The 60th anniversary season of Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix (MGP) started with the South region’s semi-final. This year’s hosts are Kåre Magnus Bergh (host of NRK’s Stjernekamp, a singing competition), Ronny Brede Aase (host of P3morgen, a popular radio program run by NRK), and Ingrid Gjessing Linhave (NRK host and former host of Norwegian Idol).
Before the contest began, five acts pre-qualified to go directly to the grand finale on February 15, and one of these will debut their song at each of the five semi-finals.
The structure of each semi-final is a single-elimination bracket. Four singers who have not pre-qualified compete in duels, and then the winner of each duel advances a bracket and the loser is out. The winner of the gullduell, or golden duel, at the end of each semi-final advances to the grand finale. Voting seems to be solely a public vote, which can be done from the NRK app or by calling from within Norway.
The first duel was between Geirmund’s song, “Come Alive,” and Lisa Børud’s song, “Talking About Us.” Geirmund is a voice teacher and participated on The Voice in 2013. Lisa Børud is part of the Børud musical family that tours all over Norway and recorded her first album when she was five years old. Lisa participated in Stjernekamp in 2017 and was one of Alexander Rybak’s backup dancers at ESC2018 in Lisbon.
Geirmund went first. “Come Alive” is a dark song about overcoming personal demons and wanting to feel the rain, find the beauty of this place, and come alive. Suitably, the staging was dramatically lit, and Geirmund was accompanied by two robed performers on kettle drums.
In contrast, Lisa Børud’s song, “Talking About Us,” was light and bouncy. She was accompanied by three male dancers and two female dancers, which allowed them to form couples, trios, and a balanced ensemble for the song to build up to. I found the song to be almost all repetitive chorus, but on second hearing, there are actually some verses. (Since Lisa also has a hiphop line of clothing, I suspect the outfits all the performers were wearing were from her line of clothing.
Winner of the first duel: Lisa Børud.
The second duel was between Kim Rysstad’s song, “Rainbow,” and Raylee’s song, “Wild.” Kim Rysstad had a song in MGP in 2012 and participated in Stjernekamp in 2019. Raylee is a former child star, when she went by the name Lotta, and participated in Stjernekamp in 2014, MGP in 2015, and Shall We Dance in 2016.
Rysstad got off to a good start in a gorgeous green blazer with a sequined lapel and gold embroidery. “Rainbow” has a James Bond feel to it, and the staging started off a bit like a lounge singer’s take on “Rise Like a Phoenix.” It was easily the best song of the evening so far, so duel #2 was looking hopeful.
Then came Raylee’s song, “Wild,” wherein she essentially did a mic drop for this semi-final. She had a ponytail like Slavko (ESC 2017, Montenegro) but had actually rehearsed, so all similarities to Slavko end there. “Wild” is super catchy. The staging had a great light show, fun choreography, and all the earmarks of a song that could go all the way at ESC 2020.
Winner of the second duel: Raylee, naturally. (Though we were sad to see Kim Rysstad eliminated.)
Before moving on to the gullduell (golden duel), one of the pre-qualified acts performed. For this semi-final, it was Sondrey, and his song “Take My Time.” Sondrey came in third at this year’s Stjernekamp, and his song had elements of Robin Bengtsson’s “I Can’t Go On” (ESC 2017). By that I mean his backup dancers were all in matching red suits (as opposed to blue for Bengtsson), and the dancing was the strongest part of the performance. Though don’t rule out Sondrey just yet: the song is good; I just have a preference for Raylee.
Finally, it was time for the golden duel, wherein Lisa Børud went up against Raylee. Frankly, none of these songs could have beaten Raylee in a matchup, and “Wild” was rightly the winner for the evening.
We’ll see Sondrey and Raylee again at the grand finale in February, along with this list of other pre-qualifiers:
To listen to the songs from the MGP to date, follow this link for the Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5kmlDhng1Z0CXN3z6vwCKo?si=E9Km1URARZ-jg5KOwrwFAg