Go On walks in like it’s got history in its bones. It sits with you, steady and unshaken, telling stories the way old records used to – one line at a time, with no rush, all heart. Birkir Blær continues to build a catalog that speaks in full sentences and lived experiences. The kind of music that lingers, the kind that knows its own name. You don’t have to scroll far to find it. Just press play and go on with it.