Norway will select their entrant for the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest on March 11 in Oslo. The final of Melodi Grand Prix 2017 will be taking place at the Oslo Spektrum, as seen since 2015 the show will be a one-night event.
This morning, Norway revealed the ten competing songs in this year’s Melodi Grand Prix, during a particularly energetic press conference. The ten artists will all be fighting for a place in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, hoping to bring the event back to the country after seven years.
The songs competing in this year’s contest are:
- Wrecking Crew
Aritst: Ammunition
Writers: Åge Sten Nilsen and Erik Mårtensson - Places
Artist: UIlrikke
Writers: Ullrikke and Tony Alexander Skjevik - Mesterverk
Artist: Amina Sewali
Writers: Amina Sewali - Grab the Moment
Artist: JOWST
Writers: Aleksander Walmann - You and I
Artist: Kristian Valen
Writers: Kristian Valen - First step in faith / Oadjebasvuhtii
Artist: Elin & The Woods
Writers: Elin Kaven and Robin Lynch - I Got Where You Go
Artist: Jenny Augusta
Writers: Jenny Augusta and Inga Thyristor Þórðardóttir - Mama Boy
Artist: Ella
Writers: Per Kristian Ottestad and Ida Maria - Run Run Away
Artist: Rune Rudberg Band
Writers: Peter Danielson, Asa and Mars Larsson - Nothing Ever Knocked Us Over
Artist: In Fusion
Writers: Gustav Euren, Danne Atlerud, Niklas Arn, Ulrik Eurén og Cissi Kallin
Jan Fredrik Karlsen, the Head of Delegation for Norway, has confirmed to Dagbladet that a record of 1,035 songs have been submitted to compete in MGP 2017. The team behind the Norwegian selection shortlisted around 100 songs that could have made it through to the live show, in total just ten of the songs will be competing in the final of Melodi Grand Prix as revealed this morning.
Mr Karlsen made it clear that Norway wants to win the Eurovision Song Contest again having last won in 2009. Norway failed to make the final of the Eurovision Song Contest this year in Stockholm where they were represented by Agnete with the song “Icebreaker”. Furthermore, the contest has strong backing from the broadcasting chief at the Norwegian national broadcaster.
[tw-posts title=”Read More About Norway” number=”2″ category=”norway” content=”yes” type=””][/tw-posts]Changes are underway with the format of Melodi Grand Prix as the international juries make a return to the contest. 12 countries from across Europe will be invited to have a jury in the competition, as the country hopes this will be a better indicator of Eurovision success. Details have yet to be revealed as to how the international jury will be weighted against the public televote, but Norway has reasons to be hopeful it will help bring the country Eurovision success. In both 1985 and 1995 when Norway won the contest, international juries were involved in selecting their entry for the contest.
The selection will be hosted by Kåre Magnus, who has hosted Melodi Grand Prix for the past two years, joined by a new co-presenter, Line Elvsåshagen. Line has previously had experience with the Eurovision Song Contest, in 2014 she formed part of the alternative commentary for the final on NRK3.
NRK has already opened the submissions process to compete in Melodi Grand Prix 2018, as the broadcaster focuses on bringing the contest back to Norway. Stig Karlsen the Project Leader for Melodi Grand Prix is inviting artists to submit songs whether they are completed or are still a demo – stating that, regardless, the winner of Melodi Grand Prix will have the honour to represent Norway at next year’s contest.
To date, both Norway and Finland have confirmed their participation in Eurovision 2018. Finland confirmed their participation on Saturday night following the final of UMK 2017 and the selection of Norma John with the song ‘Blackbird’ to perform in Kyiv.
[tw-accordion class=””] [tw-accordion-section title=”Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest”] Norway debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960 and have won the contest on three occasions. The country has the dubious record of finishing last a total of eleven times, of which four songs received nul points. Norway last won the contest in 2009 when Alexander Rybak broke all records with his song “Fairytale”. In the final he scored 387 points, receiving 16 sets of 12 points and scoring points from all of the competing countries.[/tw-accordion-section] [/tw-accordion]
