Tonight Norway hosts the final of its Melodi Grand Prix – the six-week song contest to find the country’s entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in May. The six weeks are up, and it’s all down to this last evening.
After four heats and a ‘last chance’ qualifying round, ten songs remain. As is quite often the case with Norway in recent years, it’s a very strong final line-up. And amongst the ten songs on offer to the Norwegians tonight, at least half of them would be very worthy winners.
If you fancy tuning in, then the whole things starts at 18:50 UK time this evening, and Norwegian broadcaster NRK are hosting a live stream on their website.
If you’re going in fresh – these are the ten songs that will be competing tonight, in the order that they’ll be performed.
Oda Gondrosen: Hammer Of Thor
(Morten Franck, Elsa Søllesvik, Torgeir Ryssevik and Oda Kristine Gondrosen)
A necessary addition to the final line-up, as it’s just so very Norway. It would also represent them very well on an international stage such as Eurovision. But in truth, there are around three to five other songs amongst this bunch that we’d rather that honour go to.
NorthKid: Someone
(Helge Moen, Alex Charles, Sandra Lyng and Jim Bergsted)
The perfect pop ballad. This would be a deserving winner tonight, and would do big things for Norway in Turin, too.
Anna-Lisa Kumoji: Queen Bees
(Olli Äkräs, Alan Roy Scott, Elsbeth Rehder and Anna-Lisa Kumoji)
Love the message of feminism and independence. Would have loved it a lot more had said message been paired with any vagueley memorable kind of tune.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFyLCTzWvHw
Farida: Dangerous
(Farida Bolseth Benounis, Rasmus Simon Vedvik Thallaug, Atle Pettersen, Peter Newman and Hannah Dorothy Bistow)
A bit of a stunner, this one. Not one of the frontrunners going into tonight, but could well be a dark horse for snatching the win under a favourite’s nose. And we wouldn’t be mad about it.
Sofie Fjellvang: Made Of Glass
(Sofie Fjellvang and Kjetil Mørland)
Probably the song we’ve listened to most of Melodi Grand Prix this year. Not only would it make a great winner, but it would also serve as poetic justice for the last two Mørland co-penned, female-fronted Melodi Grand Prix ballads not making it to Eurovision (‘Attention’ by Ulrikke in 2020 because the contest was cancelled, and ‘Who We Are’ by Rebecka in 2018 because of that awful Rybak song). We don’t forget these things lightly.
Frode Vassel: Black Flowers
(Frode Vassel, Benjamin Larsen, Niklas Rosström and Celine Alette Pedersen Breivoll)
Fun for the evening, but it doesn’t really feel like it’s in any way competitive tonight. And nor would it be in Turin.
Christian Ingebrigtsen: Wonder Of The World
(Christian Ingebrigtsen, Michael Hunter Ochs and Henrik Tala)
A Norwegian pop music legend, without a doubt. But it’s fair to say that this isn’t one of his more legendary moments.
Maria Mohn: Fly
(Maria Mohn, Einar Kristiansen Five and Jan-Tore Saltnes)
Nordic to its core, this is the kind of song that only really exists in a Scandinavian pre-selection for Eurovision. Should it ever end up going to Eurovision, though? We probably won’t find out tonight.
Subwoolfer: Give That Wolf a Banana
(Keith and Jim)
If Norway want another televote winner at Eurovision, like they got with KEiiNO, then this is their safest bet right here. A genuinely great pop song disguised as a novelty entry, this could end up hitting big in parts of Europe outside the context of Eurovision, too.
Elsie Bay: Death of Us
(Elsa Søllesvik, Jonas Holteberg Jensen and Andreas Stone Johansson)
A lot of people are rooting for this to win, and they’re right to. Such is the strength of this line-up, it’s not our favourite, but it’s one that we could gladly get behind in Turin – as the beauty of this ballad is undeniable.
