Norway has chosen KEiiNO to represent them at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Norway.
KEiiNO have been selected to represent Norway at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. They beat off competition from nine other artists this evening at the Oslo Spektrum. Their song “Spirit in the Sky” is the first Eurovision entry since 1980 to feature lyrics in Sámi.
The show was held in two parts, the first saw all ten act taking to the stage to perform their songs for Eurovision. After which point the Norwegian public voted for their favourite songs. Their votes were combined with the results of ten internaitonal juries to select four finalists.
The four finalists were then split in to two duels. The public voted again and two artists went through to the Gold Final. In the Gold Final the public was then invited to vote one last time before the winner was chosen.
The results of the first round were as follows:
- Chris Medina – We Try
- D’Sound – Mr. Unicorn – Qualfied for Duel
- Mørland – En livredd mann
- Anna-Lisa Kumoji – Holla – Qualified for Duel
- Erlend Bratland – Sing for You
- Ingrid Berg Mehus – Feel
- Hank von Hell – Fake it
- Carina Dahl – Hold Me Down
- Adrian Jørgensen – The Bubble – Qualified for Duel
- KEiiNO – Spirit in the Sky – Qualified for Duel
The results of the duel were as follows:
- D’Sound – Mr. Unicorn – Beaten by KEiiNO
- Anna-Lisa Kumoji – Holla – Beaten by Adrian Jørgensen
- Adrian Jørgensen – The Bubble – Gold Finalist
- KEiiNO – Spirit in the Sky – Gold Finalist
Results of the Gold Final were as follows:
- Adrian Jørgensen – The Bubble
- KEiiNO – Spirit in the Sky – Winner
There are several familiar names who took part in this evenings selection. Kjetil Mørland was one half of the duo who represented Norway in the 2015 contest in Vienna with Monster Like Me. He is competing this year as an artist with En livredd mann but also is a co-writer of The bubble to be perfomed by Adrian Jørgensen.
Melodi Grand Prix has been used to select all but three of Norway’s Eurovision entrants since 1960. Norway didn’t take part in the 1970 and 2002 Eurovision Song Contests, and therefore didn’t host MGP those years, and didn’t hold the contest in 1991 as they felt the entries were of “too low quality”.
Norway debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960, and have won the contest three times – in 1985, 1995 and 2009. The country has the dubious record of finishing last the most times, eleven in total, and have received nul points four times. Norway last won the contest in 2009 when Alexander Rybak broke all records with his song “Fairytale”. He scored 387 points in the final, receiving 16 sets of 12 points and scoring points from every country.
