Tonight Norway kicked off their national final Melodi Grand Prix. In Ørland eight artists competed for three spots in the final. At the end a mixture of jury and televotiong decided that we will see Reidun Sæter, The Carburetors and Nora Foss Al-Jabri in the final on February 11th.

After Stella Mwangi failing to reach the Eurovision final in Düsseldorf last year, Norway hopes to be more successful this year. On their way to Baku the Norwegian broadcaster NRK will hold three semifinals with each eight participants and one final.

The songs: (You can read more about the artists in our Get To Know article)

1) Irresistible feat. Carl Pritt – Elevator

Irresistible feat. Carl Pritt have the honour to open this year’s Melodi Grand Prix season. The song is very modern, catchy and danceable. It reminds a bit of the Pussycat Dolls. The four ladies wear sexy outfits: Black hot pants with black stockings. They do a well studied choreography with sticks which suits well to the song. In the middle of the song their is a rap part. The band’s vocals are faultless and harmonize well.

2) Kim André Rystad – Så vidunderleg

This is the first ballad of the evening and the only song in Norwegian. Kim André sits on a stool which is surrounded by lights. He is dressed in black trousers and a brown jacket. His calm voice fits well to this very quiet and cute song which sounds very nordic.

3) Reidun Sæter – High on love

Next on stage is the female singer Reidun Sæter. She starts her song slowly, singing it a-capella. After the first few lines the beat starts and the song becomes a very catchy uptempo pop song. Reidun wears a purple dress with a purple stola. She has a powerful voice and hits every note. At the end we see the first pyrotechnics of tonight.

4) Rudi Myntevik – You break it, you own it

The show continued the Rudi Myntevik. Rudi is dressed in an orange coloured shirt and a dark blue jacket. The song starts slowly, but soon turns into a midtempo mainstream pop song. Rudi is accompanied by five ladies on stage. Two of them play the guitar while the other three accompany him as a backing singer, on the drums and the keyboard.

5) Lisa Stokke – With love

Lisa wears a long gold/brown coloured and shiny dress. Her entry is a very powerful and melodic midtempo ballad, almost reminding of a hymn. Her five female backing vocalists are dressed in black and gold. In the middle of the song they do a dance routine which earns a big applause. At the end we see pyrotechnics again.

6) United – Little Bobbi

Song number 6 might be the most interesting of tonight. It is very modern with rapped verses. The two male leadsingers are dressed in black, respectively in black and red. They have four male dancers on stage who do some breakdance routine. In the middle of the song Benedicte Adrian who was a member of Dollie de Luxe in Luxemburg 1984 enters the stage. The song gets some oriental influence now which continues until the end. The trio receives the biggest applause so far.

7) Nora Foss Al-Jabri – Somewhere beautiful

Nora Foss Al-Jabri is next on stage. She performs a very beautiful ballad with her strong voice. The song could be from a musical or a disney film. Most of the time Nora who is dressed in a short dark blue dress is alone on stage. In the middle of the song she is accompanied by a female violin player. Big applause for her as well. 

8) The Carburetors – Don’t touch the flame

Finally we have a rock song with lots of energy and pyrotechnics on stage. All band members are dressed in black leather jackets. The song is loud with e-guitars and drums, but still very catchy. At some point you could think that you have heard this kind of melody before.

The show:

The show started at 19:55 CET and was hosted by Marte Stokstad and Per Sundnes. At the beginning the artists were presented and their numbers for the televoting were shown. Before each song a short introduction film about the artist was shown. After a reprise of all entries the show was interrupted for a break of about 30 minutes.

The results:

After the break it was announced which artist got a ticket to the final. Every singer performed his entry again.

And these are the three lucky ones:

Reidun Sæter

The Carburetors

Nora Foss Al-Jabri

The next two semifinals will be held on January 28th and February 4th. The big final will take place in Oslo on February 11th.