So what happened in Heat 1 then? Blåsemafian won the heat, and head to the final with ‘Let Loose‘. There, they’ll join six pre-qualified songs. Two of which were premiered on stage on Saturday night’s heat – KEiiNO and TIX.
And what can we look forward to in Heat 2? We have four brand-new songs, which got released on Monday and which will compete in the second heat on Saturday night. And we also have one of the pre-qualified finalists, which was released today, and which will perform on tomorrow night’s show.
PRE-QUALIFIED FINALIST
Stavangerkameratene – Barndomsgater
(Glenn Lyse, Lars Horn Lavik, Robin Sharma, Tommy Fredvang)
Like a modern-day EMD, Stavangerkameratene is a collection of solo artists who all found fame via music reality shows (Idol, X Factor, The Voice). All hailing from Stavanger, the band is made up of Tommy Fredvang, Kjartan Salvesen, Glenn Lyse and Ole Alexander Mæland, and they’ve had quite a bit of success in Norway so far – both from touring and from the music they’ve been putting out. Their Melodi Grand Prix song ‘Barndomsgater’ is a folk-inspired mid-tempo rouser that evokes nostalgia not only via its sound, but also in its lyrics. With that in mind, we don’t think it’s unfair to say that the song will be popular amongst the more senior voters watching the final next month. But it’s a perfectly pleasant tune – the appeal of which is not difficult to spot and enjoy.
HEAT TWO COMPETITORS
Raylee – Hero
(Andreas Stone Johansson, Anderz Wrethov, Laurell Barker, Thomas Stengaard, Frazer Mac)
Last year she provided Melodi Grand Prix with the big fan fave, ‘Wild’, and ended up with a legitimate streaming hit on her hands. In that sense, it’s a bit of a surprise to see her here today. Not a surprise that she’s back, but that she wasn’t given one of the golden tickets to the final as one of the six pre-qualifiers, and instead has to go through the semis once more. But we’re very glad she’s here, regardless. Particularly as ‘Hero’ sounds like it’s pretty much guaranteed to become another fan fave, and another highlight of national final season in general. It’s full-throttle ’80s synthpop – with every element that’s been thrown into the production having been turned up to the absolute max. It’s an instantly thrilling ride, this one.
Maria Solheim – Nordlyset
(Andreas Gjone, Camilla North, Elsbeth Rehder, Torgeir Ryssevik, Maria Solheim)
A soft and tender folk ballad, that doesn’t sound remotely competitive on record in this particular context, but which could of course surprise given the right performance charms its way into millions of Norwegian homes on Saturday night.
Daniel Owen – Psycho
(Daniel Elmrhari, Paria Ahmadzade, Marius Hongve, Henrik Høven, Patrick Brizard, Jørgen Troøyen, Leif Inge Fosen, Marcus Nilsen Ulstad)
Daniel Owen is one that we’ve featured on this website many times in the past, so we’re very pleased to finally see him in the Melodi Grand Prix line-up. He brings with him a contemporary pop jam with an r&b flavour, already sounding like it could be a radio and streaming hit in these first few months of 2021. It’s catchy enough to ensure that this heat certainly won’t be a one-horse race – with Raylee’s ‘Hero’ now having some stiff competition in the form of another very final-worthy song.
Ketil Stokkan – My Life is OK
(Ketil Stokkan)
This marks Ketil’s fourth time competing in Melodi Grand Prix, though it’s been over 30 years since he was last seen in the competition. It would appear that not much has changed in his musical tastes in those 30 years, as the song he’s here with is rather dated, to say the least. However, with lyrics that out-right poke fun at how rubbish you may think his music is, it seems like he’s either in on the joke, or that indeed, the joke is on all of us. It’s pretty unlikely he’ll have the last laugh on Saturday night, however. Though stranger things have happened!
