Norway: 'Melodi Grand Prix' final line-up complete 🇳🇴

📺 TUNE IN: The Melodi Grand Prix final will begin at 19:50 CET on Saturday 19 February. Norwegian broadcaster NRK will be hosting a live stream from the Melodi Grand Prix website, so that anyone can tune in to proceedings.

After 5 weeks of 4 semi-finals and a last-chance round, Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix music marathon has arrived at its conclusion. On Saturday evening, the 10 remaining songs will be whittled down to just 1, with that last remaining entry then commencing its journey to Turin.

From Queen Bees and Black Flowers to a Hammer Of Thor and a wolf that can seemingly only be satiated by being given a banana, it’s a diverse selection of tunes that the Norwegian public can look forward to choosing from on Saturday night.

Mikkel Niva, Kåre Magnus Bergh and Annika Momrak will be on presenting duties, hosting live from H3 Arena just outside of Oslo.

If you’re tuning in at the weekend, these are the artists who will be performing not only for your entertainment, but also for enough votes from the Norwegian public to make it to Eurovision. This is the order that they’ll be performing in on the night:

Oda Gondrosen: Hammer Of Thor

(Lyrics and music: Morten Franck, Elsa Søllesvik, Torgeir Ryssevik and Oda Kristine Gondrosen)

After participating in both Idol and The Voice of Norway in the middle of the last decade, a young Oda Gondrosen subsequently decided to put her music dreams on hold for a few years as she trained to become a nurse. In 2020, the go-getter from Gressvik then returned to the Idol stage, this time reaching the final and finishing in 3rd place. It’s been a dream of hers to compete in Melodi Grand Prix for some years now. And so far, it’s been going well for her: Oda won semi-final 3 at the end of January.

🎶 Listen: Oda Gondrosen – Hammer Of Thor

NorthKid: Someone

(Lyrics and music: Helge Moen, Alex Charles, Sandra Lyng and Jim Bergsted)

With the group’s origins in Alta and Hasvik, situated at the top of Norway, NorthKid is quite possibly the world’s northernmost boyband. Bilal Saab, Helge Moen, Håkon Guttormsen, Sebastian Willassen and Vegard Olaussen have been releasing music as NorthKid since the end of 2017, but this is the first time they’ve tried their hand at Melodi Grand Prix.

🎶 Listen: NorthKid – Someone

Anna-Lisa Kumoji: Queen Bees

(Lyrics and music: Olli Äkräs, Alan Roy Scott, Elsbeth Rehder and Anna-Lisa Kumoji)

At only 32 years of age, this Drammen diva can lay claim to being one of the most seasoned performers in the final line-up. She’s treaded the boards in The Book of Mormon, Flashdance and West Side Story, and got her breakthrough as a recording artist in Melodi Grand Prix 2019, finishing 4th in the final with her song Holla. In 2022, she’ll no doubt be hoping to improve on that by a few places!

🎶 Listen: Anna-Lisa Kumoji – Queen Bees

Farida: Dangerous

(Lyrics and music: Farida Bolseth Benounis, Rasmus Simon Vedvik Thallaug, Atle Pettersen, Peter Newman and Hannah Dorothy Bistow)

No stranger to getting up onto stages of substantial size, Farida has in the past performed at the by:Larm and Øyafestivalen festivals in Norway, and even at SXSW in Texas. She’s also toured with Dua Lipa, and received acclaim from MTV, Billboard and Norway’s biggest pop radio station NRK P3. With Dangerous, she won semi-final 2 of Melodi Grand Prix last month.

🎶 Listen: Farida – Dangerous

Sofie Fjellvang: Made Of Glass

(Lyrics and music: Sofie Fjellvang and Kjetil Mørland)

After reaching the final of The Voice of Norway in 2021, the Kristiansand singer started work on her forthcoming debut EP, writing with Kjetil Mørland, who finished in 8th place at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 with the song A Monster Like Me, a duet with Debrah Scarlett. Made of Glass is the first song to be released from this EP, and it triumphed in semi-final 4 just a couple of weeks ago.

🎶 Listen: Sofie Fjellvang – Made Of Glass

Frode Vassel: Black Flowers

(Lyrics and music: Frode Vassel, Benjamin Larsen, Niklas Rosström and Celine Alette Pedersen Breivoll)

Having already performed on the Eurovision stage as a backing singer with JOWST in Kyiv (2017), Alexander Rybak in Lisbon (2018) and KEIINO in Tel Aviv (2019), now it’s Frode’s turn to take the spotlight. His song Black Flowers won semi-final 1 at the beginning of January, when Melodi Grand Prix started.

🎶 Listen: Frode Vassel – Black Flowers

Christian Ingebrigtsen: Wonder Of The World

(Lyrics and music: Christian Ingebrigtsen, Michael Hunter Ochs and Henrik Tala)

His solo achievements in his native Norway are plentiful, but it’s perhaps as a member of the boyband a1 that Christian is most famous for. At the turn of the millenium the boyband enjoyed 10 Top 10 singles in the UK charts, selling 10 million albums in the process. Christian has won Melodi Grand Prix before, as a songwriter, when he helped Ulrikke to victory in 2020 with Attention. He’s also co-penned no less than 4 songs that have finished in 2nd place at Melodi Grand Prix over the years!

🎶 Listen: Christian Ingebrigsten – Wonder Of The World

Maria Mohn: Fly

(Lyrics and music: Maria Mohn, Einar Kristiansen Five and Jan-Tore Saltnes)

A graduate of the Norwegian Academy of Music, Maria Mohn has enjoyed an illustrious career that has spanned recorded music, choir performances, musical theatre and even a turn at Melodi Grand Prix in 2020. She also works as a vocal coach, training up the Nordic nation’s next generation of pop exports. Maria wrote Fly for her three children.

🎶 Listen: Maria Mohn – Fly

Subwoolfer: Give That Wolf a Banana

(Lyrics and music: Keith and Jim)

Question not the identities of the 2 figures behind Subwoolfer. Question only the dietary merits of the canine consumption of potassium. And while you’re at it, chime in with the eternal question posed within the lyrics of the song: 'is that saliva or blood drippin’ off your chin?'.

🎶 Listen: Subwoolfer – Give That Wolf A Banana

Elsie Bay: Death of Us

(Lyrics and music: Elsa Søllesvik, Jonas Holteberg Jensen and Andreas Stone Johansson)

A critically lauded singer and songwriter on the Norwegian music scene for the past 8 years, this is Elsie’s second Melodi Grand Prix final in a row, with the talented musician having co-wrote the unfortgettable Witch Woods for Emmy in 2021. Death Of Us isn’t Elsie’s only appearance in the 2022 final either: she co-wrote Hammer Of Thor, which opens the final on Saturday night!

🎶 Listen: Elsie Bay – Death Of Us

The Voting

On the night, once all 10 songs have been performed, the Norwegian public will vote for their favourites. 10 songs will become 4, before another public vote narrows these 4 songs down to a final 2. One more public vote will decide on a winner, and Norway will have its entry to the 66th Eurovision Song Contest in Turin.

Let us know what you think of the Norwegian selection via the official Eurovision Song Contest YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook channels.