Saturday night and the air is getting hot. Especially in Norway, where Melodi Grand Prix 2024 kicked off tonight with the first of three semi-finals.
18 acts are battling it out to become Norway’s next Eurovision entry, and six of them competed in tonight’s semi-final 1 for three golden tickets to the grand final on 3 February.
Qualifiers from MGP semi-final 1
- Mathilde SPZ ft. Chris Archer & Slam Dunk – “Woman Show” (out)
- Fredrik Halland – “Stranded” (out)
- Myra – “Heart on Fire” (out)
- GOTHMINISTER – “We Come Alive” (qualified)
- Ingrid Jasmin – “Eya” (qualified)
- Margaret Berger – “Oblivion” (qualified)
Melodi Grand Prix 2024
This year will see three semi-finals held in NRK studios in Oslo with 3 songs qualifying from each semi-final to make a line-up of 9 songs in the final, which will be held in Trondheim Spektrum on 3 February.
The qualifiers from the semi-finals are decided 100% by televote, while the final will have 60% televote and 40% international jury deciding the result.
Did your favourites qualify? Were you surprised by the result? Let us know in the comments below.
Okay the best songs are going through, no question about that…And yet I don’t know…i’m a bit confused…
Great everything with Myra song!!! Funny that this kind of nice melodies are not anymore wanted to esc?!
But then they will choose horrible Keiino at least to final and maybe send it to esc. Seems that quite often
in esc national finals there is stupid easy kids melodies like Keiino or melody waste like Ireland Alisha and Bambie Thug. Or national final like Moldova most of the songs horrible with singers who doesn’t know how to sing.
The three qualifiers were exactly who I predicted would go to the final.
And! The null points goes to…. Norway! 🙂
Disaster.
I love Gothminister’s song but the staging is weak. The dancers must be creepier and their choreography is not up to par. They need to work more on the staging. Otherwise, I love it.
The song Eya is a combination of Cyprus Ela and Israel’s Noel’s dance break.
Oblivion was my favorite studio version, after seeing the live performance I’m not a fan.
I’m a little disappointed, I thought Margaret could’ve placed top 5 in Malmo.
Someone at the NRK department of styling needs to stop with that grey obsession for upbeat songs. First Monument by Keiino in their SF (why would they use grey colour for a song like Monument?!) then Oblivion. This doesn’t bring anything to the visual. There are so many ways to make a dark electropop song stand out … this is not it.
I agree with some of the comments. Margaret is a great singer but this staging gave me a weird feeling. Starting with the outfit that wasn’t fitting at all. Wrong choice of color and of style. The song is called Oblivion. Go with something that reminds of it. And even though there were some nice ideas for the staging, it just doesn’t match. Now that being said, it was clearly the best tonight for me. Gothminister was nice to see and will be enjoyable for the MGP final but that’s it. It’s kitschy as hell and it is the king… Read more »
Take love higher to ‘Oblivion’: What sort of colour and style evokes this concept?
Answers on a postcard, please. 🙂
I’m no stylist but I would definitely not go for grey. It’s maybe a bit to dark but I would go for black with a mix of sparkling/glittering and soft fabrics. Maybe a bodysuit? ? As I said, I’m not a stylist.
Kaleidoscopic supernova hurtling toward a black hole?
Big agree that We Come Alive has similarities to Blood & Glitter. I don’t think it’ll do well at Eurovision. But yeah, fine for the final.
Gothminister is really like Dj Bobo pt. 2.
Well at least i had a good laugh…
all generics qualify, and Myra wuz robbed
Norway ur cancelled
The show was upstaged by the protests outside and a stage invasion. And rightly so!
A protest in Trondheim. What was it about?
Against Israel.
In Trondheim? That would be rather ineffective. Demonstrating in Israel or at the U.N or the ICJ would be more practical.
This heat was pretty tame, the qualifiers are alright but I don’t see an actual contender here.
Margaret’s song is fine, but nowhere near as her 2013 entry (which imo is one of ESC’s best songs of the century so far, so I get that it’s impossible to top that), and the other two are okay too but I feel indifferent towards them.
Boring and lame selection overall… meh..
Margaret was very good tonight, personally haven’t found a problem with the choreography. Maybe a change in the outfit colours could happen to make the staging a bit less darker. Loved Ingrid too, her performance was very professional and suited her song. About the quality of this year’s MGP I”ll have to differ my opinion here. Norway (and Sweden actually) does not have bad songs in general, but overally the intention seems to focus more on radio- friendly songs. The point is that this type of songs are usually not Eurovision- suitable, so we tend to judge them a bit… Read more »
So happy for Ingrid Jasmine! I think she could surprise us in terms of final result…
None of these feel like the winner. I don’t think Margaret has a chance with that “business chic” staging – it just felt like trying to be “modern” and nothing else. It felt very basic. Eya and We Come Alive were both fine on stage. I thought their staging elevated the songs, but the songs themselves aren’t really winner-material. I liked Eya’s slick opening with the “water mirage” of the sirens rising, that was a cool ode to how she spoke in her Norwegian language interview about the inspiration from fairytales of beautiful creatures luring you with their song. We… Read more »
Eya seemed like it would more suitable in a Turkish music festival lmao
I hope Ulvenham wins. Would be the best Norwegian entry since 2013
I’m also rooting for Ulveham <3 And Gåte are seasoned performers, they’ll bring it live!
Norway has chosen well tonight, but I don’t think we’ve seen the winner yet. Margaret was good but “Oblivion” didn’t excite me so much live. Gothminister were better than I expected and Ingrid is decent but feels like a filler for the MGP final.
After this first semi i can’t see anything to beat Keiino at the moment. The nearest challenger for me is Margaret but as much as Oblivion is a good song and performed well i keep thinking of her previous Eurovision song was far superior and a hard one to follow up when compared.
Gåte…
Gåte or Super Rob & Erika
Gothminister really delivered. My fav for now. The right choices were made.
Me too! Bjorn could be my favourite of the lot with that thought provoking staging!
Decent show but not sure any of those songs will do much at eurovision. Obilivion could be improved with better staging and outfits but not sure the song is memorable enough tbh. It stood out in this semi and I did enjoy Gothminister but every other song felt like it was just making up the numbers.
I have hope for “Heart on Fire” but with that kind of bland presentation it’s so lost, no wonder. Someone on comments posted about this is a weaker selection and I certainly agree because even those three qualifiers, I dont see any potential on them. Margaret is just not a mover/dancer still the same in 2013, why does she keep with uptempo beat songs where she’s not dancing all out, just a simple choreo and it wasnt beneficial for the entire performance. Gothminister gives me discomfort and it has nonsense scary lyrics, while EYA Ive been loving that sound greek/cypriot… Read more »
Oblivion and Eya!!!! I’m happy if either of those goes to Malmo
Norway made the right picks. Good job.
Gratulerer, Norge! It was a good show and the overall quality of the songs was high. Kudos, NRK! Now, regarding the songs and qualifiers. GOTHMINISTER has been my fav to win the semi (and perhaps the whole competition). It just stands out from the rest. MARGARET BERGER the song is good and the performance was the most professional one. Now, Margaret herself seemed a bit off; too confident and holding power? Did she not enjoy it? Who knows. It deserved to go through though. EYA generic song, catchy though. I d prefer it if it did not have the Foureira… Read more »
the quality of the songs really wasn’t high…
Anyone else noticing that Margaret Berger hardly sang any of the high notes in «Oblivion»?
She couldn’t, unfortunately
I actually really liked what they did with Woman Show. Shame it didn’t get through. However, Ingrid and Margaret failed to give me as great of an impact as they were hyped. Their stagings seemed a bit too generic…HOWEVER i was converted to one song when I saw it’s incredibly clever staging and the story it was telling.I am seriously getting winner vibes from this song and hope that Norway eventually send this type of song. I have become one of ‘us’..
WE COME ALIVE
I’m so so happy with these results! <3
Wasn’t the best semi I’ve ever seen. Feel Norway is weaker this year than last year.
I do have a question to wiwi…
You mention Norway often and Finland but so far no poll on Eesti Laul, which I believe is quite strong this year. No mention of them in fact. Norway Sweden Finland get plenty of attention but not countries like Estonia.
Who in my opinion have the best song so far in 5miinust and Puulup
Estonia poll when?
It’s right here, but maybe we should bump it up again some time 🙂
https://wiwibloggs.com/2023/12/09/poll-who-should-win-eesti-laul-2024-in-estonia/278645/
Cheers falky must have missed this. Specsavers
Oblivion is really good. I turned off gothminister after 30 seconds….I hate the unnerving anxious feeling that kind of thing creates….
Oblivion is overrated and hope it won’t go anywhere. What a dull song and generic melody.
It’s a good song, professionally staged and performed. Nothing too exciting though; not even close to winning the contest. BUT I have to say this:
Margaret 2013 is EPIC! One of the best entries by Norway!
Unpopular opinion: I like aoblivion better
those dancers add nothing to margaret’s performance
They just made the potential cool performance look like it’s an afterwork 5pm party on Friday with those grey suits. Hope they change it, the song deserves better.
It gave I can’t go on vibes but the costumes were not as sharp
Agree with the grey suits. Seemed off and did not stand out on stage.
Exactly. There are so many things you can make out of boring grey color! Like silver, some glitter, some metal plates …It’s Eurovision!
Same for Ingrid.
I actually think it was a pretty lackluster opening semi for MGP. Margaret’s voice is tops but the song felt like something Iceland would send and not qualify and the H&M outfits didn’t help. Ingrid’s Helvetic vibe with Benidorm looks was interesting mashup but the song ran out of lyrics 2/3s in. Gothminister’s song is too repetitive for me but given Norway’s recent track record of sending schtick, it has an inside shot of winning the whole thing with this goth metal schlager mashup. The right 3 went through. The others would have no chance I at Eurovision.
Just like last year, Semi 1 didn’t surprise with its qualifiers
I only truly felt like I was watching MGP when GOTHMINISTER, Ingrid and Margaret were performing, it was obvious they would be the 3 finalists
Good show overall, hyped for Semi 2
So happy for Ingrid Jasmine. This is something interesting and new!
Predictable qualifiers, no surprises yet. No MGP winner vibes yet.
idk, I can see Gothminster at Eurovision oddly.
If a dark horse ends up winning MGP, it’s probably Super Rob & Erika Norwich.
Though, I hope they won’t.
Not really a dark horse! One of the favourites
Since I listened to all the songs for the first time, Gothminister has stayed in my head. Good song, dance and heavy metal mash, catchy. I can see it winning MGP.
And they will stand out …
For me it’s Gothminster and Margaret! Not so much to choose from really. If Margaret reads this, please, please, change the outfits. Looks like you guys are on your way to a meeting. Gothminster was cool, but too repetitive at times. But good act. My two winners from semi 1
It got stuck in your head Gothminster did!
Indeed ?
Indeed! I mean we come alive!
Random, But The Melfest Final Won’t Be Held In Friends Arena Anymore. It Will Be Held In Strawberry Arena From Now On
But still the same arena though;-)
Wiwibloggers always knows …
Us writers or the readers? 🙂
The voters of the polls 😛 so I guess both
Fair. We could have manipulated with the poll, but we didn’t!
Not always…
When if failed last time? I mean, sure , that happend but not so often lately …
What was expected by many occured. Congrats to the qualifiers! Sad that Fredrik didn’t make it. See you all next Saturday
Just tuned in for the results… the way they announce in or out for every single participant is very Idol show like, so weird. Glad they didn’t do that for Eurovision after all, it’s demeaning. Only looked up Margaret’s performance which was solid, nice vocals, nice moves, ready for Malmö. These semis anre not very exciting but Oblivion is my first big fave this season.
I thought eya was a garentied qualifier before the show not so sure now
Woman show did what was expected though somehow a little less over the top and cringeworthy than I expected
The piano and vocalsmon stranded were way better than I expected
Heart on fire lacked the energy needed to be in serious contention
We come alive was way better than I expected they actually managed to perform a story like in the music video on stage
Oblivion was underwhelming will 100 percent qualify but her winning mgp chances are pretty low now
I agree with this take!
Congratulations to Bjørn Alexander , Ingrid and Margaret!
Bit sad for Fredrik((
And Mathilde?
Mathilde herself was really good, all that energy! But again those guys looked cringe to me.. «Raping» part was ok and fun in the beginning but then came the «air guitar»…
And many here noticed it was out of tune the whole thing.
* rapping
Congratulations to Margaret, Ingrid & Gothminster. See you in the final. 🙂
Thanks for watching the show. I hope you all had a good time. See you next week.
(Now I should check on Lithuania…)
The three I wanted to go through did, so, I’m feeling pretty chuffed.
Big protest
?outside NRK this evening – with an appropriate and polite stage invasion! Much needed to remind people!
Margaret and Ingrid were solid, Frederik and Myra nice but boring while „the Woman Show“ and „we come alive“ had definitely its fans among some 12 years old kids.
Yes perfect summary.
Am I a 12 year old kid? It was my favourite of the night.
Gothminister has been doing the thing for at least 15 years or more and these are the old fans lifted them up .
Stage invasion? Was it staged?!? Or….
Big protest for Gaza outside NRK this evening – with an appropriate and polite stage invasion! Much needed to remind people!
Big protest outside NRK this evening – with an appropriate and polite stage invasion! Hurrah for the upstaging! Much needed reminder people!
Duett was beautiful and emotional
It was the most emotional part of the show! Too pity Jan Werner did so young. Elisabeth’s performance was again excellent and the whole song was very emotional. By the way, I loooove the Duett song (since 1994, when I was just 14 years old).
It really made me almost cry. She is perfect and the way the song was intepreted with such elegance … (I was 1 year old in 1994)
I hope they won’t humilate those artists who didn’t qualify like last year…
Kind of brutal, but again, it’s a competition. Everyone knows that. No hard feelings, artists already deserve a thumbs up for their songs and efforts and for being selected to the Top 18 of MGP.
The rendition of Norway 1994 Duett (including hologram) was wonderful. Thank you Elisabeth & image. 🙂
Really wonderful and emotional. I almost cried given that Jan Werner died in 2006.