Fresh after the start of the new year, Norway’s NRK has announced the 21 artists who will compete in the 61st edition of Melodi Grand Prix.
This years line-up will see an number of MGP winners return to the competition like Kate Guldbrandsen (1987), Stig Van Eikj (1999), JOWST (2017), and Ulrikke who despite winning MGP 2020, would not compete at Eurovision due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The full list of artists and their semi-final allocations are as follows:
Semi-Final One
- Alessandra Mele – “Queen of Kings”
- Eirik Naess – “Wave”
- JOWST ft. Byron Williams Jr. – “Freaky for the Weekend”
- Kate Guldbrandsen – “Trårer i paradis”
- Rasmus Thall – “Tresko”
- Ulrikke – “Honestly”
- Umami Tsunami – “Geronimo”
Semi-Final Two
- Alejandro Fuentes – “Fuego”
- Bjorn Olav Edvardsen – “Turn Off My Heart”
- Ella A – “Waist”
- Elsie Bay – “Love You in a Dream”
- Jone – “Ekko inni meg”
- Sandra Lyng – “Drøm d bort”
- Swing’it – “Prohibition”
Semi-Final Three
- Akuvi – “Triumph”
- Atle Pettersen – “Masterpiece”
- Eline Thorp – “Not Meant to Be”
- Maria Celin Strisland – “Freya”
- SKRELLEX – “Love Again”
- Stig Van Eijk – “Someday”
- Tiril Beisland – “Break It”
A total of 13 artists will be making their debut in MGP this season, with many of them having previous appearances on NRK2 programming. Bjorn Olav Edvardsen, Eirik Naess, and Sandra Lyng are former contestants on Norway’s Idol series, Bjorn Olav Edvardsen, Byron Williams Jr., Maria Celin Strisland, and Alessandra Mele competed on different seasons of The Voice of Norway, drag queen SKRELLEX competed on All Together Now Norge, and Swing’it appeared on Norske Talenter (Norway’s Got Talent).
What to expect for MGP 2023
NRK announced earlier this year that MGP 2023 would feature a number of format changes with the return of an international jury and onl3 semi-final shows, along with the elimination of pre-qualified acts, the semi-final duel structure, and would see the final return to Trondheim Spektrum arena. Since then additional changes have been announced that will see the voting lines open only after all acts have performed – a departure from the format used since 2020 that emulates public voting in Sweden’s Melodifestivalen.
The full songs for each semi-final will be not be released until the Monday prior to the live show, but one minute snippets are available on NRK’s website. The specific release dates are listed below for reference:
- January 9th: Semi-Final One songs released
- January 16th: Semi-Final Two songs released
- January 23rd: Semi-Final Three songs released
Snippets of the MGP2023 songs:
— Eurovision Norway (@euroviNOR) January 4, 2023
In the past ten years, Norway has only failed to the qualify for the grand final once in 2015 and has placed in the top 10 six times. In Turin the country was represented by the space wolf duo Subwoolfer, who finished in 10th place with a total of 182 points.
Are #YOU excited about the participants for MGP 2023? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, on our discord, or on our forum page!
