The second semi-final of Norway’s annual Melodi Grand Prix took place on Saturday, 21 January, 2023 from Nydalen.
The night saw seven of the 21 contenders for this year’s Norwegian ticket to Liverpool compete for 3 spots in the Grand Final scheduled for Saturday, 4 February, 2023 at the Trondheim Spektrum.
Energetic performances were given by both Ella A with her rather risqué dancefloor pleaser Waist, and JONE & Silke with the upbeat Norwegian bop Ekko inni meg. These were two of the favourites to advance to the final heading into the evening.
Only one other song in Norwegian was in the night’s roster: Drøm d bort, which was delivered in a heartfelt and competent performance. 2022 favourite, and another favourite of the night to advance to the final, Elsie Bay, made a return this year with a theatrical rendition of her entry Love You in a Dream. Drawing upon the popularity and success of Blåsemafian’s brass-centric entry in 2021, Swing’It’s Prohibition provided us three minutes of catchy 1920s political realness.
Finally, Alejandro Fuentes delivered us an Iberian beat – Fuego – would this follow in the success of a certain other Fuego of Eleni Foureira fame? And Bjørn Olav Edvardsen’s Turn Off My Heart rounded out the evening with a deeply personal and emotional performance.
In keeping with MGP tradition, quantifiable results were not disclosed, with only the three top-voted performances of the night receiving a coveted Finalepass into the final. After Norway had their say though online voting, JONE, Elsie Bay and Swing’It will advance.
The three new finalists will take on Umami Tsunami, Ulrikke, Alessandra, and three more TBD artists, at the Grand Final in February to win the right to represent Norway at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. We cannot wait to see the results!