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In the spotlight: Ulrikke

13 April 2020 at 10:05 CEST
In the spotlight: Ulrikke Julia Marie Naglestad/NRK
With her song, 'Attention', Ulrikke was chosen to represent Norway in 2020. In light of the unfortunate cancellation of the 65th Eurovision Song Contest, we wish to highlight the impressive acts that were set to appear. This is 'In the spotlight', our feature honouring the artists that would have made up this year's edition of the world's largest live music event.

24-year-old Ulrikke made it to the Gold Final in Norway's national selection Melodi Grand Prix in 2017 with the song Places. 3 years later, the singer was chosen as one of the pre-qualified artists for Melodi Grand Prix 2020, and quickly after Attention was released, it became a fan-favourite to win. 2020 proved to be Ulrikke's year when she won the contest and was chosen to represent Norway in Rotterdam in May.

Who is Ulrikke?

Ulrikke Brandstorp is an artist and performer well-known in Norway from big television shows and, more recently, as one of the leading roles as Liesl in the Sound of Music in Oslo. She comes from a close-knit family and grew up in the small city of Sarpsborg. As a young girl, she adopted her Grandfather's life motto, "waking hours are working hours".

After winning the public vote at Melodi Grand Prix, Ulrikke began touring Europe, promoting her song and meeting Eurovision fans.

Ulrikke was set to represent Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 Julia Marie Naglestad/NRK

READ MORE: Ulrikke's participant profile

Attention is a song that asks why we change ourselves to please others when it comes to love. The song is based on Ulrikke's personal experiences, written together with Christian Ingebrigtsen from the world-famous pop group A1 and Eurovision legend, Kjetil Mørland.



"We wrote the song during a few sessions, and then spent a lot of time on the production. It was important for me that the song sounded organic and raw, so we used live string players in the studio, instead of computer-generated strings. We wanted the song to take the listeners on a journey, both lyrically and musically. I feel we managed that with the bridge, which is probably my favourite part of the song", says Ulrikke.

On 6 April, Ulrikke excitedly shared to her Facebook page that Attention had surpassed 4 million streams on Spotify.

You can follow Ulrikke on the following social media platforms:

LISTEN: Stream Attention and other Eurovision 2020 songs on Spotify

Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest

Norway made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960. Nora Brockstedt gave Norway its first top-5 placing in the country's debut year. She performed Voi Voi in London and finished in fourth place.

The country has the dubious record of finishing last most times (11 in total), including scoring nul points on 4 occasions. On the other hand, Norway has won the contest 3 times and scored the biggest margin of victory ever to that time in 2009.

READ MORE: Norway's country page

Last year' the country was represented by trio KEiiNO. Their song Spirit In The Sky was unforgettable, due, in part, to the band's unique mix of electronic pop with Nordic folk melodies and joik, the traditional form of song of the Sami people. KEiiNO finished 6th in the Grand Final.

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