Norway’s Erling Haaland’s goals didn’t always involve soccer. Hear him rap
Norwegian superstar striker Erling Haaland, who will take the World Cup stage at Hard Rock Stadium Saturday against England, is a man of many talents.
Before the 25-year-old blond behemoth was a meme king and dumping in goal after goal with various parts of his body, he was an aspiring rapper.
In 2016, the teenager, who went by the stage name Lyng, dropped a track called “Kygo Jo” with two fellow footballers in a group called the Flow Kingz. The title referenced famed DJ Kygo from their Scandinavian country and “yo” means “yeah!”
A decade later, the man in the title (born Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll) announced on social media he would re-release Haaland’s song if he scored against Brazil on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The six-foot-five Manchester United standout delivered, not once, but twice late in the game, stunning the crowd and possibly ending Neymar Jr.’s illustrious soccer career.
Kygo, who has worked with such names as Ed Sheeran (”Firestone”), Imagine Dragons “(Stars Will Align”) and Selena Gomez (“It Ain’t Me”), made good on his promise. The next day, the trop-house producer announced the deed was done, and a remix of the Viking trio’s catchy work — with cheers of the World Cup crowd peppered in — was born.
Haaland reshared the news on Instagram, along with a few throwback pictures of his hip-hop days. The question posed to his 60 million followers: “Does this mean I’m officially an artist now?”
In the comment section was someone handling the account of YouTube, where the video is racking up thousands of views: “Scores bangers, now makes them too.”
At least we know if the whole futbol thing doesn’t pan out, Haaland can always fall back on music. But we’re going to need you to keep your day job a little longer, big guy.
“Every morning you have two choices,” reads his Insta bio. “Continue to sleep with your dreams or wake up and chase them.”
