The Norwegian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 is about to be held. Eight acts are competing to represent the host country in Oslo.
How to watch?
A webcast will be made available for international viewers here. The webcast will only work once the show starts.
Participants
Composer/Lyricist in brackets.
- A1 – Don't wanna lose you again
(Ben Adams, Mark Read, Christian Ingebrigtsen) - Maria Haukaas Storeng – Make My Day
(Merethe La Verdi, Mats Lie Skåre/Merethe La Verdi) - Venke Knutson – Jealous 'cause I love you
(Laila Samuelsen, Alexander Kronlund, Lucas Hilbert) - Bjørn Johan Muri – Yes man
(Simone Larsen, Simen Eriksrud, Bjørn Johan Muri) - Maria Arredondo – The touch
(Rolf Løvland) - Alexander Stenerud – Give it to me
(Alexander Stenerud) - Didrik Solli-Tangen – My heart is yours
(Hanne Sørvaag, Fredrik Kempe) - Keep of Kalessin – The dragontower
(Arnt Grønbech/Arnt Grønbech, Torbjørn Schei, Vegar Larsen, Robin Isaksen)
Your opinion
- You can vote for your favourite song in our poll here.
LIVE
The show has started.
Last year's MGP and Eurovision Song Contest winner Alexander Rybak opens the show with his winning song Fairytale.
The hosts are on stage now and they are welcomed enthusiastically by the audience. Tonight's eight participants are now introduced and it is hard to tell a favourite as all of them are cheered for equally by the audience.
1. A1 – Don't wanna lose you again
Current esctoday.ccom poll result: 2nd (19.9%)
British-Norwegian boygroup A1 open the show with their classic soft pop song. The performance suits the song very well and the vocal performance is strong. Although this kind of music had the peak of its popularity quite a while ago, the song is very popular and could well become a fan favourite.
2. Maria Haukaas Storeng – Make my day
Current esctoday.com poll result: 3rd (16.2%)
Maria delivers another confident and very charming performance of her song. This is by far the most relaxed song in the contest tonight so it might suffer from the early draw. The new dress looks much better on her without the oversized epaulettes. A very strong performance and probably a dark horse tonight. The song is not in a typical Eurovision Song Contest style so it might be hard to predict a possible outcome in Oslo.
3. Venke Knutson – Jealous 'cause I love you
Current esctoday.com poll result: 6th (8.1%)
Venke Knutson repeats her classic Europop song and performance from the semi final and the second chance round. This innocent kind of girl pop has become one of the trademarks of the Norwegian music scene. Although the both voice and performance suit the song, it might be too 1990s to do well in the Eurovision Song Contest.
4. Bjørn Johan Muri – Yes man
Current esctoday.com poll result: 8th (4.4%)
Although this song only qualified through the second chance round, it has already become a major hit on the Norwegian charts. One-man boygroup Bjørn Johan Muri seems to get more confident every time he performs the songs and the simple but effective performance including two backing dancers is still perfect for this kind of music. The song might not be instantly sticky but it is one of those tunes that grow on you. Probably still not the first choice for Eurovision.
5. Maria Arredondo – The touch
Current esctoday.com poll result: 7th (4.7%)
Maria Arredondo was one of the early favourites, even before the song was heard for the first time. She performs a very classic pop ballad that would suit in any Disney movie. The stage performance is very similar to that of Yohanna in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 (even the backing singers are standing at the same place). The vocal performance is perfect, and it might even be a tad too perfect to show some homest emotions.
6. Alexander Stenerud – Give it to me
Current esctoday.com poll result: 5th (8.1%)
Alexander hopes to be third time lucky tonight. He is the only act tonight with the writing credits all given to himself. Give it to me is a catchy pop song that profits from a professional arrangement and production. The singer delivers a confident performance without showing any nerves and the appearance in a classic black suit adds a nice contrast.
7. Didrik Solli-Tangen – My heart is yours
Current estoday.com poll result: 1st (27.7%)
Didrik Solli-Tangen performs a very classic pop ballad with operatic elements. The vocal performance is very strong and the stage performance, which includes all typical elements – besides some candles on top of a piano – is an eye-catcher and less kitschy than it could be. An act with high chances of doing well tonight, although it is more than obvious that the song itself is not the centre of attention here.
8. Keep of Kalessin – The dragontower
Current esctoday.com poll result: 4th (11.0%)
Some will love it, some will hate it. Lordi opened the door for rock music in 2006 (although Hard rock hallelujah still had a pop melody hidden under a rocky arrangement) so this song might not get the attention it would have got ten years ago. The dragontower is straightforward and pure metal and there is no need to mention that the classic performance is perfect for this kind of music.
This conlcudes the performances. A recap is shown with all performances.
Our poll will close in five minutes.
We can now see a recap of Norway's threee Eurovision Song Contest winners – Alexander Rybak (2009), Secret Garden (1995) and Bobbysocks (1985).
A recap of MGP favourites is shown.
Our poll is closed now. You can find the updated results above.
The results of the first round are coming in. All songs will be performed a second time.
Bjørn Johan Muri to the second round!
Didrik Solli-Tangen to the second round!
Keep of Kalessin to the second round!
A1 to the second round!
After a spectacular interval act featuring many Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest entries, the results are about to come in.
The voting is proceeding. Didrik Solli-Tangen is in a comfortable lead now with three regions yet to vote.
Didrik Solli-Tangen has won the national final and will represent Norway on homeground.
