From Iceland — Hildur Guðnadóttir Wins Grammy for Joker

Hildur Guðnadóttir Wins Grammy for Joker

Published March 15, 2021

John Pearson
Photo by
Timothée Lambrecq

Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir won a Recording Academy Grammy Award yesterday for her soundtrack to Joker, which she accepted over a video link with the ceremony in Los Angeles.

The accolade was awarded in the category of Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media. Hildur was also nominated in the Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella category for Bathroom Dance, but didn’t win this time.

Other Icelanders who narrowly missed out on a Grammy were Daníel Bjarnason and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, who achieved a nomination in the Best Orchestral Performance category for the album Concurrence.

The new silverware will have to fight for space on Hildur’s trophy shelf—already groaning under the weight of an Oscar, a Bafta and a Golden Globe for her work on Joker—as well as her Grammy from last year for music in the HBO series Chernobyl.

Hildur gave a short acceptance speech—see below—in which she thanked her various colleagues, collaborators and The Recording Academy.

The Grapevine Award for Least Effort Put Into Attempting To Pronounce An Icelandic Name goes to American comedian Bill Burr, who announced Hildur’s win—see below. Perhaps he’d be interested in the Icelandic pronunciation lessons offered here recently by The Grapevine’s Editor-in-Chief!

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