The four last semi-finalists graced the Melodi Grand Prix 2020 stage during the fifth semi-final of Norway’s Eurovision selection. And in the end it was Liza Vassilieva who won the very last ticket to the final in Trondheim with the song “I Am Gay”.
Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix 2020 Results
Tonight’s semi-final was the fifth out of five. It focused on artists whose origins lie in Northern Norway, the home of Eurovision 2016 contestant Agnete and KEiiNO’s Fred Buljo.
It saw Elin & The Woods, Jenny Jensen, Kevin Boine and Liza Vassilieva battle for a spot in the final, while automatic qualifier Tone Damli performed her mid-tempo track “Hurts Sometimes” for the first time.
In each semi-final, only one act could qualify for the MGP 2020 final. In total, twenty sang for five tickets to the grand final over the past five weeks. Next week, these five semi-final qualifiers will meet five automatic qualifiers.
To earn a ticket for the final, each of the semi-finalists has to battle another semi-finalist first. The two winners of the battles proceed to the “Gullduel” (“Golden duel”), and the winner wins the right perform in Trondheim during the Melodi Grand Prix final. Unlike previous years, the winner is determined by online voting through the Norwegian broadcaster’s website.
MGP 2020 Semi-final five duels
First duel: Jenny Jensen vs Elin & The Woods
The first duel of the night was Jenny Jensen against Elin & The Woods. Elin & The Woods came out on top. That meant Jenny Jensen had to leave the competition.
Jenny Jensen with “Mr. Hello” at Melodi Grand Prix 2020
Elin & The Woods with “We Are As One” at Melodi Grand Prix 2020
Second duel: Kevin Boine vs Liza Vassilieva
In the evening’s second duel, we saw Kevin Boine battle it out with Liza Vassilieva. Liza Vassilieva obtained the last ticket for the Gullduel.
Kevin Boine with “Stem på mæ” at Melodi Grand Prix 2020
Liza Vassilieva with “I Am Gay” at Melodi Grand Prix 2020
Gullduel: Elin & The Woods vs Liza Vassilieva
Having both won their respective duels earlier that night, Elin & The Woods and Liza Vassilieva progressed to the Gullduel. There could only be one winner, and tonight that was Liza Vassilieva. We’ll see her again at the grand final.
Tone Damli with “Hurts Sometimes” at Melodi Grand Prix 2020
The second of five pre-qualified acts also performed — MGP 2009 runner-up Tone Damli with “Hurts Sometimes”.
Melodi Grand Prix 2020 semi-final five scoreboard
1. Liza Vassilieva with “I Am Gay” – advanced to the final
2. Elin & The Woods with “We Are As One” – eliminated
3/4. Jenny Jensen with “Mr. Hello” – eliminated
3/4. Kevin Boine with “Stem på mæ” – eliminated
Are you happy that with tonight’s result? Should someone else have made the final instead? Let us know in the comments.
Follow all of our Norway Eurovision 2020 news.
Picture credit: NRK
The fact that she wrote this song for another person to sing doesn’t make her straight.
You think that’s Liza’s intention, basically. I wonder if Liza has read the comments here.
Ask yourself, if she took the word “gay” out of her song, would she have qualified?
Then we would have had to guess what the word is, so yes it might have qualified anyhow for being a bit less “on the nose”. 🙂
Haha if they went that route, I’d like to think we all could crack that oh-so-subtle code involving rainbows etc.
Well this sort of nonsense took Ireland to the final in 2018 with a very poor song; can’t blame them for trying their luck
It’s just a filler for the Final.. This cheesy dated and cheap song will NEVER win..
So cheap !!
Hideous . Laughable
To me it feels like a white person in black face, no matter the well intentions…
Is she not gay?
Never mind, I see she’s not.
Okay, fine, I watched the winner anyhow. My first thought was a callback to the South Park movie (1999); those who have seen that will understand what I mean. Beyond that, the song is a very clear example of “cultural appropriation”. Whether this is in a positive or a negative way is up to the viewer to decide. The presentation reminds me of different time; the early 2000s time (pre social media). I really enjoyed those years, so the song doesn’t feel negative to me. However, I would understand if the younger generation now would react negatively to this song.… Read more »
You make a good point re: gay vs black, but the hard fact remains she is not gay, so she really shouldn’t be singing about being gay. Also, trotting out cliches like “dancing on the rainbow” is really wrong – I am not gay but I’d be surprised if all gay people lived that stereotype. Imagine she’d painted her face black, sang, “I just wanna listen to rap music, ‘cause I am black”, whilst doing a rap song? I know you don’t come out as black, but I think being gay is as innate as the colour of your skin,… Read more »
It’s not pride if you aren’t queer. The pride becomes pandering.
It’s a hard pass for me.
Since when did we start shaming allies for normalizing homosexuality? Not many years ago, this would have been welcomed with open arms. Come on now, guys, this is as inoffensive as it gets, you must truly be far too priveleged if you’re offended by this. This is positive, uplifting and refreshing. Place your bigoted hatred elsewhere, enjoy the message, and enjoy the music. This eurovision season has been the most negative from the fans by far! Let’s not forget the spirit of the contest.
Um no. She has privilege over me so I have every right to be upset with her for trying to capitalize off of my community.
A song is a shallow display of so-called allyship. It’s performative and she is clearly just using gay people for popularity.
I rather enjoyed this season so far. 2018 & 2019 were the most negative seasons that I experienced in recent years. 2020 hasn’t yet come close to that so far. There has been much praise and hope from the fans. The questioning surrounding this song is a genuine question, because it would seem to be about “cultural appropriation”. Whether it is positive or negative is just a matter of opinion. My opinion is that the entry is trying to be positive, but suffers from being dated, circa year 2000. Culture has moved on since then.
I definitely don’t want to shame Lisa. I am not gay, I consider myself an ally, but I wouldn’t dream of guessing what the experience of being gay is like. I will support the importance of gay rights passionately, but I don’t think I should be presuming what that experience is like.
It’s impossible for me to explain discovering being gay in a short comment, and it is different for everyone. My experience was that others saw it of me as a child, bullied me for it and told me to end my life. I didn’t understand the problem until I was much older. But maybe if there were adults like Liza in the early part of my life, that time would have been happier for me. Because if it is okay for her to sing in public about being gay, then surely it would be okay for me to exist in… Read more »
Just send Ulrikke thanks
Is it just me or did anyone else’s internal 5-year old giggle a little whenever the announcer said “I am gay”.
For a song to be shortlisted and officially becoming and entry in MGP it’ll probably be listened to by a lot of people. How on earth did no one stop her? Changing the lyrics to an actual gay-ally song could’ve saved her maybe. Something like “I love gays”…
Guys chill down, i am gay will never win. I think ulrikke, Raylee, Rein, Tone & Magnus are the songs that will compete for the victory next week. I am hoping for ulrikke, but wouldn’t be mad to see Raylee or tone take it.
touch wood
“I Am Gay” sounds and looks like 2002 and not like 2020.
The semi we didn’t need. The winner/finalist we didn’t need.
I have to admit, I have managed to avoid watching “I am gay” so far because of the backlash. However, I will evidently now not be able to avoid watching it in the final, so I really hope it is not as offensive as some commenters make it out to be.
I wouldn’t say it’s offensive, she is kind and genuine, it’s just of bad taste. Offensive would be stereotypical and outright harmful to the gay community, while this, a straight person singing “I am gay”, is just a tad ignorant.
Her song was the worst of the semi.
True. Elin and the woods should have won
I am not gay but I feel offended for gay people. Substitute gay for black and there would be a whole world of trouble.
The closest that I can equate it to personally is if someone posh sang I am working class. It’s what Pulp’s Common People was written for and is spot on.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t she straight? Like, not to get political but for a straight woman to sing “I am gay”… it feels a little bit odd. I’d be fine if she were singing lyrics like “It’s ok to be gay” or “love is love” (or other ally-friendly lyrics) but this doesn’t hit right. She said on ig that she wrote it for someone else to sing but mgp asked her to sing it. She seems so nice and a genuine ally but… honey this isn’t your song to sing. To think that actual gay artists get… Read more »
This was the wrong choice and it’s because the singer for the song is a straight woman, not gay 🙂
Oh dear. That wasn’t the right decision.
Guess you guys decided you already had enough good songs in your final and went with something different.
I believe Elin & The Woods would be a much better addition to the final lineup. Some decisions the Norwegian audience has made so far give me chills when I think about what can happen in the final. Here hoping for the best.
Uh, probably not. Persson sisters, Sab. It’s Persson sisters writing that track.
Even a blind pig finds a truffle every once in a while…
It will be crazy if Norway does not choose Ulrikke. They are now topping odds just because of her.
At this point, I think the only person that stands a chance of beating Ulrikke is Raylee and even then, people have heard similar songs at eurovision. I think Raylee has already obtained a certain victory already (over 1 million spotify plays – currently #44 on the daily spotify charts for Norway and seemingly rising) and with the upcoming MGP final will probably rack up even more views/hits – maybe even get on the charts? Such success isn’t as typical for regular MGP participants who don’t get through to Eurovision.
“I am Gay” is cheesy af but it easily became a guilty pleasure after first listen, I’m not mad Liza Vassilieva won the semifinal tonight although I would’ve been equally happy if Elin & The Woods won too as I liked their song better than their last effort. I’ve seen a lot of angry commenters venting about a straight person singing a song about being openly gay, are straights not allowed to be allies or even portray gay characters in films and sitcoms? Liza has explained in interviews she had wrote the song without intending to sing it and after… Read more »
wtf are you doing Norway?
Yeah, Whatever…
Jeez im heading back into the closet
I am Gay is the best song of semi final 5! So, Bravo for the win..and now the grand final! I think Raylee will win
Such a nightmare
Wtf was this?
Wut? Ok, Norway – you do you.
Oh god. Yuk
No one’s talking about Tone Damli. That just says it all.
Song was beyond underwhelming. I think her ‘brand’ was the thing keeping her going and once I took her away I realised the song is nothing special. I do think NRK want one of the pre-qualifiers to win to be honest (plus Raylee).
Thank u next
I must admit I am VERY disappointed with Tone’s song. I expected a lot more, she kept to her genre but the key change is just a massive no from me.
I think Akuvi would be a very interesting choice for Norway and the one I am backing. However, Raylee or Ulrikke would do very well and both would score well.
Akuvi just has the edge, but my impression is that the broadcaster wants Ulrikke to win (I noticed how her snippet for the finalists was the longest…and most effective).
Ulrikke is my choice but Akuvi is a choice I could get behind- it’d be nice to hear Norwegian at ESC and the song sounds contemporary and cool. It is a grower though which is a bit concerning in the ESC context, but she’s the only other direct finalist other than Ulrikke who really deserved her pre qualified status.
I 100% agree! Ulrikke is good, but to an extent she has been seen before. I am certain she will win because she’ll pull out all the stops for the final.
I really like the vibe of it, I get the All The Feels similarities but it is all positive! I cannot stress how much I want Akuvi! But I also know how much Ulrikke wants to go to Eurovision.
So glad I can’t/don’t make this choice – I don’t think I would be able to!
This was just some strange queerbaiting to be honest
Also, I have the exact same top three!
I didn’t watched semi final 5 because all the songs are boring. I’m glad that Dotter and Anna are direct til final
xdxd
With this title she can just stand silent on the stage for 3 minutes and she will qualify.
LOL
I love being gay. I HATE HATE HATE this. I never hate anything. But I hate THIS. It’s abysmal. The worst song Moldova would ever dare sending to Eurovision is better than this.
Well I’m glad that you’re gay about you being gay. 🙂
I’m glad that you are glad that Mr Vanilla Bean is gay about being gay. 🙂
I’m glad you both are glad. 😛
Too bad Elin and the Woods didn’t make it to the final 🙁
At first i was kinda disappointed because she’s straight, but after the pre performance interviews, she seems genuinely sweet! In the end, the performance was fantastic and fun, and that’s all that matters
Exactly! I’m very happy that this song won the semi final. They deserved it. It was cute and happy.
Bravo!
I thought she was singing about herself so I thought she was gay. I’m a bit disappointed now too. How do you know she’s straight? Did she say so?
Yes, she said they wrote it after pride month and that they sent it to mgp as an afterthought(that’s why she sang on the demo) and mgp said they liked the song and wanted her to sing it
I hope Norway choose attention or wild
Well done to Liza but she ain’t winning MGP 2020. Just hope the Norwegians vote for songs over names regarding Ulrikke and Tone next week.
How direct the chorus is. The title. The trashy 2000’s-teen-disney show-intro song-energy.
LOVE IT
Huh. Ok.