Since being let go from Twitter earlier this year, Önnu Jónu Son has been putting all of his energy into music. The single is from the upcoming album The Radio Won’t Let Me Sleep coming out later this year. The song is based on the loss of his mother at a young age. It’s an imagined letter from a parent to a child telling them they have to leave this world. The video was recorded in the south of Iceland and shows a young boy working through loss and ultimately deciding to move on with his life. It was directed by local artist Erlendur Einarsson.
Önnu Jónu Son is the stage name of Haraldur Thorleifsson. Haraldur was active in the Icelandic music scene in the late 90s but took an extended hiatus from music to focus on his alcoholism, followed by a career as a designer, ultimately selling his design agency Ueno to Twitter in 2021.
The name Önnu Jónu Son is a reference to his mother, who he lost when he was eleven years old. Haraldur has struggled with finding a path forward and finding confidence in himself as an artist and a performer. By wearing his mothers name he was able to user her memory, love, support and nurture as protection from any self doubt or fear of external criticism.
Haraldur was born and raised in Iceland. He founded creative agency Ueno in 2014 and sold it to Twitter in 2021. In 2021 he founded Ramp up Iceland, an initiative to build 1500 wheelchair ramps in Iceland. In 2022 he founded Hafnarhaus, the largest co-working space for creative people in Iceland. He started a restaurant, bar and cinema called Anna Jóna in 2023. He has won multiple awards as a designer and creative, he was given the Order of the Falcon, the Icelandic medal of chivalry from the , he was named Business Man of the Year in Iceland in 2019, and he was Person of the Year in Iceland in 2022.
