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Erling Haaland is now known as a goal fiend, a cowboy and a chart-topping music artist.
If the Manchester City star wasn't already popular, the 2026 World Cup has skyrocketed the Norwegian striker's profile even further. So far that fans discovered a rap song that he made back in 2016.
A teenage Haaland, under the stage name Lyng, joined forces with two of his Norway teammates, Erik Botheim and Erik Tobias Sandberg, to create a group called Flow Kingz. They released a song called "Kygo Jo," where they each trade verses in Norwegian over a snappy beat that feels like sunshine. They even created a music video for it with basic choreography and Haaland performing in front of a grill wearing a hoodie with the 100 emoji all over it. At the time of publication, the video has 22 million views on YouTube.
Multi-platinum deejay and producer Kygo, who also hails from Norway, heard about the song and promised to put his spin on it if Haaland scored in the round of 16 match against Brazil. On Sunday, July 5, the striker delivered not once, but twice in Norway's first-ever World Cup knockout win.
Kygo kept his promise and, two days later, released "Kygo Jo (Kygo Remix)" featuring some epic buildups and bass drops over the original track. On his X page, he posted a mini music video of Haaland highlights and the Norway supporters' rowing tradition.
Haaland posted an Instagram gallery of the song's cover art, a screenshot of himself from the original music video and an old team photo with his friends, calling the remix a "Made it moment!"
Tobias Sandberg also shared the cover art for the track on his Instagram and declared a "Flow Kingz comeback."
Kygo said on X on Thursday, July 9 that the remix had reached the top of the Spotify Top 50 chart in Norway. He posted a screenshot of the chart and a screenshot of a video call with Haaland and expressed surprise at the striker's unearthed rap talent, putting him in the athlete-artist conversation with Memphis Depay, Clint Dempsey aka Deuce and Rafael Leão who raps under the alias WAY 45.
".@Erling being a no. 1 artist in Norway was not on my bingo card for 2026," he wrote.
The less surprising list that Haaland might top in Norway's historic World Cup run is the most goals of the tournament. He has scored seven times and is second to Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi's eight goals in the Golden Boot race.
His quest continues as Norway faces England in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 11 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is the Erling Haaland song that's gone viral? 'Kygo Jo' rap given new life in World Cup
Continue reading...
If the Manchester City star wasn't already popular, the 2026 World Cup has skyrocketed the Norwegian striker's profile even further. So far that fans discovered a rap song that he made back in 2016.
A teenage Haaland, under the stage name Lyng, joined forces with two of his Norway teammates, Erik Botheim and Erik Tobias Sandberg, to create a group called Flow Kingz. They released a song called "Kygo Jo," where they each trade verses in Norwegian over a snappy beat that feels like sunshine. They even created a music video for it with basic choreography and Haaland performing in front of a grill wearing a hoodie with the 100 emoji all over it. At the time of publication, the video has 22 million views on YouTube.
Multi-platinum deejay and producer Kygo, who also hails from Norway, heard about the song and promised to put his spin on it if Haaland scored in the round of 16 match against Brazil. On Sunday, July 5, the striker delivered not once, but twice in Norway's first-ever World Cup knockout win.
Kygo kept his promise and, two days later, released "Kygo Jo (Kygo Remix)" featuring some epic buildups and bass drops over the original track. On his X page, he posted a mini music video of Haaland highlights and the Norway supporters' rowing tradition.
Haaland posted an Instagram gallery of the song's cover art, a screenshot of himself from the original music video and an old team photo with his friends, calling the remix a "Made it moment!"
Tobias Sandberg also shared the cover art for the track on his Instagram and declared a "Flow Kingz comeback."
Kygo said on X on Thursday, July 9 that the remix had reached the top of the Spotify Top 50 chart in Norway. He posted a screenshot of the chart and a screenshot of a video call with Haaland and expressed surprise at the striker's unearthed rap talent, putting him in the athlete-artist conversation with Memphis Depay, Clint Dempsey aka Deuce and Rafael Leão who raps under the alias WAY 45.
".@Erling being a no. 1 artist in Norway was not on my bingo card for 2026," he wrote.
The less surprising list that Haaland might top in Norway's historic World Cup run is the most goals of the tournament. He has scored seven times and is second to Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi's eight goals in the Golden Boot race.
His quest continues as Norway faces England in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 11 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is the Erling Haaland song that's gone viral? 'Kygo Jo' rap given new life in World Cup
Continue reading...
