On Saturday Alexander Rein brought us rain, wind and fire in the second show of Melodi Grand Prix 2020, ultimately booking his spot in the February 15 final. And on Monday Norwegian broadcaster NRK revealed the four acts that will all be hoping to follow in his footsteps during Semi-final three.
They are: Thomas Løseth featuring Erika Norwich, Alexandru, Sie Gubba and Kristin Husøy.
Melodi Grand Prix 2020 – Semi-Final Three Acts (Cenreal Norway)
Thomas Løseth feat. Erika Norwich – “Vertigo”
Thomas Løseth (33) is from Fannrem in Orkdal. He won The Voice in 2017. He has been a vocalist in several bands, had countless playing jobs, been a studio musician and now works as a solo artist.He is currently working on his debut album, and several singles are scheduled for this year. Additional vocals come from Erika Norwich.
Lyrics and music by: Idar Sørensen
Alexandru – “Pink Jacket”
Alexandru Gros Grindvoll (19) from Rennebu was previously a member of the boy band Suite 16. The group released the song “Who I Wanna Be” which went double platinum. They participated in MGP 2016, placing third with “Anna Lee”.Now Alexandru returning as a solo artist. He has been covering famous songs on YouTube since he was 12, and several of his videos have over 100,000 views.
Lyrics and music by: Ruben Markussen
Sie Gubba – “Kjære Du”
Sie Gubba celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2020. It celebrated with a nationwide anniversary tour. The country-rockers are one of Norway’s biggest party bands, and with their combination of folk lyrics, driving fiddle and sing-along choruses, have played in almost every village, town and city. They have released 12 albums and took part in the MGP 2011, reaching the final with when they came to the final with the song “Alt du vil ha”.
Lyrics and music by: Magne Almås og Petter Øien
Kristin Husøy – “Pray For Me”
Kristin Husøy (18) is from Trondheim. She has played the piano since first grade. She took music as an elective at secondary school and started on the music course at High School. But after a year, she took a year off to take part in The Voice. Among other things, she is now back at school.
Lyrics and music by: Roel Rats, Marcia Thadea Angèle Sondeijker, Galeyn Tenhaeff and Neil Hollyn
MGP 2020: The five pre-qualified artists
Five artists have been pre-selected for the final in Trondheim on February 15. They are Tone Damli, Ulrikke Brandstorp, Akuvi, Didrik & Emil and Sondrey.
The five acts were selected by an internal jury — the usual method for MGP. Each of the pre-qualified acts will perform their competing song at one of the five semi-finals, to ensure that Norwegian viewers are exposed to all the competing songs prior to the grand final on 15 February.
Akuvi will showcase “Som du er” during the third semi.
Are you excited by these artists? Did you know any of them before? Let us know in the comments box down below.
It’s a great semi. All 4 songs are good. But my favorites are Vertigo and Pray For Me. Vertigo is a beautiful contemporary ballad, but they have to nail the vocals, the chemistry and stage performance… I think this could do well in Eurovision for sure. Pray For Me is really catchy and original. Kristins voice is great but I am not sure if she will be able to sing this one live… I hope so because it would have been a great Eurovision entry for Norway. I love the whistling as well, a great gimmick after last year’s clap… Read more »
Still not exactly what I’m looking for (it didn’t help that right after I’ve listened to the entries of the strong Czech selection), but my favorite semi so far, since I actually like 2 of the songs. “Vertigo” makes good use of Thomas’ and Erika’s voice. If a duo shares chemistry on the stage, they can always surprise the audience. And “Pray for Me” maybe needs a little polishing, but it’s current and I appreciate all the places Kristin’s voice can go.
“Vertigo” is wonderful ! Like the sound of real music.
Personally my favourites are kjaere du and Vertigo but the live performances could change anything. I still think SF1 was the strongest thus far.
Why does he love his pink jacket so much that he’s out of money ???
He should have gone to ANNNA and bought T shirts for just one dollar
Also how is out of Air any better than the songs in this semi ?
Vertigo for some reason reminds me of Rebecca Black’s my moment
None will beat our viking King Rein Alexander L.E.G.E.N.D
Honestly, my opinion says it should be an easy win for Sie Gubba – “Kjære Du.”
The “Pink Jacket” song could have been so much better, musically. It’s a better poetic concept than it is a song, sadly.
The duet… I wish them all the best for the future.
Kristin – Great voice, but needs a better song for ESC.
p!nk jacket – i like the energy in this song, it just needs to get rid of those random noises in the production. thought we’d left them random high pitched sounds in the 2010s
vertigo – the irrelevant male-female duet that needs to be left in the semi
pray for me – sounds like a watered down alice merton song
kjaere du – well this is some cute schlager, i’d make it go to the final for the sake of diversity and in absence of anything decent
Rein Alexander is the only chance for Norway to win televoting again
maybe they can win oblivia’s televote with that
Kristin is best. But I think Alexandru go to final
Love this semi (:
Was smiling with the country-rockers !
Live performances will help me chose, but rn I don’t care who goes to the final, I like all the songs !
Best semi so far imo
What a day for me with the outstanding CZ SF
Pink Jacket has such a deep and powerful message it should definitely win!
I actually do really enjoy all of these songs, except «Kjære du». The other 3 songs are actually quite good & I think it is definitly one of the stronger semis. I find it hard to choose my favorite tho, because i like all three, but NON of them stands out in like an amazing way, if that makes sense? But if i had to choose right now:
1. Vertigo
2. Pray for me
3. Pink Jacket
4. Kjære du.
In my opinion thats the strongest semifinal of MGP. I like all the competing songs here!
Kristin for the win! The others were forgettable but Vertigo might change my mind with the right staging
1. Kristin Husøy
2. Thomas Løseth feat. Erika Norwich
Hope Kristin Husøy or Thomas Løseth feat. Erika Norwich will win!!
I’d pray for better songs. They gotta be saving the best for the very last release, right? I am honestly dumbfounded. I normally do not have expectations but Norway were talking such a big talk and I thought they were one of the few countries able to pull off numerous good song choices. I would not listen to a single one of those songs on my own time. The only one that caught my attention were the Solli Tangens, only because Emil looks exactly like one of my former bosses. Savior Mørland, where are you?
Dunno why y’all are downvoting Mr Vanilla Bean here cos he/she/they is right
It’s he. But so true, thanks for acknowledging. You see, a lot of users here are just allergic to honest opinions, they think lovelovepeacepeace is the only acceptable opinion about everything in Eurovision. 🙂
Well, you can be a little too caustic sometimes, Bean… (which honestly puzzles me, because you can be a darling just right after) But I don’t think it wasn’t the case here. Maybe I also had higher expectations about Norway, but what MGP brought so far is not working for me. One of the things that I love about Norway in Eurovision is that they have the production values of Sweden, but adding its own charm to them. For some reason, I’m missing this charm so far.
Maybe I should change my nickname to Caustic Darling, I kinda like it. 😉 I’m not so fond of the nickname I picked anymore.
Hahaha, I’m glad you liked it. But I’m against nicknames’ changes, my memory sucks.
The picture will remain. 😉
That’s so pretentious , darling
”All the songs are terrible. Norway won’t qualify” coming in 3, 2, 1…
Guys, honestly, we are being kinda harsh to Norway. Even if not all songs are good, they’ve provided us with a quality show lasting several weeks and they deserve a credit for doing so. 🙂
Only heard third semi once and still debating on who’s the best.
If tiny Iceland can produce “Oculus Videre” the year after Hatari’s success, then why is Norway suddenly in struggle mode? It doesn’t seem to make sense.
My comment was mostly aimed at ”urgh… everything is the worst trash ever” comments. I appreciate the fun atmosphere and a great show. Frankly, most of their songs are mediocre or okay, with Come Alive being the only one to peek my interest for awhile. All the other selections have (or in Latvia’s case – had) at least one song I think is outstanding, some of them even more than one. Norway is mostly staying in the passable area, with The Start of Something New being the sole abysmal one. Why is that, I have no idea. Some of the… Read more »
Thanks Colin. My main comment explained my opinions better. But, the filter took it out.
I basically share the same opinion, Colin. Practically all songs in MGP so far are between 5 and 6 grades (also, we share the same Bublésque negative exception). Nothing that would make Norway embarassed or that I would mind listening to a few other times, but also nothing that would make me excited about them. So far, I would go with Rein, because they have a clear concept for it and it’s at least entertaining. I suppose we can say the same about Raylee, but I bet other countries will have something similar with better quality.
Thanks, Sabrina. Yeah, pretty much that. All four finalists are so-so in different ways. I’d say that Didrik & Emil have by far the worst staging. Raylee and Rein could be seen as guilty pleasures, even if I personally enjoy her song more, which I find strange for me (I just think there are too many elements at once in OLT). Sondray is good at his routine, but that song is just not for me. Too much Sweden 2018 in style. It’s unlikely that any of them would be my personal qualifier. Maybe Raylee could sneak in as borderline depending… Read more »
I guess we won’t have changes to the final, but I wish Sondrey’s performance was less slick. Maybe start the way it is right now and then leave him move through the stage a little more. He seems likeable, there’s no reason to make him look distant.
“OLT” sounds like a remix of a pre-existing song isn’t it? It works more as a camp act. On the other hand, “Wild” sounds (and looks) to me as a mix of a lot of previous national finals entries.
When you put it like that, it can be seen as if both OLT and Wild are amalgams of several previous ESC and NF songs. Wild does certainly borrow from the legacy of Safari, Wild Dances, Ninanajna, Fuego/Replay (I’m not even going to pretend they are dissimilar), Balkan Girls and several others. It’s the type of song where a good looking woman sings about attraction and good times. It’s not a copy at all, but it’s certainly the style. The aesthetics of Raylee’s performance was definitely spot on.
I actually think a few songs that Norway has given us are actually good !! Not just decent but good
This semi is actually pretty good. I listened in full to three songs ! Which is so much better than the first two semis. I can’t choose if I have a favorite yet.
In the first two semis my fav don’t win , but mostly because someone else did have a better live performance.
Pray For Me has to win this semi. It’s the best song of MGP 2020 so far.
I really think that this is a good semi! Norway has already served us some quality with Wild and One Last Time, but again they achieve to deliver us some good songs! Personally, I don’t really like Kjære Du, but that’s just a taste opinion. I really like Pray For Me. If that wins this semi, it could be a dark horse for the win because Wild and One Last Time are quite in the same genre. Furthermore Vertigo is beautiful and I see it win this semi, but it isn’t stronger than Wild or One Last Time. Then Pink… Read more »
I really like “Vertigo”, I hope its good live
Kristin Husøy – Pray for me sounds like stones by Zibbz? I’d say this or Alexandru -Pink jacket are the best here but that’s not saying much this semi is very very weak.