As we pushed on into our first week of February, Norway continued on with its national final, Melodi Grand Prix as the 4th heat of 5 premiered on February 6th. This heat provides a level of musical diversity as we're treated with everything from the token emotional ballad to what could be described as 'dads going wild at the cookout'. So without further ado, let's have a deeper look at the songs competing in the 4th heat.
Duel 1
Marianne Pentha & Mikkel Gaup - Pages
After the songs for this heat were revealed shortly before the airing, Pages quickly emerged as the fan favorite to win. The addition of joik, the traditional form of song of the Samí people, to a driving and anthemic melody turned out to be a recipe for a big success. The kaleidoscope of blues and purples as well as the blankets of fog along the ground make for an atmospheric staging which really helped amp up the live performance.
Landeveiens Helter - Alt det der
Alt Det Der or 'All of That' chronicles the drunk escapades of four middle aged men, who apparently have no regrets about getting hammered and ultimately destroying their livers. While the live performance isn't anything to really gawk about, it does look like these gentlemen are having the time of their lives on that stage, and that's really all that matters right?
Winner: Pages
Duel 2
KiiM - My Lonely Voice:
Much like last year's winner 'Attention', My Lonely Voice is an emotionally driven power ballad with a near pitch perfect vocal performance to do it justice. The stage show provided was dark, yet simplistic enough to allow Kiim's voice and stage presence to deservedly steal the show.
Royane - Circus
This semi's oddball entry comes to us in the form of Royane's 'Circus', a RnB tune laced with elements of jazz, or in the words of a good friend "Witch Woods Lite but with a budget". Which for all we know could be true considering the stage was only a live elephant short of a decent circus show.
Winner: KiiM
KiiM emerged the Second Duel victorious with his song 'My Lonely Voice', which would move on to the Gold Final and face off against the winning song from Duel One, Pages.
Pre-qualified Song
Atle Pettersen - World on Fire
Along with the artists competing in the semis, one of the automatic qualifiers performs as an interval act. This semi showcased 'World on Fire' a slick pop song by Atle Pettersen. Its catchy chorus paired with Atle's undeniable stage presence, this performance was quick to prove that it was well deserving of the automatic spot in the final.
Overall winner: KiiM
After all was said and done, the winners from each duel faced off for a spot in the final but only one could emerge victorious. My Lonely Voice defeated fan favorite Pages and will be performed at the MGP Final, airing on NRK on February 20th.