Last Saturday KEiiNO took “Spirit In The Sky” to a higher level as they won Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix. The Sami-Norwegian group were the clear fan favourites beforehand, winning both our poll and topping our Wiwi Jury rankings.

Norway’s broadcaster NRK has now revealed that KEiiNO were indeed the televote favourite as the group gathered the majority of the votes in each round, leaving the other contestants well behind. Eventual runner-up Adrian Jørgensen did not came close, though he distanced himself from the pack behind him.

The most striking part of the results is perhaps the low number of votes for the third and fourth place acts, compared to the top two. It was a clear two-horse race between Adrian and KEiiNO. But it was also a contest with rather low voter turnout.

The low number of votes may not reflect a lack of enthusiasm for the songs, but rather the fact there were simply a lower number of viewers this year compared to other years. For the first time since 2014, the last year containing semi-finals, Melodi Grand Prix did not reach more than a million viewers.

Melodi Grand Prix 2019 Gullfinalen televoting results

KEiiNO – “Spirit In The Sky” – 98,324 votes
Adrian Jørgensen – “The Bubble” – 55,794 votes
D’Sound – “Mr. Unicorn” – 11,123 votes
Anna-Lisa Kumoji – “Holla” – 6,718 votes

Melodi Grand Prix 2019 Gullduellen televoting results

KEiiNO – “Spirit In The Sky” – 231,937
Adrian Jørgensen – “The Bubble” – 162,608

Monsters in the sky?

Though a clear winner in MGP, KEiiNO have not avoided controversy, as some fans compared the Eurovision-friendly sounding dance-pop song to Saara Aalto’s “Monsters”. KEiiNO member Tom Hugo told Aftenposten that he could understand why people pointed out similarities, but denied any form of plagiarism.

“The melody of both ‘Monsters’ and ours consists of four notes that are part of a minor chord. The rhythm and length of the notes are not alike, and these four notes are found in many other tunes.”

Read all our Norway news here

Picture: JULIA MARIE NAGLESTAD / NRK

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Yaa
Yaa
5 years ago

Of course Wiwi will not mention the Romanian official inquiery about Esc’s entry’s plagiarism that was solved as ok because it’s too old and there’s nobody to claim it’s rights, as if that is a badge of honour! I think the subject Romania/ my comments will be banned here forever, I just try my luck now. And bye the way, these Sisters are kindda cool.

Álex
Álex
5 years ago

I’m done with plagiarism nonsense.

Srdjan Savic
Srdjan Savic
5 years ago

It will do much better than Monsters. It is a top 10 song IMO.

Dawid
Dawid
5 years ago

Maybe not “Monsters”, but when I heard it for the first time I was like “Wait a second… I know this song.”. Still no idea what I was thinking about, but there has to be some song with really similar chorus. Any idea?

Kim
Kim
5 years ago
Reply to  Dawid

I have the same feeling about 8 bars if the song sounds like monsters from last year .i inially thougt I was hearing things but I went to you tube after hearing this song and thought oh dear do they realize it is the chorus of Monster how unfortunate

DDD
DDD
5 years ago

The combination of modern and traditional music. Electropop and folk music

Charles
Charles
5 years ago

Denial … everybody’s favourite new hobby these days. Plus … the “it doesn’t matter that we have no originality in our song” mentality is uprising in such an outstanding more then ever fast speed that … where is music going with this? Nobody cares anymore about anything … just wash, rinse, repeat and everybody is fine … It’s a party they say …

Liane
Liane
5 years ago

Did they reveal the results of the first round as well… how close was it for En livredd mann?

Colin
Colin
5 years ago
Reply to  Liane

They didn’t reveal it. They still haven’t published the 5th-10th place results of past years, so I guess that’s not what they do. Judging by the fact that ELM was the only song that received a jury ‘star’ and didn’t qualify to top 4, I think it’s safe to assume he was 5th or at least 6th.

Ivar
Ivar
5 years ago
Reply to  Colin

As a Norwegian Eurovision fan, I am pretty sure Mørland was downvoted by the international juries. Mørland has a solid fan base in Norway, and he got a lot of attention before the final. Also, the songs that ended in spots 3 and 4 got very few votes by the Norwegian televoters. I dont think «Mr Unicorn» would have reached the final if it werent for the high marks that song got from the «professional» international jurors…

Ivar
Ivar
5 years ago
Reply to  Ivar

I was gutted when Mørland was robbed of a place in the top 4. Musically, he had by far the best song on offer.

keith mawson
keith mawson
5 years ago
Reply to  Ivar

since his wife is English and he spends a great deal of time here he should enter for the Uk maybe one year.

Yssy
Yssy
5 years ago

Is Eurovision dying? So many countries with lower viewerships. I’m kind off worried. Where are all the fans going to?

Frisian esc
Frisian esc
5 years ago
Reply to  Yssy

It’s mostly because television broadcasting itself is dying because of on demand competitition like netflix.

Loin dici
Loin dici
5 years ago
Reply to  Yssy

Or host country effect, but maybe not possible.

Cookie Nation
Cookie Nation
5 years ago
Reply to  Yssy

Eurovision is very far from dying. The impact it has now would be unthinkable only 10years go. Just compare Jerusalem 1999 to what we are getting this year. But sometimes preselections need a shake up to attract viewers again, and i think thats the case with the nordics right now. Still, they come from very high levels.

Its also true that youtube and netflix are taking away ppl from telly but you have to admit EBU is doing really well with social media and that helps to viralise and adapt to the new times.

Denis
Denis
5 years ago

Just because they use the same notes as every other song doesn’t mean it’s plagiarism
The song though should do better than Monsters but not top 10.

Srdjan Savic
Srdjan Savic
5 years ago
Reply to  Denis

It will be top 10.

keith mawson
keith mawson
5 years ago
Reply to  Denis

I do hear a little of Monsters but not that much. It has its own identity. It also reminds me of Afterglow from Norway’s entries a few years ago when Icebreaker won. Think it was 2nd.

Rainer1
Rainer1
5 years ago

Replay is fuego and spirit in the sky is monster. Who does not hear that, is deaf.

Loin dici
Loin dici
5 years ago

… Nordic language?

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
5 years ago

Similar does not mean plagarised!

Colin
Colin
5 years ago

This doesn’t sound like Monsters. There are some clear examples of copying, but this ain’t one. Just because it’s a Nordic upbeat pop doesn’t mean it’s similar.

Marcelo
Marcelo
5 years ago

Could happen but I don’t see it happening. “Spirit on the Sky” could earn some points from juries, at least more than what “Monsters” did.