We’re halfway in Norway now. After three battles tonight, Emmy secured herself a spot in the final on the 20th of February. Now, there’s just three spots left for the none qualifiers to fight for.
20 acts fighting for six spots in the Melodi Grand Prix final in which another six acts were pre-qualified. That’s the format in Norway’s 2021 selection. The 20 acts are fighting in five heats consisting of four each. The winner goes straight to the final, and the remaining 15 acts will compete in a wild card round for one last spot.
From first heat Blåsemafian delivered the best party on stage and took home the trophy. In the second heat, Raylee provided a flashdance water show and won.
Who would win tonight? This heat was really an open heat with no clear favourites. The heat included two Junior participants, an openly gay rapper and a troubadour. You can read more about the participants in our Get to know – article.
Result of the third heat
To secure fairness, the two first duels were decided via a draw that took place in the beginning of the show. Voting was done online with NRK login. It is possible to vote from abroad as well.
First duel: Dinaye – Own Yourself vs Big Daddy Karsten – Smile
Winner: Big Daddy Karsten
Second duel: Emmy – Witch Woods vs Ole Hartz – Vi Er Norge
Winner: Emmy
Afterwards, the two winners met in the last duel, the so-called gold duel. After another round of voting, the winner was announced. In the video below, you can see Emmy’s performance from tonight:
The show
In most other countries, the shows will start at a time easy to remember like 20:00, but not in Norway. Their shows start at 19:50, ten minutes to eight.
Just like in all the previous two heats – and like last year, the show was hosted by Kåre Magnus Bergh, Ingrid Gjessing Linhave and Ronny Brede Aase. Tonight, they opened the show with a little drum meets Riverdance show.
In each of these pre-qualification heats, one of the finalists perform with their Melodi Grand Prix 2021 entry. Tonight, we got to hear 22-year-old Kaja Rode perform Feel Again. She performed well, but doesn’t come across as a contender to KEiiNO, TIX etc. Watching the small clips afterwards of the already qualified acts, it becomes even more clear that Kaja unfortunately will need to opt her game, if she is to win this year’s Norwegian final.
Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest
With three Eurovision victories, Norway is on track with fellow Scandinavian neighbour Denmark, although both countries are three behind Sweden. Norway first won in 1985, the year after Sweden’s second win. Bobbysocks’ La Det Swinge has since become a classic hit, which most fans can sing a long to. Ten years later, Secret Garden gave Norway their second win with the song Nocturne, which only contained 24 words, and the rest was instrumental, mainly violin. In 2009, Norway would once again bring the violin to Eurovision – and win by no other than Rybak.
Since the last Norwegian victory, by Alexander Rybak in 2009, Norway have scored rather decent in Eurovision. Stella Mwangi (2011) and Agnete (2016) both failed to reach the final, but of the remaining six entries that did make it, four of them ended in top 10.
