Raylee flooded the set over the weekend, but Norway’s NRK has already turned up the heat ahead of Melodi Grand Prix 2021 semi-final three.
The third semi takes place on Saturday 23 January. Following a nearly identical format to last year, four acts will compete for one highly coveted spot in the grand final. But which of the four entries is your favourite? Who should advance to the next stage of MGP 2021? In a new twist, the three eliminated acts will remain in contention for a wildcard slot.
You can listen to all four entries below and then vote for your favourite. You can pick as many acts as you like, but you can only vote once. So choose wisely!
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Melodi Grand Prix 2021 — Semi-Final Three Songs
Big Daddy Karsten – “Smile”
Songwriters: Karsten Dahl Marcussen, Are Næsset and Pål Gauslaa Sivertzen
Big Daddy Karsten (aka Karsten Dahl Marcussen) is a rapper who has performed both with the duo Folkefiender and as a solo artist. He has played many festivals in Norway and has been a headliner at various Pride celebrations. Big Daddy Karsten is Norway’s only openly gay rapper. Of his participation, he says, “This feels good. I did not think I was going to do this, because it is not natural for rappers to be part of MGP.”
Dinaye – “Own Yourself”
Songwriters: Christian Ingebrigtsen, David Thulin and Dina Matheussen
Otherwise known as Dina Matheussen, Dinaye is a 17-year-old singer and dancer. Her dancing talent took her to the semi-finals of Norway’s Got Talent in 2014. She competed in MGP Jr in 2016 and was a contestant on last year’s edition of Norwegian Idol. Dinaye has co-written “Own Yourself” and part of the lyrics are in Amharic, reflecting her Ethiopian heritage.
Emmy – “Witch Woods”
Songwriters: Olli Äkräs, Elsa Søllesvik and Morten Franck
Emmy Kristine Guttulsrud Kristiansen previously competed in MGP Jr in 2015. There, her song “Aiaiaiai” made it to the superfinal. She became a well-known performer, especially with younger audiences. On her MGP 2021 participation, Emmy says “It is an honour to be selected to sing the song. It is a mixture of a funny and scary song.”
Ole Hartz – “Vi er Norge”
Songwriters: Rein Mellbye Van Vliet, Eirik Næss, Ole F. Hartz Gravbråten, Magnus Hagen Clausen and Petter Bjørklund Kristiansen
Ole Hatz has been keenly involved with music since he was six years old. He has slowly built up his career and has enjoyed millions of streams and a growing fanbase in both Norway and Sweden. Most recently he had a Yuletide hit “Jeg vil ha ribbe” with TikTok star Ida Celine.
Poll: Who should win semi-final three of Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix 2021?
[crowdsignal poll=10725542]What is your favourite song? Is there a winner in the mix? Let us know in the comments.
OMG!!! MGP 2021 is soooo good this year. I cant choose who i want to go to eurovision between: Keiino, let loose, or emmy!
Unpopular opinion but I think this semi final is amazing. I love every song from it and I really like upbeat songs. I don’t care who will qualify because they’re all amazing but I hope none of them will go to esc because Keiino is in Mgp and I LOVE KEIINO and Monument
I don’t understand the love for Witch Woods. It’s enteric modern pop song that tries to be different. It had so much promise. But the urban element hurts it and takes away it’s uniqueness. I hope Vi er Norge wins. It stands out, and has a great Celtic/Scandinavian feel about it.
of course Ole Hartz – “Vi er Norge”It’s so different!
Witch Woods reminds me of How about Mars from last year and I much preferred that. There’s something missing from Witch Woods. Vi Er Norge is probably the most rounded song/competitive. Smile and Own Yourself are both fine. Staging I’ll be important in this semi. Lots of people saying this is the strongest semi, for me it definitely isn’t the first two had more solid contenders. Although there isn’t a duff song in this semi I suppose. There isn’t a winner (the songs seem a bit hollow?) But maybe that’s a matter of taste. Looking forward to everything else Norway… Read more »
Witch Woods is great, and definitely my personal favourite. However, I’m worried about how the live performance will turn out to be. Doesn’t seem like an easy song to stage.
Didn’t Big Daddy Karsten do a parody of WAP once? His name sounds familiar
Yeah, he did, here’s the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLGTQwDtALc
I don’t feel strongly about this one. These semis are getting progressively weaker and weaker. Own Yourself is probably the one I enjoy listening to the most but Vi Er Norge is probably the most competitive song and probably deserves to win. The other two are not for me.
I’ll say it again. I want Norway to go back to their old NF system. There’s just not the quality here to sustain such a large, long-running selection.
I could not diasgree more. This is by far the strongest semi for me. If it was up to me, I would put all 4 songs into the final together with Monument, and kick the rest out.
SAME. the semi is by far the best. i like all the 4 songs. And in semi 1 and 2 i only liked 1 song in total
I agree! This is a good semi and will be a really interesting show.MGP so far have elevated with staging this season and all these songs could go up a notch with good staging.
I for one am an oddball who likes most of his NFs big for the sake of ranking. Sometimes even the bad songs can add to diversity or entertainment. Also, I feel like Norway improved *a lot* in this year. There are no absolute ”No” songs for me, like there were last year (Mr. Hello, The Start of Something New, I Am Gay). All songs are at least passable, each in their own way. If I were to nitpick about my one complaint is that most of the songs are okay on a similar level, so they are difficult to… Read more »
The winner will be “Vi er Norge”, dudes. Believe me.
Agreeeeeeeee
Witch woods sound like reject song from Wizards of Waverly and i like it
I’m going for the witch song, I find them really scary with their spells and potions and bonfires and muddy swamps and stuff.
Cleeeeeaaarllyy emmyyy ! So obvious !! So different.
Witch Woods could be the soundtrack to the 2019 movie Midsommar, or at least I believe so. In any case, this is my favourite out of those 4. I also like Vi er Norge, but I don’t know if those lyrics are satirical or not. I hope they are.
Did anyone have a closer look to the lyrics of “Vi er Norge”? Sounds very nationalist or even fascist to me: “Because we are Norway, we will finish before everyone else. And we have oil and we bleed for flagg and fatherland. Well, we get as much as we want.”
Maybe there is an irony I don’t understand (I hope), but I am afraid the singer might be serious. Scary.
It’s a parody song of Norwegians who drink booze and think they’re better than all nations.
Ok, thanks. Let’s hope it’s a parody… 🙂
Even if it’s not parody what’s the problem if someone sings about their country? They’re not singing that they’re going to kill and slash, or anything like that. What’s fascist about someone saying they’re willing to die for their country?
Excuse me? That would be chauvinism and nationalism. Nothing Eurovision should be about.
Excuse you. Why there’s no place at Eurovision for song about loving your own country? There’s nothing hateful in this song, or discriminatory. Nationalism? LOL How about lgbt songs? By your logic there’s no place for that at Eurovision either because someone might call it lgbt propagay. Get your s*it together please.
Personally, I don’t find the lyrics problematic considering the context of obvious parody. I just feel the lyrics are really, really poor and slightly embarassing. I do fear that some non-Norwegian viewers might misunderstand the song as nationalist though. All in all it’s a big NO from me to Ole Hartz.
I originally had the same thoughts, but thinking about it idk. Let’s expect it is a parody
Sounds like „Havana“ + „pretty savage“, and it’s the best song from all semi-finals for now.
witch woods: amazing, original song, it’s up there with monument
own yourself: inspired by 2011 lady gaga, and probably second place
vi er Norge: giving rybak vibes and a traditional song to this semifinal but boring and forgettable
smile: bland and uninteresting and I’ll probably forget about it as soon as this semi is over
overall, I prefer witch woods the most, even if it may or may not appeal to international audiences and own yourself is the only other real contender for this. not a great but not a bad semifinal
no one:
not a single soul:
norway: hey, let’s send a Halloween song as a possible song for Eurovision!
Germany did same in 2016
The pattern I see so far is that the best staged song won both semis. Let’s see if it will happen again.
In that case wotch woods could very well win this because the staging potential is big.
That’s very possible, they can have a lot of fun staging this one!
“Witch Woods” appeals to me, as does “Vi er Norge”. I would think one of those two seem more likely to win.