After weeks of thrilling semi-finals, Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix 2023 reached its epic conclusion. Nine artists sang, but one prevailed. Alessandra will sing “Queen of Kings” for Norway at Eurovision 2023.
The MGP final lineup saw 2020 champ Ulrikke return, looking to reclaim her crown after COVID-19 snubbed her of Eurovision glory. Elsewhere, Wiwi Jury favourite Jone opened the show. But it was wiwibloggs readers’ favourite Alessandra who came out on top, winning both the public and the jury votes.
Melodi Grand Prix 2023: Alessandra wins with “Queen of Kings”
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Nine artists competed in the Melodi Grand Prix 2023 final. In order of appearance, they were:
- Jone — “Ekko inni meg”
- Eline Thorp — “Not Meant to Be”
- Skrellex — “Love Again”
- Ulrikke Brandstorp — “Honestly”
- Umami Tsunami — “Geronimo”
- Atle Pettersen — “Materpiece”
- Swing’it — “Prohibition”
- Elsie Bay — “Love You in a Dream”
- Alessandra Mele — “Queen of Kings”
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The winner was determined by a 50-50 combination of international jury votes and public televotes.
Jury vote
- Alessandra — “Queen of Kings” — 104 points
- Atle Peterssen — “Masterpiece” — 94 points
- Ulrikke — “Honestly” — 60 points
- Elsie Bay — “Love You In a Dream” — 49 points
- Eline Thorp — “Not Meant to Be” — 42 points
- Jone — “Ekko inni meg” — 40 points
- Umami Tsunami — “Geronimo” — 19 points
- Skrellex — “Love Again” — 14 points
- Swing’it — “Prohibition” — 9 points
Public vote
- Alessandra — “Queen of Kings” — 129 points
- Ulrikke — “Honestly” — 78 points
- Swing’it — “Prohibition” — 43 points
- Skrellex — “Love Again” — 40 points
- Elsie Bay — “Love You in a Dream” — 34 points
- Jone — “Ekko inni meg” — 30 points
- Umami Tsunami — “Geronimo” — 30 points
- Atle Pettersen — “Masterpiece” — 28 points
- Eline Thorp — “Not Meant to Be” — 18 points
Overall vote
- Alessandra — “Queen of Kings” — 233 points
- Ulrikke — “Honestly” — 138 points
- Atle Pettersen — “Masterpiece” — 128 points
- Elsie Bay — “Love You in a Dream” — 83 points
- Jone — “Ekko inni meg” — 70 points
- Eline Thorp — “Not Meant to Be” — 60 points
- Skrellex — “Love Again” — 54 points
- Swing’it — “Prohibition” — 51 points
- Umami Tsunami — “Geronimo” — 49 points
How do I watch Melodi Grand Prix?
You can watch Melodi Grand Prix online via NRK. The final will remain available for catch-up after broadcast.
Do you agree with the winner? How will Alessandra fair in Liverpool? Let us know in the comments below.
It’s a copy of “Klara Hammarström – Run to the hills” from Swedish Melodifestivalen 2022. Even the stage performance and clothing is super similar. The chorus is 99% the same.
This song sounds like the song “Paddy And The Tats – Ship Will Sail”.
And… I LOVE it! love the vibe and I love her voice!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNqZ-HxqSdY
all songs so far are awful .This one is simply bad .
I don’t understand the success of this song. For me is old and cheap. It reminds me of Ruslana winning with Ukraine almost 20 years ago!!!! We are in 2023!!
I listened to this song just once yesterday and I have had the “you Queen of the kings” stick in my head the whole night. I have even woken Up in the Middle of the night to go to the bathroom and the first thing that came to my mind was “you Queen of the kings” and I dont even know if that is exactly what she sings.
Please add some light to the staging, it looks too dark in my opinion. Good luck Norway!
Welcome to Eurovision – it happens all the time!
This is a tough one! Must admit that Alessandra was at the bottom of my list with Ulrikke and Tsunami-boys (voted Atle P on the night). That said – I believe this will do well in Eurovision. Televoting will rarely guranatee quality, but hey-ho – that’s part of the Eurovision game fun …
Typo: part of the Eurovision fun …
Yes, generally speaking it is an OK song. Personally, I don’t like that it just sounds like so many other songs – the first time I heard it I was so focused on thinking that it sounded like Run to the Hills…which itself sounded like many other songs.
Run to the hills, I’m making it on my own
This song will do pretty well at the Eurovision, most of Eurovision cliches are met here. Out of it, well…
Klara H was walking last year, so Alessandra could run 😉 I am Happy !!!
Just love how blind people can’t see what a good Eurovision song is. It’s either sad or laughable or maybe even predictable.
It will do well in the eurofinal as well. If you don’t like this song, you are one of those who like songs noone else does. Happy I’m not you. This one will win the televote, unless you pathetic vote the ukrains again, worst winner of all times 2022.
I quite dislike this song. This along with Ukraine are the only songs I dislike so far.
This should should do well in the contest. As a matter of taste, I don’t particularly like it.
I liked it the first time, but after a second listen I couldn’t help reminiscing Run to the Hills and similar songs, and that put me off
No one is saying it will do it poorly. Quite the opposite: it will likely qualify and be in the top 15 because it is a song designed for Eurovision; and that is the exact reason why it is boring, because it is designed for Eurovision.
And Ukraine gonna again and again and again …
Is this as feminist as it seems? It starts off with a description of her hair, eyes, and smile. Questions, questions.
This doesn’t do anything for me, sorry. This is just too flat and meaningless, and I feel kinda sad that Norway is becoming quite reliant on gimmicks.
Terrible song this is not going to win what a terrible terrible song to send
I’m not able to watch this for three minutes. Once again, Norway sends plastic pop with no relevance.
What a terrible song. She cant sing, afwul lyrics. Kings, wings…
If you don’t like the song is ok, but now sayinh: “She cant sing” , you must be jokin…
Hehe. It’s funny but good performance. Good luck Norway
What a tour de force this final was for Norway. Provides strong credibility to Allesandra’s dominating victory.
Great song but it’s a copy of Run to the Hills by Klara Hammarström from last Melodifestivalen. Literally the same chorus
Like the song a lot and didn’t think about but actually it is ?
So apparently Paddy and the Rats are now aware of the plagiarism of their song “Ships We Sail” and are considering pursuing legal action against the writers of “Queen of Kings”. Oh snap!
*”Ships Will Sail”, not “Ships We Sail”
Maybe both are just recycling typical standard Disney Viking themes.
Dropkick Murphys do it best.
MGP is the new melodifestivalen, great selection and a great winner that is coming top 10 at least.
Ava Max – Kings & Queens ?!
I think this could be like Azerbaijan 2021 in terms of result, unless the year turns out to be very weak.
I think Alessandra was very nervous in the final and she won’t have autotune in Eurovision which will make it harder for her.
She did not use autotune…..
With that massive support from juries and televoters this is building up to something big in May..
I mean Rybak won with a landslide and then won ESC with a landslide! Not saying this will be like that but I do expect big things !
Remember me, Rybak needed to win a golden final?
With that same kind of arguments, then John Lundvik should have won the contest in 2019 since he smashed both IJ and televote in Melodifestivalen that year.
Of course it´s not that simple. Just because you win a national final with a landslide doesn´t mean it will win ESC by a landslide.
I don´t see a winner in Alessandra but a placement aroung 8-12th place is possible, this is very simular to what Azerbaijan tried in 2021 with “Mata Hari”
Difference is that Alessandra had competition with serious contenders in the mix. Lundvik had no competition to begin with..
You also had Måns Zelmerlöw who won with a landslide, the biggest Mello winner ever and managed to win ESC. At the same time Rybak also managed to win with a landslide despite having fierce competition.
Måns didn´t have any competition back in 2015 either
Which was the main contenders to Alessandra in the Norwegian final, only Ulrikke.
Alessandra will only have a chance of a top 5 finish if this turns out to be a weak year, otherwise aroung 10.12th place
Well, in 2015 there was Jon henrik and Mariette for Måns to beat. Even Eric Saade was seen as a rival. And in ESC there was like 10 other acts that could have easily won too.
Alessandra had Ulrikke, Atle. Even Jone and Elsie Bay were contenders.
Not saying Alessandra will win ESC but I do believe she will end up very high..
German “Puffmutter Layla”, Partysong and banger in summer 2022 goes musical: Well, not really my favourite. Will do well, suppose somewhere in the middle.
I think this will do very well. I mean-it’s a little retro early 00s Eurovision shades of Ruslana win—but Denmark just got top 10 not long ago with Viking song and this isnt that far off from Spirit in the Sky….so this plays into that Nordic schtick Europeans think it’s what Scandinavians hear all the time. I think it’s waaaay more of an earworm than Efendi’s track. It’s win will depend on jury votes and running order.
Was this the fan favourite? The song sounds way too familiar to other songs done before. Also it feels so made up and fake. And she really doesn’t have to dress up like a gladiator to make her point.
Was that a Gladiator suit? Lol, it looked more like a space military alien suit.
well, most songs sound familiar to other songs. Otherwise everybody would be forced to come up with brand new sounds all the time..
But in some cases, familairity is what makes the song work. Like in this case. You know it sounds like other songs but also does its own thing.
Yes, but this is a cheaper version of what we’ve already seen. If Sweden sent this to Eurovision it would be called unathentic and unoriginal. But it’s totally fine now because it’s Norway. It really doesn’t make any sense and every year it’s the same thing.
Sounds like Efendi 2.0, and I don’t mean this in a good way.
Literally Efentix
I LOVE this song…. And I am not usually a fan of this kind of music .
She needs to work on her diction. I can’t understand a word she’s singing.
Thats your problem
Congratulations Norway but your song in 2022 was at least more unique. This one looks similar to Run to the Hills from Melodifestivalen 2022. Also, I didnt like her voice
I loved the Wolves… as per this, since the first time I heard it, I realized it was actually Run to the Hills.
Average Eurovision song, a very likely qualifier for the finals.
But Norway has become so predictable in their selection. Always campy and kitsch, no variations at all (Ulrikke never got to perform her ballad in 2020)
Don’t forget the gimmicks and the Nordic schtick too
For those saying that this copied Run To The Hills, Run To The Hills copied Thunder by LUMIX. So you may call it double plagiarism
It’s not plagiarism of Run To The Hills. It’s plagiarism of Ship We Sail by Paddy And The Rats.
It’s called a music genre. It’s Slap House with a Psy-Trance bass drop. Nobody is copying anything. Regarding “Ship We Sail”. I made a song pretty much identical (different key and slight melody) to “Queen of King” last summer, and was considering entering it in MGP. I ended up submitting a different song, but point is that. You can easily make this melody without copying anyone. Also, if we want to talk about plagiarism. The chorus in “Ship We Sail” is ending with identical notes as Pirate’s of Carribean “Black Peal” theme. So if Paddy & the Rats is Suing… Read more »
The comment section doesn’t like emojis. My ???? Is 3x hearts <3 <3 <3
I don’t like this, it just seems so scripted and made for Esc only type of song and it’s not innovating in any way. I didn’t like Ulrikke song either.
Norway is overrated at ESC
I’m actually sad for Ulrikke, but the competition was incredibly tough this year. Literally I would’ve been ok with any entry in the final, except Skrellex (actually I already have all the other 8 on Spotify already lol). Congrats to Alessandra and best of luck in Liverpool, pretty sure she can easily grab a top 10!
As harsh as it sounds – I’m just glad Ulrikke didn’t win. Yes, it’s a shame she didn’t get to represent her country after Eurovision was cancelled, but it should’ve been with a better song. We may sympathise with her but the general European public won’t care at all about that and I suspect the song would’ve NQ-ed or qualified and got right side of the screen results. Also I find it quite funny that people who prefer Honestly call Queen of kings stuff such as overproduced, something we’ve heard a million times before, etc etc, when Honestly is literally… Read more »
this is the perfect outcome. the song is already shaping up to be a hit in multiple countries, and it’s great for eurovision’s brand for its entries to be known and consumed by the public like this. well done norway! and a bit of italian pride too here <3
I liked Jone, but noone can deny that Alessandra is really cool!
Congratulations to Alessandra! Let’s just hope she can sing in tune when the autotune is gone! I hope so, but fear the worst … Remember Stella Mwangi?
I think she sang without autotune in national final…?
Let’s hope so! Rumours have it that she didn’t. I’m very wary …
Clarification: Or rather that she did (sing with autotune)!
She sang without autotune during the final and you can clearly hear it with a note that she failed. However, the soundtrack was really loud and I think it helped to have her voice on it. Anyway, she sang pretty well so I’m confident for Eurovision.
She didn’t use autotune at all. When people use autotune you can hear it clearly (Skrellex is a good example).
This will do very well. After one listen, the melody is still in my head. A joyous package.
Norway will qualify.
yeeees go alessandra
this is so kitsch! back to the 200s!
Wow. They plagiarized “Ship We Sail” by Paddy And The Rats
you’re right!
And thousands of other pirate themed folk rock, folk metal songs. That opening is very common within the genre.
is the winner one of these four potential winners?
ask for a friend.
It’s solid and won’t look out of place at Eurovision at all. However, I feel like Norway had options here that would’ve been a bit more exciting. It’s a fine choice but just a bit underwhelmed that this came down to QoK and Honestly.
To be honest, with many countries picking songs that don’t really belong on a Eurovision level so far, it’s good that Norway and Spain brought something better.
Lol bye Ulri?ke..very prepotent.
We suport Ales from Spain,top 10 finish for sure
It just crossed my mind that Alessandra will possibly open the Eurovision 1st semi. And it’ll be a good choice, in case it really happens.
I could see it as an opener, but we’ll have to see what the other countries in the first half will bring.
Let’s see: If “Nevera” wins in Croatia, it doesn’t sound like an opener, too folk for it. I don’t remember if there’s a strong pop song in English in contention there. Wild Youth has an anthemic song, but Alessandra has the upper hand here. The Latvian contenders aren’t exactly accessible for a wider audience, so I would count they off from this task. I’m not following the Maltese selection, but I doubt they’ll have something strong enough to open the show there, based on the comments I’ve read. Portugal may have a more upbeat winner this time, but more to… Read more »
There’s really not much home to write about for Malta in my opinion, but I could see it get placed in the number two spot.
I know she will win when her spotify listener beat Vicco – Nochentera