When the deadline for submitting songs to the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix 2003 expired some days ago, 450 songs had been submitted to the Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
This year was the first in six years when it was possible for the general public to submit their own songs to the Norwegian final. The broadcaster NRK is very pleased with the response, both the average quality as well as the total amount of songs. NRK did not announce whether this amount is a record-breaker or not. “It's a lot of quality among the songs, maybe a higher quality than previous years. A characteristic with this year's song material is a lower amount of ballads than usual. The near absence of the rap style is also a bit surprising,” says Stina Greaker, the chief of the project. Most of the proposed artists are unknown, but according to Greaker there are some well-known singers among them as well. The youngest is 16 years, while the oldest is close to 60. The song lyrics are English as well as Norwegian.
Who the members of the internal jury are, remains a public secret so that they won't be influenced in their choice of final songs. They will have to pick out either ten or twelve songs which will get the privilege of participating in Melodi Grand Prix 2003. The final will be held Saturday evening the 16th of February in Oslo Spektrum. The participants in the Norwegian final will most likely get to know their lucky destiny before Christmas.
