In the annals of Rock ‘n’ Roll, there have been several renowned brother acts, such as the Jacksons, the Everly Brothers, and the Bee Gees. Marcus & Martinus, who represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest this year, are identical twins, not just brothers.
On Saturday, May 11, the well-known identical twin performers will kick off the grand final with a spirited rendition of their hit song, Unforgettable.
Below is an interview between the 22-year-old siblings from Norway and Billboard:
Despite your youth, you have a decade of experience and are seasoned veterans. How did you begin your career in music?
Martinus: We wanted always to be football players. That was our dream, and then we started singing together when we were 10 years old. By the age of 12, we had to choose. Should we be serious about music? Should we go all in as football players? Our dad said to us, “Music is fun but football is also very fun.” But music has worked out very well.
Marcus: When we were six, we started in a children’s choir and had a music teacher who made us fall in love with the music. She did an amazing job and three years later, when we were done in the children’s choir, we wanted to do more but we didn’t know how. Then an opportunity came in 2012 when we joined the competition for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and we won.
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You’ve participated in several music competitions. How do you feel about vocalists competing with each other?
Marcus: When we did [Junior Eurovision] we didn’t have any pressure because we were kids and it was for fun and everyone loved everyone there. When we did The Masked Singer no one knew who was under the masks, so we didn’t have any pressure. But then Eurovision is something else. Here you are representing a country and people will have opinions, because they really want their country to win. We try not to read the comments but it’s difficult not to because they are everywhere.
Martinus: We are very competitive people. We play a lot of football, so it’s in our blood that we want to win all the time and we’re brothers as well, so we compete against each other in everything. So I think this year we are the most competitive people in the whole competition, but it’s nice because you’re very focused when you’re on the stage and are very ready. I think that’s just a good thing.
What is the genesis of your Eurovision entry, “Unforgettable”?
Marcus: We wrote it from scratch, just like “Air” [the brothers’ entry in Melodifestivalen 2023]. We were inspired by “Air” because a lot of Eurovision fans really liked that song and said if it weren’t for Loreen [and her song “Tattoo”], it would have gone straight through [to Eurovision]. People said they really wanted us to try again. “Air” went well [placing second to Loreen] so we thought we should do something similar, but even more Eurovision. We wanted to make something rougher and tougher, but an upgrade from “Air.” As you know, we’ve been on a stage for 12 years. We want to show that experience on stage.
What is the dynamic of being a brother act?
Martinus: There’s a special bond between us. It’s something else when random people get together and start a band rather than being brothers, because we have this special connection and we know each other. I’m the person in the world that knows him best and the same with him with me, so we have that special connection when we are on the stage. We can feel each other’s energy and we can give each other energy and I think that’s the reason why we have gone so far in our career. We work very well together, even though we’re brothers and fight, but I think that is healthy. We’re brutally honest with each other, which also helps us to get better, because you can say, “You were awful today. What happened?” That helps us a lot and our very special connection helps us as artists as well.
