Whilst their Scandinavian neighbours have been busy preparing for their national finals, it’s been relatively quiet from Norway. That changed this morning, as we now know the ten acts competing in Melodi Grand Prix 2017 on March 11. Amongst the acts is Åge Sten Nilsen, former lead singer of Wig Wam.
The acts were revealed in a very high energy press conference by the MGP hosts, Line Elvsåshagen and Kåre Magnus Bergh. Snippets of each act are available this morning and we’ll be able to hear all ten in full next week, on February 15.
Check out all the acts below, along with a little bit more information on each of them and their song. If you click on the song title, you can hear a 15 second snippet on the NRK website:
Melodi Grand Prix 2017 — Competing Acts
1. Ammunition — “Wrecking Crew“
Ammunition are a glam rock band, in the vein of Norway’s 2005 act, Wig Wam. The lead singer is Åge Sten Nilsen — who happens to have been the lead singer of Wig Wam.
2. Ulrikke — “Places“
Ulrikke has experience in a number of contests, having performed on both Idol and The Voice in Norway. “Places” was written by Ulrikke alongside fellow Idol alumni, Tony Skjevik.
3. Amina Sewali — “Mestervek“
Amina is a star of stage, having performer and contributed to a number of productions including an adaptation The Merchant of Venice. “Mestervek” (which means “Masterpeice”) was written entirely by Amina.
4. JOWST — “Grab the Moment“
JOWST is the stage name of Joakim With Steen, a music producer and sound engineer. He’s teaming up with vocalist Aleksander Walmann, a former The Voice finalist, for their MGP entry “Grab the Moment”.
5. Kristian Valen — “You and I“
Kristian has had a massively varied career. His former roles include being a radio presenter and a very successful stand-up career. He transferred those skills in to a music career in 2004, but this is his first appearance at Melodi Grand Prix.
6. Elin & The Woods — “First Step in Faith / Oadjebasvuhtii“
“First Step in Faith / Oadjebasvuhtii” will be performed in the Sami language. Lead singer Elin Kaven has had three successful albums with her genre of “Arctic Folk Pop”. The Woods, meanwhile, is producer Robin Lynch, who wrote Margaret Berger’s “I Feed You My Love”.
7. Jenny Augusta — “I Go Where You Go“
Jenny hit the charts in 2015 with her song “Drit og dra”, or “Fuck and Drag” as it’s translated. Whilst she has a classical background, “I Go Where You Go” has a much more ethereal folk sound.
8. Ella — “Mamma Boy“
Ella took to the stage at the Oslo Spektrum for Eurovision 2010…as part of the warm-up act, that is. Ella now wants to head to Kyiv to take to the stage live. She “begged” her management to submit “Mamma Boy” to MGP after hearing the song.
9. Rune Rudberg Band — “Run Run Away“
Rune Rudberg has had a storied career, having performed over 5,000 concerts. His latest album, “Tro”, went straight to number one in Norway. He previously attempted to represent Norway in 1989 and 2001, but was not selected. Will it be third time lucky, 16 years on?
10. In Fusion — “Nothing Ever Knocked Us Over“
Three piece girl band In Fusion bring together a number of different styles of music, hence the name. Miriam was a lead singer in a rock band, Nina is a singer-songwrtier and Saima was part of former MGP 2012 group, Irresistible.
What do you think of Norway’s selection? Is there an act you think will be able to bring them back to the final? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
“WRECKING CREW“ has a clearly rock sound. “PLACES” sounds like a typical pop song. I find the music and the chorus interesting. “MESTERVEK“ has a more hypnotizing vibe. “GRAB THE MOMENT” is a pop song, I don’t really like what I hear. “YOU AND I” is obviously a ballad. I like it, but it seems dated and I don’t want too many ballads at ESC this year. “FIRST STEP IN FAITH” is interesting, seems to have sth folk in it. “I GO WHERE YOU GO” this is the FOLK Norwegian song, or it sounds like that. “MAMMA BOY” is a… Read more »
Elle would be my personal favorite from this year’s MGP. I do hope her live performance lives up to how promising her song seems.
Dear Norway, sorry BUT this is SO bad.
My favor is (AMINA SEWALI — “MESTERVEK“ ). it Kind of up beating and soul relaxing style different from most of slow ballad have won NF now.
I also like (JOWST — “GRAB THE MOMENT ) and (ELIN & THE WOODS)
and(AMMUNITION — “WRECKING CREW)
@Aaron GR –
“15 seconds of audio vs. a three minute live performance with gorgeous faces, foxy dancers, lasers, pyro, smoke, diving cameras, and a screaming crowd.”
That IS actually THE problem with ESC nowadays. The sound behind (and the lyrics) are just a noise that we “hear” while we all watch the nonsense happening on stage. And yes, 15 seconds of a song can tell a LOT. The rest of the song cannot bring you the WOW factor, no matter what.
Tbh I think WRECKING CREW is gonna win out of this selection. I like the snippet slot and I’m very intrigued about the rest of the song as it has potential to be a belter of a Eurovision song.
The rest are average imo
With a good stage setting and backup, they can make Amina’s song and performance work. I can’t say about the rest, except that Elin and the Woods will definitely be measured against whatever Jon Henrik brings to the stage in the 4th round of MF.
They aren’t that bad. Ulrikke’s snippet reminds me of Zara Larsson (which I hate with a passion). I love the songs from Jenny Augusta, the rockers, and the Sami.
AMMUNITION sounds decent,ok,but the most snippets are …disappointing :/
Most snippets sound terrible. Only Mesterverk sounds like a Meisterwerk to me. But who knows, maybe I will grab the moment by the bussy at last.
It’s Jenny for me. Very weak selection for Norway, this year. Pity..
15 seconds snippets isn’t much to go on. But so far nothing exciting. Their HoD has had one year to find 10 great entries and missed it. If we judge what he said that every song has a hit-factor then then he should resign. Only one song has potential, rest not so much.
Still only 15 seconds. 60 seconds snippet might change.
Mestervek, Places, I go where you go all seem alright
Ella and Amina are my personal favorites…but overall I don’t think this is a good selection for Norway, once again. The American in me surprisingly likes the country sound from Rune Rudberg band, but it wouldn’t do well and my like for it isn’t even that strong. Jenny and Ulrike are the only other “okay-ish” ones.
Ulrikke seems the only option here i am afraid.
I’m so glad Norway has selected a song in the Sami language, along with one in Norwegian, not just a barrage of mediocre English songs! Too soon to judge based on such a brief snippet. Let’s see them live before deciding what’s good or not, shall we? 🙂
I’m rooting for the nature chick with the antlers.
We’ll call that my environmentalist act for the year.
Once again, the female entries are all horrible. But I can see all the EuroFanwank going for Ulrike. For the average Eurofan, if it doesn’t have tits and a stupid entry, it’s not good 😛
I’m really looking forward to hearing Amina’s full song. Sounds promising… and it’s in Norwegian!
1. Ammunition – Wrecking Crew (I didn’t think I’d have to say this, but after hearing all ten, this is the one that sounds the most good so far. Of course I’ll wait till the full version before I make my final decision.) 2. Amina Sewali – Mesterverk (Like the beat in it, but still not great.) 3. Kristian Velan – You & I (Nice sounding ballad, but doesn’t sound right in a way.) 4. Rune Rudberg Band – Run Run Away (Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving the country cowboy look here, but this song isn’t going anywhere.) 5.… Read more »
While it’s difficult to judge the quality of a song from a 10-15 second snip, the acts that most interest me so far are Ulrikke and In Fusion.
I can’t judge songs with only 15 seconds available so I’ll wait until next week 😉
@Ali
Amen!! Focus on the fun!
15 seconds of audio vs. a three minute live performance with gorgeous faces, foxy dancers, lasers, pyro, smoke, diving cameras, and a screaming crowd.
Calm down and wait for the show. The negativity on this site is unbelievable this year.
I love Wrecking Crew and I Go Where You Go! First Step in Faith is also good and new
Can’t wait to hear the full song! Finally I got some fresh air in ballad year lol
LOL
Neither. Poor Norway, see ya in 2018.
Next!
You guys…these are only 15 second snippets. There’s NO way to know if, for example, there’s a great soaring crescendo in one of the ballads, or great choreography in the girl band number. We will have to wait until the MGP to find out what the whole package looks like. To say “Norway is out of the competition” is ridiculous so early.
This year I feel like people are jumping on every little thing just to be snarky or snide. Just enjoy the show, guys!
Jowst, Kristian Valen, In Fusion, and Rund Rundberg Band. Although my preference is that Morland comes back. The duet he did with Deborah Scarlett was awesome.
1. Ammunition – Wrecking Crew 2. Ulrikke – Places 3. Elin & The Woods – First Step in Faith 4. Ella – Mamma Boy These are the only songs worth writing about the rest are just semi final fodder. Wrecking Crew has a pretty nice song and not a genre we usually hear at Eurovision so it’s sure to stand out and last time Norway entered something similar with Wig Wam it got 9th purely on televoting and that was after coming last in the previous final, granted it was over 10 years ago but I believe this could do… Read more »
Lol slight overreaction here from 15 secon snippers.
Im interested to hear 1,2,3 and number 6
Really hope they dont choose song number 9!!!
I’m shocked. Terrible snippets.
Anyone know when the full length songs will be released?
This year not good songs at MGP , after snippets I think that wil be one of worst MGP in past 5 and more years in quality of songs, and we know that Norway is out of contender to win Eurovision 2017. In past few years I predict winner 2013,2015 and my favorite was 2 nd in 2014 and 4 th in 2016. My TOP 3 after snippets 1. Amina Sewali — “Mestervek“ 2. Ella — “Mamma Boy“ 3. Kristian Valen — “You and I“ I think result wili be in final MGP 1. JOWST — “Grab the Moment“ 2.… Read more »
Omg the dramatics in here… they’re just 15 second snippets y’all. Lemme get home and listen myself.
I’m excited about Elle Woods and her Sami song!
ALL are terrible.
Icebreaker (as bad as it was) is even better.
Norway must miss Freddy Kalas a lot.
Idk what NRK was thniking for picking such mediocre songs
I dont think they are as bad as people make them here tbh.
These are just 15 seconds guys, lets just chill, wait and then listen the full versions. I see potential here and there. These are at least not 10 mediocre songs that all have the same genre. I think thats a plus!
I really like Ulrikke and if she pulls of a nice show she definitely could reach the charts with the song, it has international appeal.
Actually I just reread the article saying they received 1035 songs and wanted to win again.
If these were the best out of 1035 then just imagine how truly awful the other 1025 songs were.
“i like :
AMINA SEWALI — “MESTERVEK“ and JOWST — “GRAB THE MOMENT and ULRIKKE — “PLACES“ and
AMMUNITION — “WRECKING CREW“ hope they win
How do I put this nicely?
They’re all terrible.
Seriously it’s like Norway has given up. Even the UK had better songs than this.
Aside from wrecking crew I can’t remember them.
It must have been very slim pickings. I dint even remeber NRK calling for songs so maybe other artist just forgot.
Honestly No final for Norway this year.
i like : AMINA SEWALI — “MESTERVEK“ and
AMMUNITION — “WRECKING CREW“ hope they win
Judging by the snippets they are all awful, Ulrikke is the best out of a bad situation… im not even sure any of them could qualify for the final.. Why did Norway change their Melodi Grand Prix format… Id gladly take last years runner up Freddy Kalas over all of these acts..
I’m so disappointed with the Norwegian songs… Judging by these snippents the only decent ones for me are: Elin & The Woods, Amina Sewali and Jenny Augusta. The rest seems to be quite bad…
Ulrikke is the only possible contender.
The rest are mediocre…
Based on the snippets these songs sound awful. “Places” and maybe “Grab the Moment” sound like the only decent choices
Wow, and I thought my own country had given up. It seems Norway can’t even find B-artists anymore who want to do Eurovision.
I can´t belive that this come from Norway. They use to had on of the best NF.
This is the worst NF I have ever seen. Sorry but no final again…
I like “Wrecking Crew”. “I Go Where You Go” seems quite nice, too. Nothing special though, it’s all very forgettable, but “Wrecking Crew” would stand out among the ballads and pop songs in the semi finals.
I thought Norway wants to win ESC again?
i like momma boy. sounds kinda sassy.