Norway: NRK shares more details on Melodi Grand Prix 2021

Norway: NRK shares more details on Melodi Grand Prix 2021
Thursday, 10 December 2020

  • NRK, has shared more information on Melodi Grand Prix 2021, providing details on the upcoming Norwegian national selection for Eurovision 2021. 

    Attention! Attention! The Norwegian national broadcaster has revealed enlightening details on the country's national selection process for the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam next May. 

    The Norwegian national selection will see a total of 26 competing acts instaed of last year's 24 contestants, as the grand final will feature 2 more acts reaching the total number of 12. NRK, has decided to hold a final with 12 acts, rising the number of the pre-qualified acts to 6 instead of five.

     

    The Wildcard 

     

    The six pre-qualified acts will join the 5 semi final qualifiers and one extra act from the eliminated contestants. NRK is introducing a “wild card element” for MGP 2021. This means that all the artists who do not advance from the semi-finals still have an opportunity to make it to the final. The Norwegian audience will be able to vote online for one of the finalists who then will receive the last spot in the Grand Final. The wild card artist will be announced in a radio broadcast on Sunday, February 15th, the day after the last semi-final.

    Thus The Grand Final will consist of a total of 12 competing acts: 6 pre-qualified artists that have been selected by a professional jury, and the 6 finalists selected throughout the semi-finals.

     

    MGP 2021 dates

    The Norwegian national selection will commence on January 16 with the first semi final show and will continue to unfold over six weeks, concluding on February 20 with the Grand final.

    This is  the  Melodi Grand Prix schedule: 

    Semi-final 1 - January 16

    Semi-final 2 - January 23

    Semi-final 3 - January 30

    Semi-final 4 -  February 6

    Semi-final 5 - February 13

    Second Chance Round - February 14

    Grand final - February 20

    On January 11, at 12.30 PM,  just before the 1st semi final, during a special press conference the first competing semi-finalists will go public along with the six pre-qualified acts. The rest of the semi-finalists will be unveiled each Monday ahead of each semi final round along with their entries. The pre-qualified artists will release their songs the day before performing in a semi-final.

    All semi-finals as well as the Grand Finale will be broadcasted from the H3 arena at Fornebu outside of Oslo. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic this will unfortunately take place without any audience.

     

    The Voting

    The Norwegian audience will vote online during the live broadcasts. In the Grand Final, the Norwegian TV audience alone will decide who will represent Norway at Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam in May.

     

    The Hosts

    Ingrid Gjessing Linhave, Ronny Brede Aase and Kåre Magnus Bergh are back, and will host the six live broadcasts.

    Ingrid Gjessing Linhave on behalf of the trio says: 

    "The three of us are so excited to be hosting MGP again! We have gotten a chance to listen to the songs and we believe MGP will be better than ever. We are looking forward to sharing the music and the artists with everyone."

    And goes on saying: 

     "I think everyone is longing for unity, shared experiences and a feeling of joy after months of dealing with the ongoing pandemic. We better polish our golden shoes and sequin jackets."

     

    Norway in Eurovision 

    Norway has been taking part in the Eurovision Song contest since 1960 and has won the contest three times, in 1985, 1995 and 2009. However the country has marked some records , as it has finished in the last place most times than any other country, finishing in the last placing on the scoreboard 11 times. A total of four times it has received zero points, while in 2009 victory it received the remarkable number 16 sets of 12 points and was voted by every single country, reaching the impressive winning score of 387 points! Norway hasn’t qualified two times in the final the last decade, in 2011 with Stella Mwangi and in 2016 with Agnete

    In 2018 the country was represented for the second time by Alexander Rybak and his song That’s How You Write A Song, which finished in the 15th place of the grand final. Last year the three member group KEiiNo with their entry “Spirit in the Sky” defended the Norwegian colors in Tel Aviv achieving a remarkable 1st place in the televoting while they finished 6th on the overall scoreboard.

    Ulrikke won this year’s Melodi Grand Prix 2020 and was set to go on and represent Norway at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam with her entry “Attention” . Unfortunately the contest was cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic  and the female act never saw her Eurovision journey completed

    Photo cred: Julia Marie Naglestad/NRK.

    News source: NRK