The line-up for next Saturday’s final in Melodi Grand Prix 2023 is now complete as the last three spots for the grand final in Trondheim were handed out tonight in semi-final 3.
The semi-finals were a free-for-all battle between seven competing acts in each semi-final, and tonight’s result was clearly not one neither bookies nor our readers in the poll predicted.
Melodi Grand Prix 2023 semi-final 3
Results
Qualifiers
- Eline Thorp – “Not Meant to Be”
- Atle Pettersen – “Masterpiece”
- Skrellex – “Love Again”
Non-qualifiers
- Akuvi – “Triumph”
- Tiril Beisland – “Break It”
- Stig van Eijk – “Someday”
- Maria Celin – “Freya”
Running order
- Akuvi – “Triumph”
- Tiril Beisland – “Break It”
- Skrellex – “Love Again”
- Eline Thorp – “Not Meant to Be”
- Stig van Eijk – “Someday”
- Maria Celin – “Freya”
- Atle Pettersen – “Masterpiece”
Did your favourites go through from semi-final 3? Were there upsets in your opinion? Let us know in the comments below.
this was (to me) the weakest of 3 semifinals. Only Eline Thorp deserved a place in the final
Top 4 : Ulrikke, Alessandra, Jone & Atle I think
Who Is the winner of MGP for you ?
Personally, I think its either Alessandra & Ulrikke and Ulrikke winner. Its a good song but not the best… The best is Alessandra !!
Reminder: you can be sad about your favourite song not advancing without tearing down another contestant who performed well. When you have a lot of quality songs and/or quality performances there are bound to be some songs left out. And only 1 song will win the final so if your favourite is any other song than the one that wins, please be happy for the winner and don’t resort to low-blows. Unless there’s clear corruption involved, this is a subjective music competition and your personal favourites and the fandom’s favourites may not always win.
And that is okay.
Hear, hear! Well said!
now skrellex will win the hole thing and steal the hat from the belgian in liverpool.
😀
Please, no. Let the Belgian man keep his hat, and let Elsie, Ulrikke, Alessandra, or Jone go to Liverpool.
Given that Norwegians seem to love to choose joke/gimmick acts lately, I wouldn’t rule out Skrellex winning lol
It’s “whole”.
There is no hate for Ulrikke. But I don’t get the “she deserves to win” argument – if so then half the entries of the Covid year should be given a second chance (some of them did, and in all fairness Ulrikke too received a special invitation from NRK the following year to participate with any song of her liking). Can’t we just assess what’s on the table this year – 2023 – objectively? Some people like Ulrikke’s song – and that’s fair enough – others have pointed out that it’s dated and somewhat underwhelming based on what we saw/heard… Read more »
Ulrikke is a good singer, but Honestly is honestly not even top 3 of MGP 2023, so it shouldn’t really be a contender for the victory at all. However, we’ve seen it 1000 times before that the winner ended up being “The Name”, not a song (ESC 2022 winner for eg lol), and I won’t be shocked if we see it again here. Let’s hope fairness prevail, and the best song win, instead of a “good singer”
Drag artist in 2023? Haha! Israel will win Eurovision this year, nothing but trash in here!
Can you explain exactly what you mean by this? Don’t want to misinterpret you.
Drag artist, so what?! We should get even more of them if you ask me! People are protesting about too many lgbt1+ acts occupying ESC spots, but let me remind you all that homophobia is still a huge problem in most of the world (even in the western European countries that claim to be gay capitals) and the voice and image of any lgbtq+ person should be heard as clear and loud and often as possible! The fight should be real, because the problem is as real as it gets!
It is very interesting to see the breakdown of the votes. For the first semi-final Ulrikke won with a landslide over the others which I guess was expected. Seems like people really didn’t think many of the songs from this semi were strong as the other two qualifiers were also quite above the others. And even though Queen of Kings went through, I wouldn’t say the chances of it winning are as high as we thought, considering she had only 18%, but then again this is only the televote from the semis. It will be a totally different thing at… Read more »
When can we see those results you’re mentioning? If you’re just “guessing” then you guessed it all wrong lol
Those were fake votes published by the crazy fan, not broadcaster haha You wrote so much for nothing 😀
The results of voting in the semis have been released on Wikipedia, and now I *honestly* think that this is Ulrikke’s to lose. She won the first semi with 52% of votes, with Alessandra second with 18, and Umami Tsunami as third with 10. Second semi didn’t have such a runaway victory. Jone had 23%, while Elsie and Swing’It both had 18. Sandra almost qualified. Atle won the third semi with 25%, Skrellex came second with 18, while Eline and Maria both had 14%. Eline won by 0.21% of votes. Last places in the semis were Rasmus Thall, Bjorn Olav… Read more »
Do you have a link? Can’t find the results anywhere.
Apparently they aren’t on the Wikipedia page anymore. I don’t know if a fan edited those percentages in or if it was a mistake from MGP and it should’nt have been made public…
It was on Wikipedia this morning. I was also surprised, as MGP is usually known for its secrecy. You didn’t even know who was 5th, and who 10th in the finals. So, this might be a leak, or a fabricated fan-made upload. I don’t know. If it’s not true, it was certainly made convincing by adding percentages up to two decimals.
those were fake votes. Ulrikke obviously didn’t win in her semi, and if she did it wasn’t with a landslide fore sure. We can see that Alessandra Mele has more views then all other singers together combined, so if there was a landslide, it probably wasn’t in Ulrikke’s favor lol
I can’t find these results on Wikipedia!
Never trust anything posted on Wikipedia without a footnote.
when it comes to Ulrikke vs Atle, I am all team Tiril all the way. However it was not properly staged, destroying its chances.
When it comes to the final, I believe that Alessandra has the full potential to be considered a contender to win the whole thing in may.
If queen of the kings and cha cha cha get elected, i’m gonna watch eurovision on black latex.
Vocal perfection and impressive performances have won the show.
Though, I am really sad, Freya is out. I love the studio cut of Freya, but on stage it just looked empty. Also, I missed the passion in Maria‘s performance- and that song asks for a passionate performance. She sounded pretty shaky and that fear of missing the right notes showed in her face.
Y’all are so over-the-top hating on Ulrikke. I understand you all have your own faves, but some of the comments here are straight-up delusional, acting like Atle or Eline have a better shot at winning. Not everyone is a hardcore Eurovision fan whos listened to all the songs 500 times and decided Ulrikkes is too generic on the 40th listen, with their own hipster baggage about how the booking favorites are overrated and their own niche faves are underrated. Most people are casual watchers – and I think many of them will love Ulrikke. You wanna know how I know?… Read more »
Well said!
Well, let me be the exception then because I didn’t like Ulrikke’s song from the moment I heard the first 30 seconds of it. Because I’ve heard this formula so many times before and I am tired of it. At first I didn’t think much about the positive reactions but when I realised people had this song as a fan-favorite to win I knew we were in for a lot of trouble. People are allowed not to like Ulrikke’s song and to expressed their dismay for it possibly winning, just how people are allowed to love the song and hope… Read more »
I decided Ulrikke was too generic on the 1st listen
I have a feeling that Atle will take the trophy.
I think there are alot of entries fighting for the same votes for certain groups. Elsie and Ulrikke is fighting among those who love ballads, Ulrikke and Atle amongst those who like big ESC-staging, Ulrikke and Skrellex both from the Østfold-region fights over the regional votes, Skrellex and Alessandra over the up-tempo and typical ESC-entries. What are you then left with who sticks out? Eline, the girl next door with a really good pop-song like the one you hear from popular Norwegian artists like Sigrid and Dagny. I can also see people from Norhern Norway voting like nuts for Eline.… Read more »
Your analysis is brilliant!
Gonna disagree for several reasons. Categories of “things people like” are not always that rigid. Take Subwoolfer vs Queen Bees last year. Both are considered up-tempo comedy entries with silly animal costumes, but one won and the other didn’t even crack the top 4. Regional patriotism is not created equal. Yeah, the strongest regional patriotism is found in the north and around the Bergen region. But even then, those are not always important. Some entries like Northkid last year capitalized greatly on regional love, but several “northern entries” this year have already been knocked out of the semis. Traditionally, with… Read more »
And where is Jone amongst all of this? His song actually stands out because it sounds nothing like the other songs in the final. He has the only bop, aka song with dancing and stuff like that. Don’t underastimate the votes he will get. Not only is he the second most streamed artist from MGP but is the leading one in Norway’s trending top. And when he performed people kept chanting his name. Now granted, that could’ve been friends and family but their voices were REALLY loud and the only ones chanting. I think he has a realistic chance to… Read more »
Okay, I might’ve made an oopsie there by saying he has the only bop, but it still stands that his song sounds pretty different than Queen of Kings and Skrellex’s song.
no cuz queen of kings is bad live
im not watching this finao theres not a single song im rooting for
Do you mind sharing what you found “bad” with the live performance of QoK?
let me explain
it was just alessandra doing a move or two
her and her dancers unfortunately having awful costumes
and then a black screen with a light or two
that was absolutely nothing, plus the autotune…
So I guess Alessandra is fav to win right now? Unless someone being dark horse end up winning instead.
It could be ulrikke getting a second chance to represent after her first attempt was canceled. But there are three female Ballads in the final so there’s a chance they could cancel each other out.
Shame she can’t sing live
I thought Freya was a hot.favorite!!!
We all did. I’m still shocked she didn’t make it to the final.
Yes, my first reaction to the song was “this would go down well with Eurovision end credits”
Now that the finalists are all set, my favorites for the win are Alessandra and Jone. Alessandra’s song is the best among the finalists and Jone’s song is something that you’d listen to in Norway currently, saying this as a compliment.
This gets downvoted? For just sharing your opinion?
I know right.. some fans on wiwibloggs are ridiculous.. I got downvoted on a Moldova post for just saying my opinion (not being offensive or disrespectful to any of the contestants) but apparently someone disagreed with my opinion and thought the best way to show that was to downvote the comment insted of leaving a comment with their opinion… Seriously what kind of fans are they?.. Each their own taste man.. Just a shame that some cant show some respect to the artists here aswell as other fans.. Disrespectful comments should get downvoted.. If you just disagree then they have… Read more »
Some wiwibloggers are weird, I wonder the same from time to time
Eline qualifying gave me Margaret Berger vibes. I did not expect either of them to qualify cause they sound more alternative and they did. Margaret won… Just saying ?
Not only Margaret won but her song also became Norway’s best entry since Fairytale
I’m sorry but in what world did Akuvi not diserved to qualify SPECIALLY IN THAT LINE UP!?!? There were dancers, She served choreo, a bit simple for her but she chose to sing and she did it PERFECTLY, It was ethnic, it had a fully realized concept, nice staging… I literally don’t know what happened. Very happy for Eline, usually indie music is underrated in the Eurovision bubble and I’m so glad she was appreciated cause she ate, those two were my favorites and none disappointed. But i think Akuvi, who had a top 3 song at ESC was robbed… Read more »
Not all the 3 favs stay in semi final. Btw thank you norwegians for not voting for Triumph, Waist so Queen of kings won’t have any competitor in the final.
I think fans should start respecting Ulrikke’s song cause acts like Skrellex could get out of control and win the whole thing.
I think you get the Norwegian public wrong – even though she may have her fans (and why shouldn’t she) the Norwegians aren’t that easily led. Don’t think TIX – he was a completely different case – his song didn’t win – his tears and personal story on a chat show a couple of days days before the final did. And Subwoolfer? Well, after all it was a good song, but with silly lyrics, and it lifted the roof on the night. If Skrellex can lift the roof in Trondheim next Saturday I’ll agree with you, but I doubt it… Read more »
Norwegians chose Tix and Subwoolfer, I think they’re capable and likely to choose Skrellex
Skrellex was always going to make the final, it is glorious trashy euro schlock. I’m really happy that Atle got through, I think it is probably the best song in MGP 2023 this year along with Ulrikke.
I thought tonight would be a tough call, I think all the girls with mid tempo songs might cancel eachother out and I think they did in the end sadly, cause all of them were good. Shock that Maria or Akuvi didn’t get through though, was worried after Maria’s performace it wasn’t very believable, another year for her maybe.
Televote robbing Akuvi for the cheap drag act. Yikes.
Can you share why you felt compelled to right this?
Because a cheap song made it to the final over better songs? I was pretty clear in my original comment.
The song is a bop and Skrellex performance was better. Freya is a cute song but her performance served nothing.
what to you makes a song or performance “cheap”? I can agree it may not be the most original in its sonic quality or lyrical content but it was performed incredibly well and Skrellex sold it as a performance. It was a televote-friendly performance that got the audience excited. It’s not a “robbery” just because one song made it and another one didn’t. It was a very competitive semi so we were going to lose some great songs and/or great performances either way,
Personally I found her song and stage performance rather flat – something didn’t work – and I was quite into the song before the live show.
I’m not wild about Skrellex, but I was prepared for at least one good song going home today. “Freya” and “Break It” were good, but I don’t necessarily consider them special.
Wow, Atle Pettersen really delivered live, what a performance. Same for Eline. I would go for one of them. “Honestly” sounds too dated, only Ulrikke vocals save it.
At this point my fave to win is Eline. Her performance is rather simple right now, but I see huge potential for her to improve the staging to make it magical. The chorus is amazing and there are a lot of things to do with this in my opinion. Wouldn’t mind any other song winning as most of them have good potential to place well in Liverpool, but I’d rather not see any performers, who took the advantage of autotune to win. No shade to them, but if you have to sing live at Eurovision, MGP isn’t necessarily the best… Read more »
Do not get why Skrellex made it through? Another outdated standard schlager kitsch! What is it with Scadinavian fascination about schlager songs thats been lying in someone’s drawer?
But it is a strong final line up with many great songs. Probably strongest final in years .
Because they’re fun? And her performance was good.
I rather want something that sounds 2023 rather than 2010. Or 2005.
And fun? Subwoolfer was fun. And fresh.
Watch Norway pull a Belgium choosing Skrellex next saturday lol (just like Belgium unexpectedly choosing Gustaph). It wouldn’t surprise me at all though, especially after what we’ve seen so far in the other national finals and semis this year. Hopefully not, the generic public sees the contest as gay circus too much already.
At least Skrellex has a great choreo and is channelling Charlotte Perrellis “Hero” at the beginning of its performance 😀
I’m pretty sure Queen of Kings has this in the bag!
Ulrikke is a fantastic performer, but Honestly doesn’t do her as much justice as Attention did. It’s just a basic X Factor performers winning song straight from 2013, Norway deserves better than that. Also, Queen of Kings is doing way better in terms of views and streams compared to the rest of the acts, I just hope Norwegians like it as much as we do.
Yes. Queen of Kings kinda have no competitor right now since Triumph, Waist, Freya out of the race now, hope she can get all the vote..
Sorry but some of the Queen of Kings fandom is a little out of control. I know booking odds aren’t reliable (especially not after last night), but Ulrikke still has a much better chance to win… I’m Norwegian and I saw her front page on a major magazine today she has lots of fans… Y’all are acting like Norway loves the exact same kind of dance diva that hardcore Eurovision fans do, which has rarely been the case. We didn’t even give that many points to freakin’ Chanel last year.
Melodi Grand Prix without a doubt has one of the best national selections I’ve seen in years! They have multiple songs that can reach top 10 or top 5. The quality is insane! That being said, Jone or Alessandra should go to Liverpool, they’re bringing the party! Jone brings the Norwegian sounds and Alessandra’s song is a BOP! I love Elsie Bay but I don’t think the Eurovision crowd at home will respond to her song that much. Ulrikke is a fantastic vocalist but the song itself is rather generic even though it brings the balad drama we love. Eline… Read more »
Having all the finalists, I think that the frontrunners are two pretty different songs: Honestly and Queen of the Kings. Ulrikke and Alessandra are the most probable winners with Elsie and Jone (and perhaps Atle) as dark horses. What’s interesting is that we have two ballads and two uptempo songs battling for the win. This perhaps means that the song that defeats the other song of the same genre by the safer margin will also eventually be the winner since I don’t think that anyone else can actually benefit from the fact that Ulrikke/Elsie and Alessandra/Jone have similar target groups… Read more »
WHAT? I’m devastated about Akuvi and Maria Celin not making the finale… What was Norway thinking? Yeah Skrellex had amazing amazing staging but that cliché song is so 2010… Akuvi actually slayed it and Maria gave a solid performance with room for improvement. Atle feels very much like a Melodifestivalen act, nothing really groundbreaking. I’m happy Eline made it though! Simple yet very effective! The finale isn’t going to be as stacked with my favorites as I thought it would.
I hope Atle or Jone wins. Both impressed me with their live performances and felt more ready to go to Liverpool as complete packages. I also agree that Ulrikke is overrated. I thought she was somewhat overrated in 2020 actually, in fact out of her 3 songs I can recall: “Places” > “Attention” > “Honestly”. “Honestly” is too theatrical and oversung for my liking, it feels like “Attention” pt.2, so to me it doesn’t feel very authentic. I still do, however, think Ulrikke will most likely win MGP because I suspect the Juries will place her 1st, and the public… Read more »
But there are two other female led ballads in the final—what if they split the votes and we get somebody unexpected? It can or has happened before.
Ok well I’m sticking with my personal picks. I’d like for Elsie to win, my favourite last year and I think this year the song is great, the staging was quite captivating just the vocal needs a little work but thats doable. I like Alessandra’s performance a lot but, when I watched Run to the Hills in Melfest last year, I felt like it was solid but it would’ve done even better like 6 years ago. It has an early 2010s feel to it and whilst I’m sure televoters will like it (myself included) I can’t help but feel like… Read more »
Now that all the songs are decided for the final, I want to say something I’ve been thinking for a while now. I really don’t get the hype behind Ulrikke’s Honestly. I feel like the only reason she is getting so much traction is because Eurovision got cancelled when she had to represent Norway. I can’t explain this in any other way than the votes being sympathy votes. I am sorry and I am not hating on her or the song. I think the song is just fine, a middle kind of song. And I’m sure if this was anyone… Read more »
Well no one gets the hype behind Ulrikke lets say it. Its by far one of the most mediocre songs in this set.
Love your comment
I think Ulrikke will win and will do about as well as TIX did at Liverpool. Maybe top 15.
The results were only surprising if you didn’t watch the performances. Freya was my huge favourite of MGP this year but there was so much wrong with the staging and vocals. Why did they give us nothing? There was so much potential wasted.
SAMEEE
The results were only surprising if you didn’t watch the performances. Freya was my huge favourite of MGP this year but there was so much wrong with the staging and vocals. Why did they give us nothing? There was so much potential wasted.
I’ve low-key been following MGP since 2020 so if I were to *guess* what wins, I’d say it’s a toss-up between Ulrikke and Umami Tsunami. My personal wish is for Elsie Bay to win but since she didn’t make the final 2 last year, I’m unsure whether this is the year for her, as much as I adore her song
The problem I have with masterpiece is that it is a rip off of other songs mixed together
I hope Ulrikke will not win. The song is not good and these are sympathy votes. I hope for Eline or Atle to take the trophy.
Eline’s song is anything you’d hear by Taylor or Olivia and Atle really does sound like a million things I have heard before,
Ulrikke MIGHT be overrated but if she wins, she definitely deserves to win. These are not sympathy votes, don’t undermine the efforts of an artist.
And even IF they are, like William said, the song made people feel something which is why they voted for it.
Sorry but she is not an artist, she barely recorded few songs for the past few year which were all below average. Everyone will forget about her after Eurovision.
I couldn’t agree more!
the bets are already made, it’s Ulrikke who will win! I like his voice and his presence, but the song is really generic and basic, deja vu… I really hope that the Norwegians will make the choice of the song and not vote out of pity for Ulrikke who does not had not participated in 2020…. I think it will be between her, Alessandra, Jone and Atle. But watch out for the following outsiders who will scare everyone including me: Skrellex and Swing’it!!! Frankly, if one of them wins, Norway is NQ… PS: Ulrikke will go to the final anyway… Read more »
Okay, THAT was a suprise. Skrellex? Really? That song was literally the one in this extremely good semi final expected NOT to qualify!
I had Stig as my only non-qualifier, but Skrellex did well in that genre. We’re gonna have a real uptempo final next week.
so yall are telling me that geronimo is in the final but maria or akuvi or tiril or ella are not
ths final is not worth watchin, there are only songs i simply like, not a single one i love. im watching melfest
That’s because viewers care about more than just the same kind of girl bop over and over
I really liked Akuvi 🙁 But I hope either Alessandra or Jone will win!
Same winners lol! I really like both songs.
I predicted all three!! And these are the ones I wanted!! ?
My favourites now are Alessandra and Jowe. Sorry, but I don´t like Ulrikke.
Jone, but yes, same
Will be hard to make a decision next Saturday. Three options
1) SwingIt – Prohibition – my kind of music – wish more work was put into the staging – could be much more fun! 2) Atle – Masterpiece – superb staging, good song, confident vocals and performance – a complete Eurovision package. 3) Eline – whatever the song is called – superb piece of songwriting – vocals great but Eline/performance needs work to win votes in Liverpool
The broadcasters music critic was rude with Atle both when the song was released and after his performance tonight, saying it was one of the worst songs he’s ever heard. That brought Atle much sympathy, and many. many votes I think. Me for instance listened carefully to the song b/c of that music critic and I fell in love with it and gave it my vote. That music critic in fact helped Atle, people started to listen to his song and fall in love with it. And Atle also gave a in your face comment to him when accepting his… Read more »
Atle is the king for this
This reminds me of TIX receiving the score of 1 for Ut Av Mørket from the critics who gave out scores shown as dice
He then wore a dice with number 1 for the final and actually won lol
Didn’t that happen before with someone else? TIX? Maybe it’s a thing.
You think they’d have learned after the whole TIX fiasco. Ah well. Atle’s song was way, way too saccharine for my tastes but I’d rather listen to it on repeat than hear anything from TIX ever again…
well as if he wasnt popular enough in the whole country, they gave him the closing spot too
well whats with nrk doing slot #6 dirty with the recap (maria and ella’s worst moments were shown in the recap) but boosting slot #7 in the recap ( atle and bjorn’s high notes where shown)