Four acts competed in Semi-Final 2 of Melodi Grand Prix 2022. But only one could advance to the grand final. And tonight that singer was Farida with “Dangerous”.
Farida wins Semi-Final 2 of Melodi Grand Prix 2022
Duel 1
Lily Löwe – “Bad Baby” vs. Steffen Jakobsen – “With Me Tonight”
Lily Löwe, 26, says her music is rooted in melodic hard rock, but extends over genres including metal, pop and punk. She’s said she wants to challenge the expectations of the genre to create her own unique universe. An experienced costume designer and make-up artist, her musical role models include Rammstein and Lady Gaga — both of whom are known for their unique looks.
As for the performance, Lily wore all black with silver spangles on her shoulders. She certainly didn’t lack for confidence, though some of the bigger notes came off a tad screechy. The visual highlight came towards the end when a red heart literally caught on fire behind Lily, arms splayed out like Jesus on the cross. Bonus points for the large pony tail.
Steffen placed third in Norwegian Idol back in 2013, earning some major plaudits along the way. His performance of “Your Man” was named “Best Idol moment of the year”. His song “With Me Tonight” builds on his love of country — it seems to come straight out of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” with its recognisable Western sound. His staging gave us Grand Ole Opry feels. Steffen wore a white cowboy hat, a jacket with white country fringe on the shoulders and a black country tie. Among the nicest shots was the opener where we saw his head (and hat) in silhouette as he welcomed us with those very deep tones.
Result: Steffen wins
Duel 2
Farida – “Dangerous” vs Daniel Lukas – “Kvelertak”
Farida Bolseth Benounis, 31, has already toured with Dua Lipa and performed at South by Southwest in Texas. Her dramatic, Bond-esque ballad showed off her pitch-perfect vocals — she was flawless! The staging came out of left field. Her violinists did a lot of avant-garde choreography — early on they seemed to be squatting and twerking as they plucked the strings! Nodding to Eurovision, there was a piano on fire. Farida played on hues of green and black with her suit, which was a picture of colour blocking. She may have done the fashion by halves, but it really worked.
Daniel Lukas, 23, previously worked as a swimming instructor and now works as a salesman. But his big dream is to be able to work with music full time. His performance had shades of Anton Ewald’s most recent effort at Melodifestivalen. There were lots of laser lights shooting in all directions and Daniel did his best to bring the swagger and attitude. His two backing dancers wore matching burgundy suits, creating a sea of suave as they floated across the stage.
Result: Farida wins
Gold duel:
Steffen Jakobsen – “With Me Tonight” vs Farida – “Dangerous”
Result: Farida wins
Christian Ingebrigtsen performs “Wonder of the World” live
Christian Ingebrigtsen, a pre-qualified finalist, performed his song “Wonder of the World” in exhibition.
I’m fine with the fact that Steffen won over Lily but not very fine that Farida won over Danielle.
Farida’s song is incredible but Daniel song was the best. I can see it messed up because of the performance.
Farida’s song is a sophisticated composition with a lot of unexpected tricks. Loved it. And Farida sings in different registers. Amazing.
I want to be praising things about this heat, but sadly I cannot do so. I can only praise the pre-qualifier, who gave an excellent performance at the piano. 🙂
The issues with the heat should be self-evident when those involved watch it all back.
One thing I noticed was that Farida sounded a lot clearer on the second run-through, so I appreciated the adjustments that were made on the fly. “Dangerous” TV indeed (and that’s without mentioning the dancing violinists).
*dancers with violins
Farida was great
Firstly sack the stylist. Positive has overtones of a bond theme, i don’t mean sound alike i kept getting vibes of skyfall! Well sung just her styling was distracting but i like the song.
Depressing
When I was watching Lily, i thought the whole thing looks like high school production. Steffen’s song was better, but his local range was limited, and he was struggling quite a bit. Nevertheless, it was obvious that he would win the duel. Farida’ s act was interesting and more polished, so after 2 mins I knew she would win the semi. I felt like Daniel’s song would have had more impact if it was sung in English. I think the native language works better with authenticity, not bubble gum pop. Final thoughts, not sure if wonder of the world is… Read more »
Even juries wouldn’t respond to this cheesy of a song.
And no there are no juries in MGP.
I feel bad, baby, as I wanted Lily Lowe’s effort to progress but the live performance didn’t quite have the swagger that it needed and so I understand why it has to say goodbye.
Kvelertak is my jam
Always a bonus point for artists singing in their native language!
Much prefer Dangerous to Death of Us. Song, Voice and Artist!
bad songs
I didn’t feel strongly about any of the four songs going into this SF and they picked the least interesting one.
Along with Dark Flowers winning last week, not really seeing anything to trouble the pre-qualified acts. That’s where all the quality seems to be so far.
Farida was the best. She is my fav so far with Death of us.
This off-key mess won and Alina didn’t even qualify? Damn Norway.
Did the Robing Bengtsson wannabe really have his voice on the track the whole time? Even Anton Ewald sang more. And he delivered a much more demanding choreography…
None are good to my ear.
Good song, great performance.
Farida’s song Dangerous is good, but I also like Christian’s song Wonder of the world.
Wonder of the world with Ingebrigtsen – must be the winner. What a lovely song!
Is it allowed to sing playback? I’ve always thought it’s not.
Does anyone know? If you saw both performances, you saw she missed a line on the second performance and that her singing was playback. I can’t appreciate that and it makes me think if Norway does this with every song. Not fair play, in my opinion.
I wasn’t keen on Farida’s entry at my first listen, but her performance tonight changed my mind. I’m glad she won, albeit I hope her entry and Death of Us don’t cancel each other out.
After sitting through this evening’s show, my opinion of the Irish selection has increased ten-fold.
Yep, Norway’s MGP has been underwhelming for a while :/
The production value is probably better in Norway though. I remember some dire NFs which were held at The Late Late Show with always the same LindaLouisMarty combo telling the people why this year Ireland has a huge success on their hands.
Don’t get me wrong – the LLS will be the usual combo of bad sound, cramped staging and Linda Martin – but the song selection is better better than last few Irish national finals when they happened.
I think I will watch it because it’s just one show and it has always been unintentionally funny, so it does have some value.
The best is yet to come in SF3 and 4
Not impressed with any of these.
I watched the introduction show where they played snippets of the songs when introducing all the artists and I felt they were all very middle-of-the-road. Any recommendations which songs to give another chance in full? Any big favorites to win or wide open race? Or are they only releasing the full songs semi final by semi final?
All the songs were released together a couple of weeks ago. Most people believe in the end it will be a battle between “Death of Us” by Elsie Bay (this one you can check the live performance already, it aired last week) and Subwoolfer’s “Give that Wolf a Banana”, that’ll be performed on the next heat. Both were pre-qualified acts for the final. But I still can see some dark horse coming from heats 3 and 4. Just don’t ask me who could be it. 🙂
Thank you for your answer 🙂 I just watched Elsie, I don’t connect with the melody at all. And those wolf masks, I mean they are an improvement to the TIX style but I mean what isn’t…
You’re welcome. 🙂 Let’s say both entries are dividing people. I personally really like “Death of Us” as a song, though the performance needs a lot of work. Some people don’t like the breaks with the melody, maybe it was your case. Subwoolfer is the toughest act in MGP for me to judge before watching a performance, because it can end up being deliciously silly or just… dumb. One week from now we’ll have an answer. There are a bunch of things I like on this year’s MGP, but all of them have a question mark attached to them, you… Read more »
Whooo! National finals are so hectic and paradoxical! They churn out tons of amazing songs but only one can win. By the time I started watching, I was already a nervous wreck. First, Lily Lowe’s performance was good. That’s all I can say. Steffen’s performance ended up to be exactly as I imagined. It was good too, and his voice was amazing. But I thought Lily would win the duel. So, in the next duel, Farida was awesome!!! I didn’t exactly like her song, but the performance changed everything. I knew that she was going to win and that made… Read more »
Also, I think there is a chance that Dangerous and Death of Us could cancel each other out in the final. Last year there were also two very, very good, but somewhat similar ballads (Kiim and Imerika) and neither made it to gold final.
in the final, the final Gullduel will be Subwoolfer and Elsie Bay. as it is all televote, it will be close but we willhave SUBWOOLFER going to esc. your thoughts?
Think you’re probably right.
I agree. Subwoolfer to Turin, please !
I think you’re right, it’s Norway after all. They chose Tix last year
I sure hope SubWoolfer doesn’t win, it’s not even in my top 10 of this selection. If Norway wants to qualify, they should choose Elsie Bay.
If Farida already sounded that good while being that nervous, can’t wait to check what she can do if she controls her nerves for the final. Daniel surprised me, I wasn’t expecting that kind of staging for his song, but it worked, it was fun. A little disappointed about how they staged Lily’s performance on the other hand, all the fun from the studio version was lost. Steffen did well and Christian gave me Koit Toome’s vibes (if that’s a good thing or not, it’s up to you that’s reading!).
Really like Ingebrigtsen’s song – and a great voice. Dangerous was by far the best of the four tonight!
Lily Löwe was my favorite, I loved every part of her performance except her voice. She’s clearly a beginner. She could probably do well in 2025 or something.
Three thoughts:
It was gonna be a tough heat and I correctly called both first duels but I was genuinely surprised Farida won… great voice, great song but the twirling violinists were odd plus she missed a key note in her 2nd performance. Steffen was solid and I’d love for him to win the wildcard round, hoping more Country entries are on our way in NF season!
Finally, Farida has a very good song and a very good voice!!! A bit repetitive but great otherwise!
My crush Steffen with his sexy voice and his sexy cowboy outfit… He still has a second chance and I hope he’ll take it!!
Steffen was my winner tonight but Farida’s song is also good (albeit not among my personal favourites). This hear was all in all better than the first one. Lily was also underrated in my opinion but oh well. I don’t know why Christian Ingebrigtsen is among the finalists since his song is sweet but unoriginal and with a bit funny lyrics xD. Waiting for Subwoolfer’s performance next Saturday to get a clearer picture of who the contenders this year are!
It’s obviously not gonna happen, but I’d like to see Farida perform “Death Of Us” 🙂
Last week MGP gave us Anna Bergendhal’s Kingdom Come staging and this week we got Anton Ewald’s New Religion laser/dance show. I’m becoming suspicious. Congrats to Farida and her stunning vocals. It’s a big composition but the overall song leaves me a bit cold. I’m sure it’s going after the same audience as Death of Us so they potentially can cancel each other out.
Death of Us is far better as a song in my opinion. I agree with everything you said about Dangerous. The staging and interpretation really helped it qualify and elevated the studio version, but the song itself is a bit mediocre.
2 out of 2 yesssss :DDD
Not gonna lie, wanted Steffen Jakobsen to win, and Farida was last in my top 4, but Farida’s live vocal performance and her song’s staging won me over a lot more than the studio version did. So all in all, a great show and a good winner.