Norway is one of those countries that decided not to send last year's winner Ulrikke to the Eurovision 2021 and go with business as usual attitude and have their annual Melodi Grand Prix instead. Ulrikke, who had a very strong chance to do really well in Eurovision last year with her Attention decided not to take part despite invitation. Instead KEiiNO are back, the 2019 European wide televoting winners along with a very strong line up that beats neighboring Melodifestivalen line up by miles.
KEiiNo is of course the big fan favorite, but TiX is the one ruling streaming services and previous MGP fan favorites Raylee and Rein Alexander also have a lot of support. This is going to be interesting!
Below is my star ranking and their performance videos from the semi-finals. Enjoy!
Atle Pettersen - World on fire ****
Pop perfection with a performance that borrows a bit from Lena Philipsson's legendary microphone stand acrobatics. Catchy with nice no gimmick arrangement that doesn't try to be too contemporary but maybe a bit unoriginal. Yet I like this.
Blåsemafian feat. Hazel - Let loose***
Groovy with catchy horns. Enjoyable. Would be something else for Eurovision.
Emmy - Witch wood ***
Horror fairy tale nursery rhyme with humor, touch of Addams family and a lot of Halloween, co-written by a Finn btw, what could go wrong? Hmmm.... I'm not totally convinced even if this is fun as long as it lasts....
IMERIKA - I can't escape **
Norwegian ALMA? Beautiful and touching, but ... missing the extra something to stand out among these others in my first and one hearing only judgement.
Jorn - Faith bloody faith ****
Old school heavy pop with insanely catchy chorus, no wonder this qualified from the last chance round. A guilty pleasure even if I would have preferred Elevate for example to join the final line up.
Kaja Rode - Feel again ***
Love the beginning and all the old fashioned structure of the song, but sadly it doesn't go anywhere after that. Very old school, could be from some musical or film's love theme - can imagine bits of the song played throughout the movie in different versions and arrangements. Yet somehow.... I do like it.
KEiiNO - Monument ****
There are some very devoted KEiiNo fans out there, but I have never been one of them. I didn't like their 2019 entry that much at first either but slowly warmed up to it. Same has happened to this one. Masterfully arranged, I only wish there was more Tom in it instead of Alexandra, this feels almost like her solo despite the yoik. If they do get to Eurovision, can they better their last placement? Hmmm... Not so sure.
KiiM - My lonely voice **
Great voice, promising start but then it falls flat with rather weak and standard arrangement. In any other national final or another year would have been a strong contender perhaps.
Raylee - Hero *****
Wasn't so much of a fan of hers last time but this time loved from the start. This is the right time 80's revival and the staging with Flashdance moment brings me back to 1983 when I was young and loved every second of the movie and the soundtrack. Sweet vinyl 33T memories!
Rein Alexander - Eyes wide open ***
Like with Raylee, I didn't like him at all the first time around but this Bondesque song is so much better. But even this doesn't hold the attention for full three minutes....
Stavangerkameratene - Who I am *
Rather unoriginal boy band nonsense. Like if they were a boy band in the 90's and made now a comeback and swim in the memories of those days with all wrong styling and not so sure if this is the right thing to do (but got a lot of money for it). Sorry. They switched into English for the final.
TIX - Ut av mørket * or Fallen angel
This remains a mystery for me. Or is this when someone locally famous takes part and people vote for the artist and not the song? Like if Cheek took part in UMK back in the day? I get nothing from this one and the staging and look certainly don't help. He also changed into English for the final.
Summa summarum: My clear favorite is Raylee, followed by KEiiNo and surprisingly Atle and Jorn. In worst case scenario TIX or Stavanger guys win. But what do I know?
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