The Story Behind “Little Talks,” an Improbable Hit from Of Monsters and Men

The odds for an Icelandic band to turn one of their songs into an international hit are long. For a band from an island of roughly 400,000 people to create one of the biggest hits of the early 2010s—and to do it with their first-ever single—would be a nearly impossible feat. Of Monsters and Men, the six-piece folk-rock band from just outside of Reykjavík, accomplished just that, and no one may have been more surprised than them. “Little Talks” was one of the most popular rock songs in the U.S. in 2012, but it was far from inevitable that more than a handful of people would ever hear it on this side of the Atlantic.

It’s not only the path that “Little Talks” took to becoming a major hit that was strange. The song’s premise—a conversation between a deceased man and his elderly widow—is unusual enough, but that it was written by a pair of early twentysomethings makes it all the more novel. Here is how Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson, who front Of Monsters and Men, created a memorable debut single, and how it became an international sensation with a little bit of unexpected help.

Inspired by An Apartment

Of Monsters and Men was in its infancy when Hilmarsdóttir and Þórhallsson wrote “Little Talks” in 2009. Just prior to that, Hilmarsdóttir performed solo under the moniker Songbird, but she added musicians to her act until it became a full-fledged band. In an interview for the video series Top 2000 a go go, Hilmarsdóttir and Þórhallsson said “Little Talks” was one of the first songs they had written together.

The inspiration for the song came from an apartment that Hilmarsdóttir had once lived in. In the Top 2000 a go go interview, she described her former abode as reminding her of “a grandma and grandpa’s house.” Between the experience of living in that apartment and having grown up close to several older relatives, Hilmarsdóttir started to build a story about a conversation between “lovers who are at the end of a phase in their life,” though one of them was no longer actually alive. The story had its roots in Hilmarsdóttir wondering what it was like for her elderly relatives when their partners were no longer around.

In “Little Talks,” Hilmarsdóttir sings from the perspective of the grieving widow, and Þórhallsson sings the part of her reassuring but absent husband. The nature of their loving relationship is captured throughout the song, but especially in the opening lines of the second verse.

There’s an old voice in my head that’s holding me back
Well, tell her that I miss our little talks
Soon it will be over and buried with our past

A Viral Video and a Phone Call

Nearly a year before the 2011 release of the band’s debut album My Head Is an Animal, “Little Talks” received some international exposure. In October 2010, Seattle-based radio station KEXP recorded and released a video of a live performance of the song that originated from Þórhallsson’s living room. When the album and single were released, both gained popularity in the band’s native Iceland.

“Little Talks” would not gain traction in the U.S. until a radio station in Philadelphia started to give it airplay. A fan of the song in Iceland called a friend who was a DJ at Radio 104.5 and sent him a copy of “Little Talks.” Once the station started playing the song, its popularity took off, and it debuted on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart in January 2012. Three months later, it would make it to the Billboard Hot 100.

While getting the song in the hands of a DJ in a major market was an important step towards “Little Talks” becoming a hit in the U.S., it doesn’t fully explain why it caught on with so many listeners. Þórhallsson told The Guardian he thought the sonic similarity between Of Monsters and Men and the British folk-rock band Mumford & Sons had a lot to do with it. He explained, “The timing was right. Mumford beat the path and other bands that sound like them got to America, too.”

The Impact of “Little Talks”

Of Monsters and Men’s first single is still their most popular, both in Iceland and the U.S. It topped the Icelandic singles chart and was the most popular song in Iceland for all of 2011. “Little Talks” reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart and No. 20 on the Hot 100. It ranked seventh on the year-end Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart for 2012 and settled in at No. 65 on the year-end Hot 100 for 2013. The multi-Platinum song has sold more than 7 million units in the U.S.

My Head Is an Animal spent 107 weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 6. The album was certified Double Platinum in October 2023.

There are currently fewer than 700 songs that have been streamed at least 1 billion times on Spotify, and “LIttle Talks” is one of them. The odds of any given song getting that many listens is minuscule. Then again, if any song has enough appeal to find an audience under the most challenging of circumstances, it’s “Little Talks.”

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