Norway

Mørland

© EBU/Andres Putting About Quick Facts NameKjetil Mørland Born03 October 1980 Nationality🇳🇴 Norway National SelectionNorsk Melodi Grand Prix 2019Norsk Melodi Grand Prix 2015 In Eurovision2015 Vienna SongA Monster Like Me (2015, with Debrah Scarlett) Biography Kjetil Mørland (born October 3, 1980) is a Norwegian singer and songwriter, born in Grimstad in the southern part of Norway. He has lived in England for most of his adult life. With his British band Absent Elk, Mørland released the album “Caught in the Headlights” in 2009, produced by Toby Smith (Jamiroquai). In the fall of 2014, Mørland temporarily moved to Oslo to establish himself as a solo artist under the name Mørland. Mørland wrote the song “A Monster Like Me,” which won the Norwegian final of the Melodi Grand Prix 2015. “A Monster Like Me” was performed by Kjetil Mørland and Debrah Scarlett. Through their victory in the Melodi Grand Prix, Mørland and Debrah Scarlett represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna, Austria. Mørland and Debrah Scarlett qualified for the final on Saturday, May 23. In the final, Norway placed eighth. Mørland won the Marcel Bezençon Award in the Composer category for “A Monster Like Me.” Mørland also participated as a songwriter in Melodi Grand Prix 2018 with the song “Who We Are.” The song was performed by Rebecca Thorsen and finished in second place. In 2019, he participated again as a songwriter and vocalist with the song “En livredd mann” and as one of the songwriters for “The Bubble,” performed by Adrian Jørgensen. “En livredd mann” was eliminated in the first round, while “The Bubble” finished in second place in the final. In 2020, Mørland won the Melodi Grand Prix for the second time, this time as a songwriter for “Attention,” performed by Ulrikke Brandstorp. The song was intended to be the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in the Netherlands. However, the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the Melodi Grand Prix 2021, he contributed as one of the songwriters for “Eyes Wide Open,” performed by Rein Alexander. Unfortunately, the song did not make it to the gold final. Moving on to the Melodi Grand Prix 2022, he collaborated with Sofie Fjellvang as a songwriter for “Made of Glass,” which was also performed by Sofie. This entry achieved a respectable third or fourth place. In the Melodi Grand Prix 2023, he teamed up with Kate Gulbrandsen as a songwriter for “Tårer i paradis,” performed by Kate herself. However, this song was eliminated during the first semi-final round. Entries A Monster Like Me (with Debrah Scarlett) Country🇳🇴 Norway Year2015 LanguageEnglish LyricsKjetil Mørland MusicKjetil Mørland BackingsHåvard GrytingMay Kristin KaspersenJulie Lillehaug KaasaBjørnar Reime Erlandsen Results Semi Points: 123Position: 4Running order: 6 Results Finals Points: 102Position: 8Running order: 9 https://youtu.be/vY1FCXDojMU

Liverpool live: Sweaty sweaters, video games and red feathers

Every participant has it’s second rehearsal today. That means we already know a lot and we can just say whether there are (major) changes or not. Different from other years, no independent journalists or fan media can join the rehearsals. What you read is what Eurovision.tv wants us to know. photo credits: EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett/Corinne Cummings/Chloe Hashemi Norway The Norwegian act is the same as in the first rehearsal. According to the reporters of eurovision.tv she hit the high notes. Alessandra is currently 6th at the bookmakers, which means she might do well for Norway this year. Malta The Maltese act is one were a lot happens. And singer Dav jr. even wears two sweaters. He takes one off during the show. According to him that is quite…. sweaty. Dav already took part in the national final in 2020. However, he says it is now the right time to go to Eurovision. The day after he was eliminated from the X-Factor 2020, his father passed away, so that was not a good moment for Eurovision.Unfortunately the bookmakers are not happy about Malta yet. Hopefully they are wrong this time! Serbia Sometimes it is difficult to know what will happen on tv when you are in the hall. That is why only now a lot of on-screen video game references came up in the reports. It fits in the act: somebody who just wants to sleep as there are so many bad things going on in the world. The song is written during the COVID19 lockdowns. Currently, Serbia is no. 17 in the betting odds. Latvia At least they have their outfits now, so it seems the luggage problem is solved. The band members are all wearing jackets and blouses with long, thin ties over it. Lead singer Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis wears a beige jacket, the others have darker cloths. Currently Latvia does not do well in the betting odds with a 35th place. However, we can not exclude a place in the final. Portugal Enthusiasm for the uptempo song Portugal brings on stage. There have not been many changes at all in the Portuguese entry. Mimicat still wears the feather dress that impressed in the first rehearsal. Portugal is currently 26th in the betting odds, which makes it likely that Mimicat will go through to the final. Ireland About Ireland, the same information is given by eurovision.tv as they did Monday: the members of Wild Youth are having fun on stage. Ireland is currently 24th at the betting odds. However, if you look at the qualifiers of semifinal one, they are 14th. A strange contradiction, and it makes the line on the official website quite cynical: “…and they look like they’re having the best time ever – the Irish delegation should be really happy”. Croatia Croatia’s Let 3 is having their second rehearsal, and their performance looks just as impressive on the big screen as it did in the hall, says eurovision.tv. However, the visual spectacle appears even more impressive and vibrant than before. The colors are now more intense and psychedelic, and the removal of clothing is now even more detailed and noticeable due to the high definition visuals. Judge for yourself if you should be happy with that. The betting ods give Croatia a 15th place. in collaboration with Eurovision Artists

Liverpool live: rehearsal schedule

The rehearsals continue with the 2nd rehearsal of 15 countries. The countries now have only 20 minutes to rehearse. 11.30 – 11.50 Norway11.55 – 12.15 Malta12.20 – 12.40 Serbia12.45 – 13.05 Latvia13.10 – 13.30 Portugal13.35 – 13.55 Ireland15.00 – 15.20 Croatia15.25 – 15.45 Switzerland15.50 – 16.10 Israel16.15 – 16.35 Moldova16.40 – 17.00 Sweden17.05 – 17.25 Azerbaijan17.30 – 17.50 Czechia17.55 – 18.15 The Netherlands18.20 – 18.40 Finland

Road to Liverpool: Norway

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Norway. Alessandra Mele Alessandra Mele will represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest. She wrote the song “Queen of kings” together with Henning Olerud, Stanley Ferdinandez and Linda Dale. 20 years old Alessandra was born in Pietra Ligure, Savona, Italy. She has an Italian father and a Norwegian mother. Music has always been important in her life. She first took part in a talent show when she was only 6 years old. She rose to fame last year when she participated in The Voice Norge. Espen Lind was the coach she chose after the blind audition. She reached the live shows. Eurovision came right after The Voice. Her song “Queen of kings” reached the #1 spot in the Norwegian charts. It’s also a hit in Finland, Hungary, Iceland and Sweden. Melodi Grand Prix Alessandra’s “Queen of kings” has won Melodi Grand Prix 2023. Ever since Norway participated for the first time, in 1960, the song has been chosen through Melodi Grand Prix. The name always remained the same. The way of selection, however, was different. This year, there were 3 semifinals and a final. Through Melodi Grand Prix history there were many remarkable participations. In 1961, Per Asplin sang “S’il vous plaît” which was not a success in those days. However, a revamped version by De Lillos became a huge hit in Norway 26 years later! Another man who is part of Melodi Grand Prix history, is Jahn Teigen. He won three times, but took part on numerous occasions. Most remarkable was his 1976 song “Voodoo“, a duet with Inger-Lise Rypdal. Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest Norway started participating in 1960. The first victory came in 1985, after “a long and thorny path”, as 1986 host Åse Kleveland stated. Bobbysocks brought the victory home with “La det swinge”. Ten years later, it was Secret Garden with “Nocturne”. The most recent Norwegian victory was in 2009: Alexander Rybak won the contest with “Fairytale”, a Eurovision classic. In recent years, in 2019 to be precise, KEiiNO won the televote with “Spirit in the sky”. Overall, the song became 7th. The bookmakers The bookmakers predict a 4th place for Norway. That would confirm again that the days of bad scores and zeros are completely over for Norway. The song And of course, this is the song:

Alessandra

© EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett About Quick Facts NameAlessandra Watle Mele Born05 September 2002 Nationality🇳🇴 Norwegian National SelectionMelodi Grand Prix 2023 In Eurovision2023 Liverpool SongQueen Of The Kings (2023) Biography Mele grew up in the town of Cisano sul Neva in Savona, Italy, She has an Italian father, while her mother is Norwegian with roots in Stathelle in Bamble. After high school in 2021, she moved to Norway to be closer to her Norwegian family and at the same time focus on a music career. Already as a child she started singing and dancing, and she participated in her first singing competition at the age of six. She has studied piano and took singing lessons with a singing teacher in Italy. In Norway, she began studying at the music school LIMPI in Lillehammer in autumn 2022. In 2022, she participated in The Voice Norge on TV 2 Direkte and reached the live rounds. The following year, she was selected as one of the participants in Melodi Grand Prix 2023 with the song “Queen of Kings”. The song was written at a songwriting camp in autumn 2022. The song is about daring to be yourself fully, and is based on Mele’s own life and experiences as bisexual. She won Norsk Melodi Grand Prix 2023, and thus represented Norway in the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. She reached the final and ended up in 5th place there. Entries Queen Of The Kings Country🇳🇴 Norway Year2023 LanguageEnglish LyricsHenning OlerudStanley FerdinandezAlessandra MeleLinda Dale MusicHenning OlerudStanley FerdinandezAlessandra MeleLinda Dale BackingsHege Nesset DancersReno AndersenOla SamuelsenChristiane BergersenRebekka Norvik Results Semi Points: 102Position: 6Running order: 1 Results Finals Points: 268Position: 5Running order: 20 https://youtu.be/PUHSM_vTqTI

Alessandra Mele wins Melodi Grand Prix 2023

The suspense was building in Trondheim Spektrum, but we have a winner! Alessandra Mele won the whole contest with 283 points. She won the jury vote with 104 points, and the televote with a stunning 179 points landslide. She will represent Norway with “Queen of Kings”. Right before winning MGP, she heard that her song was number 1 in the spotify charts. Not only in Norway, but in a lot of countries her song is a viral succes. Maybe in yours awell! Here are the full results: Alessandra, “Queen of kings”, 233 pts. Ulrikke Brandstorp, “Honestly”, 138 pts. Atle Pettersen, “Masterpiece”, 122 pts. Elsie Bay, “Love you in a dream”, 83 pts. Jone, “Ekko inni mig”, 70 pts. Eline Thorp, “Not meant to be”, 60 pts. Skrellex, “Love again”, 54 pts. Swing’it, “Prohibition”, 51 pts. Watch her MGP performance here: We will see Alessandra in the first Semi Final on May 9th.

Norway selects: Melodi Grand Prix final

Tonight is the night Norway select it’s song. After three semifinals, it is time for the Melodi Grand Prix final. Out of 9 songs, the Norwegian Eurovision entrant will be chosen. The show starts at 19.50 and you can watch it here. These are the 9 songs: 1 Jone Ekko inni meg 2 Eline Thorp Not meant to be 3 Skrellex Love again 4 Ulrikke Brandstorp Honestly 5 Umami Tsunami Geronimo 6 Atle Pettersen Masterpiece 7 Swing’it Prohibition 8 Elsie Bay Love you in a dream 9 Alessandra Queen of kings Ulrikke took part in 2017 (4th) and 2020 (1st). However, in 2020 the festival was cancelled and her song “Attention” thus never reached the Eurovision stage.Atle Pettersen sang in the 2021 final.Elsie Bay took part in 2022, reached the 2nd round in the final.

the last Melodi Grand Prix 2023 semi-final has ended

Tonight was the last night for artists to qualify for the Melodi Grand Prix 2023 final in Trondheim. Norway has chosen it’s qualifiers, and here they are: Alte Pettersen is back in the final of Melodi Grand Prix! Last time we saw him was two years ago in 2021. Then he managed to get pre-qualified for the final, but this year he got all the support from the public. Tonight he sung his ballad, that later turns into a pop song called “Masterpiece”. From the start of her music carreer it’s drag queen Skrellex. She’s trough with her pop song “Love Again”. Skrellex burns up the stage as she dances with her four backing dancers. Not only her dance moves, but the disco balls on stage light her up aswell. At last but not least we have Eline Thorp. As she’s an up coming artist in Norway, you can already tell she has a great amount of fans for “Not Meant To Be”! Will it be enough for her to take the trophy next week? Next week we have nine finalists batteling it all out in Trondheim. Who are you rooting for? Let us know, and we’ll see you next week.

Norway: Melodi Grand Prix, semifinal 3

Tonight knows the third and last semifinal of Melodi Grand Prix, the Norwegian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. Three semifinals will all contain 7 songs. 3 of them will be selected to go to the final, chosen by 100% televoting. After tonight, we know the full line up of the final! The show starts at 19:50 CET and you can watch it here. The participants are: Akuvi sings “Triumph” Tirill sings “Break it” Skrellex sings “Love again” Eline Thorp sings “Not meant to be” Stig van Eijk sings “Someday” Maria Celin sings “Freya” Atle Pettersen sings “Masterpiece” Akuvi already reached the final in 2020.Stig van Eijk represented Norway in 1999 with the song “Living my life without you”.Atle Pettersen sang in the 2021 final.

Elsie Bay is back! MGP semi final 2 results

the clock strucks 9 P.M. in Norway, and the Melodi Grand Prix results came in. Jone, Elsie Bay, and Swing It are trough to the final in Trondheim! There were some familliar faces in the second semi final, and one of those faces managed to qualify! Elsie Bay isn’t new to the Eurovision family, as she competed in Melodi Grand Prix last year with her song “Death Of Us”. She then reached the second round of the final, but will “Love You In A Dream” take the victory this year? Jone was the second qualifier of the night! His EDM pop song “Ekko Inni Meg” was voted for by a lot of his fans. The staging has a neon kind of vibe, and we expect him to go even bigger in the final. And last but not least we have the fun nostalgic retro band Swing It that we will see again in Trondheim. Their 1920’s inspired party song “Prohibition” made a whole part of Norway swing indeed.