What Husavik Lyrics By Savan Kotecha Really Mean

Savan Kotecha is an Indian-American songwriter who is the man behind a few of your favorite songs — and you probably don't even realize it. His songs have earned him at least 17 Grammy nominations, 18 ASCAP Awards, and sold more than 375 million copies (via Elle).

In 2021, Kotecha started gaining notice for penning yet another hit: "Husavik (My Hometown)," the satirical ballad sung by Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. The song is unique for somehow managing to bring levity to a comedic moment — which earned the song an Oscar nomination. The inspiration for "Husavik (My Hometown)" came from Kotecha's marriage. 

The songwriter has been married to a Swedish woman for a least 15 years, which helped him strike exactly the right balance for the song. He explained to Variety that he was already familiar with how seriously Swedes take Eurovision contests, and that gave him an edge when it came to penning the tune. 

"To be honest, I know Eurovision very well, because my wife used to force me to watch Eurovision before when we lived in Sweden for 15 years," he recalled. "So to me as an American watching Eurovision, all the songs felt comical back then, for the most part. But the Swedes, I remember, took it really seriously, and that's what we kind of wanted to do."

Savan Kotecha told Variety that while the film is a comedy, he still wanted the song to be meaningful given there are still real, human moments in it. Kotecha says he consulted the script, and when he needed help, he collaborated with director David Dobkin about what the song should be like.

"I treated each character like an artist, like if I was going to go in with a big artist. So the script had a lot of answers for me, as far as who Lars and Sigrit were, and Sigrit's arc and what that should be and what she should be saying," he explained. "Because that's the moment where she's confessing that all she needed was him, and he wanted this big world and she went along with it, but really she would have been fine with just him."

Dobkin further explained to Vulture that the collaboration worked because the song needed to be balanced. He noted, "It's okay if it's funny, but it has to be really good music. It has to still be great and just kitschy enough to be Eurovision, because that's part of what's fun about Eurovision."

Ultimately, Kotecha explains the song is about the feelings Rachel McAdams' character has about her home. The songwriter reveals, "We wanted it to feel like this is who she is. She loves where she comes from. She's proud of it. She's not trying to prove anything."