It’s the grand final of Melodi Grand Prix this coming Saturday. The Norwegian public have voted in three heats, one second chance round, and now eight acts remain in the competition hoping to be given the ticket to represent Norway at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. Well, we say eights acts – actually it’s a given that the final is going to be a two horse race. In one corner we have ‘Fairytale’ by Alexander Rybak (pictured right). This qualified directly for the final from the third heat, and viewers instantly fell in love with Alexander’s adorably cute looks, his prancing around the stage pretending to play the fiddle, and also the fact that the song is really good too. It’s by no means our favourite in the competition, but it’s obviously a great song and would probably do really well for Norway should it proceed to Eurovision. And in the other corner we have Tone Damli Aaberge (pictured below left) with ‘Butterflies’. This qualified from heat two, and came with an equally charming performance, a great song with uplifting lyrics, and an attractive lady at the helm!
At the moment, Alexander is looking like the favourite though – all songs from the Melodi Grand Prix have been released for sale, and in the Norwegian iTunes chart, ‘Fairytale’ sits and number one, and ‘Butterflies’ is at number two. Whichever result comes about on Saturday though, it’s clear that Norway have a very good chance of repeating the top five finish that they achieved at last year’s Eurovision – when Maria Haukaas Storeng finished 5th with ‘Hold On, Be Strong’. Maria is presenting the final on Saturday and then will fly to Sweden the following day to begin rehearsals for her participation in Melodifestivalen – she’ll be competing in Heat 4 a week on Saturday.
Our personal favourite in the final eight though, is ‘Find My Girl’ by Alexander Stenerud. It probably won’t win, but we’re hoping for the best anyway. His half ballad, half (gay) club anthem is positively flawless, and will be getting another airing at the scandipop club night tomorrow night.
