On March 14th, Norway will hold their annual Melodi Grand Prix, and select their entry to the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest.
Today Norwegian broadcaster NRK released all of the 11 songs in full, having previously teased snippets last month. There are some corkers, there are some stinkers. There are a couple of potential Eurovision winners, and a few Scandipop tracks that could be hits outside of the contest. There are songs we’ll be playing long after Melodi Grand Prix has ended, and there are songs that we already never want to hear again.
Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix, ladies and gentlemen!
Here are the eleven songs (and here’s the full album on Spotify);
Alexandra Joner – Cinderella
Composers: Erik Smaaland, Kristoffer Tømmerbakke, Thea Oskarsen
Out of all of the eleven artists, it’s Alexandra Joner that we’ve featured most on Scandipop previously – check out all of her previous releases. ‘Cinderella’ is an instant, r&b flavoured pop number. A contemporary song, the kind of which is sort of untested at Eurovision. We could imagine this doing well for Norway in the contest, but we can’t see Norwegians voting it as their winner, despite it being one of the best of the lot.
Contrazt – Heaven
Composers: Jan Lysdahl, Jacob Collin Launbjerg
A hugely popular dansband, despite only forming in 2005. ‘Heaven’ is massively dated though, and not even in a charming away. It’s the most basic form of dansband music, and in no way representative of the best that the genre has to offer. And there’s not a chance that the Norwegian voters won’t fail to see through that.
Erlend Bratland – Thunderstruck
Composers: Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Erlend Bratland
This chap won Norway’s Got Talent back in 2008, and had a successful year following that. But he’s been quiet for some time. For MGP he teams up with the songwriting duo who composed Robin Stjernberg’s ‘You’, which won Melodifestivalen 2013. And ‘Thunderstruck’ doesn’t sound a million miles away from that either. It’s one of the strongest songs in the line-up and we can’t wait to hear him do it live. He’s got a massive voice and he’s been given an equally massive melody with which to show it off.
Ira Konstantinidis – We Don’t Worry
Composers: Øyvind Blikstad, Bjarte Giske, Ali Pirzad, Julie Bergan
Despite having Norwegian popstars A-Lee and Julie Bergan behind it as songwriters, ‘We Don’t Worry’ is possibly the most forgettable of all of the songs here (though not the worst, in fairness). 17 year old newcomer Ira might be able to pull something out of the bag for the live performance, but on record it’s deathly dull. Not something we’ll be coming back to again.
Jenny Langlo – Next To You
Composers: Jenny Langlo, Robin Mortensen Lynch, Niklas Olovson
This former Idol winner went on an interesting path musically after winning the contest, but ‘Next To You’ is already her best output to date. A moody yet melodic electropop song, and actually the kind of thing that many people will have wanted Karin Park to come to MGP with. Jenny wrote it together with the two chaps who produced Margaret Berger’s ‘I Feed You My Love’. This might be our favourite of the 11.
Karin Park – Human Beings
Composers: Karin Park, Guy Chambers
‘I Feed You My Love’s other songwriter enters MGP as an artist in her own right this year, in the run-up to the release of her new album ‘Apocalypse Pop’ on March 2nd (featuring the recent singles ‘Look What You’ve Done’ and ‘Hurricane’). With ‘Human Beings’ she delivers a watered down version of what her fans are used to for her. It’s something a little more pop orientated and tailored towards the contest. It doesn’t have that Karin Park edge that a lot of people will have been hoping for, and actually ends up paling somewhat in comparison with the Jenny Langlo song. It’s really quite good however, just a bit disappointing in relation to the massive expectation that was heaped onto it.
Marie Klåpbakken – Ta Meg Tilbake
Composers: Marie Klåpbakken, Linn Hege Sagen, Olav Tronsmoen
Fresh from appearing on the Norwegian version of Så Mycket Bättre, Hver Gang Vi Møtes, Marie will be hoping to match the success of her 2012 album with this latest comeback. ‘Ta Meg Tilbake’ doesn’t sound like a winner to us, but the uplifting indie synth number should do her some favours post-MGP. It also helps its case that it’s somewhat string-tastic.
Mørland & Debrah Scarlett – A Monster Like Me
Composer: Kjetil Mørland
This one is already sounding like the winner – and would quite probably even take Norway to the top of the leaderboard at Eurovision too. It’s a gorgeous, atmospheric song that builds into a startling climatic finish.
Raylee – Louder
Composers: Andreas Stone Johansson & Ricky Hanley
We’re big Raylee fans here at Scandipop thanks to her recent hit ‘Wish For You’. ‘Louder’ sees her continue her ascent up popworld with a song that sounds like a cross between Rihanna’s ‘Pon De Replay’ and Holly Valance’s ‘Whoop’. NOW THAT’S WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT. In truth, we really can’t see this doing well at Eurovision – and we don’t think Norway will give it the chance to either. But as a standalone Scandipop song, this is right up our street.
Staysman & Lazz – En Godt Stekt Pizza
Composers: Stian Thorbjørnsen, Petter Kristiansen, Lars-Erik Blokkhus, Jesper Borgen, Magnus Clausen
Bizarrely popular duo enter MGP with a song that can only be described as a modern day Rednex track. So obviously it’s going to do quite well – being the only novelty entry in the line-up. And if Norway gets REALLY drunk by the time voting comes around on Saturday night, it could even win. Christ.
Tor & Bettan – All Over the World
Composers: Tor Endresen, Are Selheim
Tor Endresen and Elisabeth ‘Bettan’ Andreassen have already both won Melodi Grand Prix independently of each other, with the latter also having won Eurovision for Norway too. But oh dear Bettan, what HAVE you done? This is bottom-of-the-barrel stuff that we can’t quite comprehend anyone – no matter how ‘mature’ they are – putting their name to in 2015. The worst, most flavourless variety of cheese. Absolute tripe, and will go down as an embarrassing stain on her impressive pop legacy. Such a shame.
