Norway, thank you. The Grand Final of Melodi Grand Prix 2021 went live tonight from H3 arena in the surroundings of Oslo. An outstanding show in a majestic yet unfortunately empty arena. The perfect storm for a perfect winner? The word is out: TIX won MGP 2021!

If you have non-Eurovision friends that you still want to introduce to this wonderful universe, tonight’s Grand Final of Melodi Grand Prix 2021 could be a hell of a start. A bit more than two hours of condensed Eurovision pureness: high-pitched notes, wind machines, weird costumes, dark stagings, stroboscopic effects, a hint of national folklore and tons of Nordic humour. What can we say except that we all deeply enjoyed it?

It can be said with no exaggeration: tonight’s show saw an incredibly high level among all the performances and represents everything we want to see during the Eurovision season. Norway’s national broadcaster NRK put together a masterpiece.

But let’s focus on what matters. As we have been seeing for the past five weeks, the Norwegian national selection to the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam could be compared to the continental reference: Sweden’s Melodifestivalen. 26 songs were selected to compete, only 12 made it to the final.

12 to start as the points they want to get

12 acts were competing in tonight’s final. Six of them qualified through one of the five semi-finals organised in the past five weeks, whereas the other six were selected by NRK to directly qualify for the final. NRK revealed the details at the beginning of December after completing the selection of between 800 and 1’000 submissions. Blåsemafian ft. Caroline ‘Hazel’ Teigen qualified from semi-final 1, Raylee from semi-final 2, Emmy from semi-final 3, KiiM from semi-final 4, IMERIKA from semi-final 5 and Jorn from the wild card show.

This was tonight’s running order:

1. Atle Pettersen – World on fire
2. Raylee – Hero
3. Stavangerkameratene – Bardndomsgater
4. KiiM – My lonely voice
5. Blåsemafian ft. Caroline ‘Hazel’ Teigen – Let loose
6. Emmy – Witch woods
7. TIX – Fallen angel
8. Kaja Rode – Feel again
9. Rein Alexander – Eyes wide open
10. IMERIKA – I can´t escape
11. KEiiNO – Monument
12. Jorn – Faith bloody faith

About the show

Silje Nordnes, Ronny Brede Aase and Kåre Magnus Bergh hosted the show. As for the semi-finals and the wild card show the televote counted for 100% of the votes. The Norwegian audience entirely decided on their representative in Rotterdam!

The night started with the performance of Ulrikke and her Attention. Albeit in a revamped version, she performed the winning act of Melodi Grand Prix 2020 and therefore selected to represent Norway at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam, unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The last ones

After the first round of televote, the hosts announced the four acts that advanced to the second round of vote. They were:

• Blåsemafian ft. Caroline ‘Hazel’ Teigen – Let loose
• KEiiNO – Monument
• Jorn – Faith bloody faith
• TIX – Fallen angel

As interval act Helene Bøksle took to the stage with the emotional entry Einn.

The final one-on-one

Excitement was the word as Silje Nordnes announced the last two entries standing in the last round of vote. They were

1. KEiiNO – Monument 
2. TIX – Fallen angel

Therefore, after yet another round of performances, the suspense reached the zenith as Ulrikke got back on stage to perform her new hit Falling apart. We were just moments away from the much anticipated announcement…

The trio and Tix went back on stage for the results from the Norwegian regions. This is how it went:

1. TIX – Fallen angel – 380’033
2. KEiiNO – Monument – 281’043

Therefore, TIX with the song Fallen angel was declared winner of Melodi Grand Prix 2021 and will therefore represent the Scandinavian country at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam next May! TIX will jump on stage in the second half of the first semi-final on Tuesday 18 May 2021. Let’s appreciate tonight’s winning performance once again:

Norway in Eurovision

The Scandinavian country joined Eurovision in 1960 and has competed a total of 58 times. They won three times: in 1985 with the well-remembered La det swinge from the duo Bobbysocks, then again in 1995 with another iconic entry from Secret Garden (Nocturne). Additionnally, the latest victory arrived in 2009 with the Eurovision-celebrity Alexander Rybak and his Fairytale.

Can TIX bring a fourth victory for Norway? Let us know with a comment below!