Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Melodi Grand Prix 2019 was the 57th edition of the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix and selected Norway's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The show took place on 2 March 2019 at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, hosted by Heidi Ruud Ellingsen and Kåre Magnus Bergh.[3] The show was televised on NRK1, broadcast via radio with commentary by Ole Christian Øen on NRK P1 as well as streamed online on NRK TV.[4][5] The national final was watched by 961,000 viewers in Norway with a market share of 62.1%.[6]

A submission period was opened by NRK between 31 January 2018 and 9 September 2018. Songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit entries, while performers of the selected songs would be chosen by NRK in consultation with the songwriters. In addition to the public call for submissions, NRK reserved the right to directly invite certain artists and composers to compete.[2][7] At the close of the deadline, over 1,000 submissions were received.[8] Ten songs were selected for the competition by several focus groups and the competing acts and songs were revealed on 25 January 2019 during a press conference at NRK's Store Studio, presented by Heidi Ruud Ellingsen and Kåre Magnus Bergh and broadcast via NRK1 and online at mgp.no.[9][10] Among the competing artists was former Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest entrant Mørland who represented the country in 2015 alongside Debrah Scarlett.[11][12]

Ten songs competed during the final on 2 March 2019. The winner was selected over three rounds of voting. In the first round, the top four entries were selected by a 50/50 combination of votes from ten international juries and a public vote to proceed to the second round, the Gold Final. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 580 points to award. Each jury group distributed their points as follows: 1–8, 10 and 12 points, and only the 12 points of each jury were announced during the show. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through the following voting methods: SMS and online voting.[13] For example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 580 points rounded to the nearest integer: 58 points. In the Gold Final, the top two entries were selected by public voting to proceed to the third round, the Gold Duel. In the Gold Duel, an additional round of public voting was held and the votes were aggregated to the results of the Gold Final, leading to the victory of "Spirit in the Sky" performed by Keiino with 231,937 votes.[14][15]

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show was opened with two-time Norwegian Eurovision entrant Alexander Rybak performing his 2009 winning entry "Fairytale" and 2018 entry "That's How You Write a Song", while the interval act featured host Heidi Ruud Ellingsen, Tone Damli and 2006 Norwegian Eurovision entrant Christine Guldbrandsen performing "Ingen er så nydelig" by 1997 Norwegian Eurovision entrant Tor Endresen, and Israeli Eurovision 2018 winner Netta performing her entry "Toy".[16][17]

Detailed International Jury Votes

Draw	Song
1	"We Try"
2	"Mr. Unicorn"		X	X				X	X
3	"En livredd mann"				X
4	"Holla"	X
5	"Sing for You"
6	"Feel"
7	"Fake It"
8	"Hold Me Down"
9	"The Bubble"					X	X			X
10	"Spirit in the Sky"										X
International Jury Spokespersons[18]
Italy: Nicola Caligiore  Georgia: Sopho Toroshelidze  Spain: Antonio Losada Vela  Denmark: Mads Enggaard  Portugal: Isabel Roma   Switzerland: Reto Peritz  North Macedonia: Aleksandra Jovanovska  Ireland: Zbyszek Zalinski  Hungary: Lőrinc Bubnó  Israel: Amit Wulff

Following Melodi Grand Prix 2019, Keiino filmed a music video for "Spirit in the Sky" at the studios of Krypton Film in Oslo. The video, which was directed by Martin Sofiedal and Alice Asplund, was released to the public on 4 April.[19]

Keiino made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Spirit in the Sky" as the Norwegian Eurovision entry. On 8 March, Keiino performed during the Melfest WKND Pre-party, which was held at the Club Estelle in Stockholm, Sweden.[20][21] On 6 April, the group performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Edsilia Rombley and Marlayne.[22] On 12 April, Keiino performed during the Eurovision PreParty Riga, which was organised by OGAE Latvia and held at the Crystal Club Concert Hall in Riga, Latvia.[23] On 14 April, Keiino performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.[24] The group concluded promotional activities by performing during the Eurovision Pre-Party Madrid event, which was held on 21 April at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain and hosted by Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela.[25]

Keiino during a rehearsal before the second semi-final

Keiino took part in technical rehearsals on 6 and 10 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 15 and 16 May. This included the jury show on 15 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[31]

The Norwegian performance featured the members of Keiino performing on stage in black outfits. The group members began the performance on different part of the stage before moving to the centre as the song progresses. The stage colours transitioned from black and blue to red, yellow and gold and the LED screens displayed starry skies, snowy mountains in the colours of northern lights and fire. The performance also featured smoke and pyrotechnic flame effects.[32][33] Keiino was joined by three off-stage backing vocalists: Frode Vassel, Kine Ludvigsen Fossheim and Marianne Pentha.[34]

At the end of the show, Norway was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Norway placed seventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 210 points: 170 points from the televoting and 40 points from the juries.[35]

Shortly after the second semi-final, a winner's press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Norway was drawn to compete in the second half.[36] Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Norway was subsequently placed to perform in position 15, following the entry from Israel and before the entry from the United Kingdom.[37]

Keiino once again took part in dress rehearsals on 17 and 18 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. The group performed a repeat of their semi-final performance during the final on 18 May. Norway placed sixth in the final, scoring 331 points: 291 points from the televoting and 40 points from the juries.[38]

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.[39]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Norway and awarded by Norway in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

The following members comprised the Norwegian jury:[39]

• Knut Bjørnar Asphol (jury chairperson) – musician, music producer, songwriter
• Finn-Ulrik Berntsen – music producer
• Jenny Jenssen – artist
• Kamilla Wigestrand – artist, songwriter
• Maiken Kroken – musician, singer, vocal coach

Detailed voting results from Norway (Semi-final 2)[40]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		F.-U. Berntsen	K. Bjørnar Asphol	J. Jenssen	K. Wigestrand	M. Kroken	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Armenia	9	17	7	17	16	14		16
02	Ireland	15	16	17	15	17	17		15
03	Moldova	8	14	8	11	6	9	2	14
04	Switzerland	5	2	3	4	5	3	8	4	7
05	Latvia	11	15	15	3	14	10	1	12
06	Romania	14	11	11	7	9	11		13
07	Denmark	7	10	2	13	2	6	5	3	8
08	Sweden	2	1	5	1	1	1	12	2	10
09	Austria	17	12	12	16	13	16		17
10	Croatia	16	9	9	8	12	12		11
11	Malta	4	8	14	12	7	7	4	8	3
12	Lithuania	10	7	13	14	15	13		1	12
13	Russia	6	6	10	10	11	8	3	7	4
14	Albania	13	13	16	9	10	15		9	2
15	Norway
16	Netherlands	3	3	6	2	3	2	10	6	5
17	North Macedonia	12	4	1	5	4	4	7	10	1
18	Azerbaijan	1	5	4	6	8	5	6	5	6

Detailed voting results from Norway (Final)[41]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		F. Berntsen	K. Bjørnar Asphol	J. Jenssen	K. Wigestrand	M. Kroken	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	13	7	13	13	7	11		12
02	Albania	23	16	23	19	23	22		18
03	Czech Republic	1	1	2	3	3	1	12	13
04	Germany	20	10	21	15	17	17		24
05	Russia	7	14	8	12	16	13		10	1
06	Denmark	10	11	4	9	4	7	4	6	5
07	San Marino	24	17	24	24	25	24		15
08	North Macedonia	12	3	1	2	2	2	10	17
09	Sweden	3	4	5	5	1	3	8	1	12
10	Slovenia	16	19	22	14	21	20		16
11	Cyprus	6	12	14	20	5	10	1	19
12	Netherlands	4	2	10	4	12	4	7	3	8
13	Greece	25	25	25	22	24	25		25
14	Israel	18	23	17	17	20	21		21
15	Norway
16	United Kingdom	11	13	7	6	8	9	2	22
17	Iceland	15	9	11	25	22	15		2	10
18	Estonia	21	8	20	11	11	14		9	2
19	Belarus	22	18	18	16	15	19		23
20	Azerbaijan	2	5	6	7	14	6	5	8	3
21	France	14	20	15	23	18	18		14
22	Italy	8	21	16	1	13	8	3	4	7
23	Serbia	17	22	12	18	10	16		20
24	Switzerland	5	6	3	8	6	5	6	5	6
25	Australia	9	15	9	10	9	12		7	4
26	Spain	19	24	19	21	19	23		11