Tonight concluded the first of the Nordic national finals Melodi Grand Prix, and means we now have the fourteenth artist selected for Liverpool!
Tonight’s show kicked off in the Trondheim Spektrum arena in Trondheim, the first time that the MGP final has been held there since 2020. Nine acts qualifier for the final from three semi-final rounds that took place in January, and the running order was decided earlier this week by NRK. The official running order was:
- Jone – “Ekko inni meg”
- Eline Thorp – “Not Meant to Be”
- Skrellex – “Love Tonight”
- Ulrikke Brandstorp – “Honestly”
- Umami Tsunami – “Geronimo”
- Atle Pettersen – “Masterpiece”
- Swing’it – “Prohibition”
- Elsie Bay – “Love You In A Dream”
- Alessandra Mele – “Queen of Kings”
In a shocking moment during the voting interval, Subwoolfer made an appearance and took the opportunity to reveal who Keith and Jim really are. Eurovision fans had been speculating who it could be for months, and it turns out many were correct – Ben Adams and Gaute Ormåsen were behind Subwoolfer all along. Their reveal came alongside a reveal of a new song “Who Am I” mixed together with their Eurovision 2022 song “Give That Wolf A Banana”.
The voting results
This year’s final is the first to not feature a two-step result process, eliminating the gold duel. This year, the winner of Melodi Grand Prix was decided by a a ten country international jury, and a public televote hosted on the NRK website. The international jury would feature the United Kingdom, Finland, Azerbaijan, Spain, Ukraine, Czech Republic, France, Iceland, Netherlands, and Sweden. Six of these countries will be competing against Norway in the first semi-final.
Following the jury voting there was only a ten point gap between Alessandra in first place and Atle Pettersen in second. Fan favorite Ulrikke Brandstorp was in third place, but a full 34 points behind Atle and 44 behind Alessandra. A full run-down of the jury vote can be found above.
Next the public televote was revealed, starting from the last placed song with the jury vote and working to the jury winner – modeling the Eurovision voting method. The public vote would show no love to Atle Petterson, giving him 28 points and removing him from the running. The final decision was between Ulrikke Brandstorp and Alessandra, and following a stressful pause, Alessandra was revealed to have received 107 points, overtaking Ulrikke!
This means that Alessandra Mele will be headed to Liverpool in May to represent Norway in the first semi-final with the song “Queen of Kings”.
What do #YOU think about the results in MGP? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, on our discord, or on our forum page!
