Yay! After watching several countries trying to come up with someone who could outrule us all in Eurovision. After trying to ignore boring episode number 115 of Sweden’s ridiculously long selection process. After surviving through Ukraine’s death by politics. Finally, we are ready for our own national final, the one and only Melodi Grand Prix.
We are watching, of course, and we will give you our comments as we go along. Read our live blog below.
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Ah, finally. Our Norwegian selection MGP is coming up! And even though we weren’t there to assist this year, our national broadcaster NRK did a fine job on their own picking out artists and songs that together will make a great show. But how will they do on their own in Tel Aviv? Read our reviews and verdicts below!
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Hooray, our national final is soon ready to blow the roof off Oslo Spektrum. We think. Must admit we are not always super happy with Norway’s finals, but we actually think it is pretty good this year. And we’re not only saying that because we desperately want NRK to give us an accreditation for Lisbon. True story. We swear.
In fact, we’re mostly saying that because we were in the listening group that helped picked the songs for MGP this year, and if the result wasn’t good, who else to blame but…ourselves? NOT a blame game we like playing in GEE HQ. Also the listening group looked a bit like this:
OMG, it’s time for our favorite national final again: MALTA. And we have been way to sloppy on giving you updates. We are not even on our favourite Mediterranean rock at this moment which is no less than a scandal. But we follow it closely on our beloved Internet of course. And so should you. Here’s what to expect from tonight:
Daniel Testa is not in the show, which is scandal number two. Repeat after us, please: There should never be a Maltese final without Daniel Testa, just like there should never be a Eurovision final without Italy. Someone fix this situation promptly.
Yeah, MGP went as expected. Norway gathered a lot of hobgoblins onstage, let the only good artist down and voted for a rubbish song. We are utterly disappointed we won’t be packing our sami flags and sølje jewellery in May. But at least we had a great party with Elin and her wood, got rid of Kristian Valen early and can still count of Hungary’s Joci for some ethnic vibe in Kyiv (that is if he is not bullied to silence first, shame on you, Hungarians).
Nonetheless. We have some awards to hand out:
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It is that time of the year again. Whilst most people are busy enjoying that Stockholm sun and figuring out who is going to win Melodifestivalen in Sweden, Norway is desperately seeking attention for our national final and our “MGP general” Jan Fredrik Karlsen is running around in the media telling everyone who he wants to win so he himself can have someone to drink vodka with in his hotel room in Kyiv.
Just like last year, it’s mostly a sob story for two Norwegian Eurovision fans, really. But we stand by our country in good times and in bad. So we’ll bring our 9 year old associated jury member and show up in Oslo spektrum. And if you are stil wondering who WE would like to shot vodka with in Kyiv’s Euro club, here’s our quick run-through in order of appearance:
So, we already told you we had a great time in Estonia’s Eesti Laul. But did we tell you we also brought Elin and Robin, aka Elin and the Woods, aka our absolute favorites to win MGP this year? We needed to introduce them to the Estonians, of course.
Robin was so excited he decided to take a tour on his own. Here’s what he stopped to look at along his way:
So, we went to Estonia, had a great time and came back in one piece. Hooray! And we brought with us Koit Toome & Laura and their fabulous little tune Verona – for you to enjoy in Kyiv. Hooray again!
We, of course, have quite a few awards to hand out after a weekend of extravaganza. Here goes.
Best use of all elements and then some: Kerli. With all that snow, flames, air and whatnot on stage at the same time we were convinced the whole UN sustainable development summit itself would sort of manifest itself and remind us of those ever so annoying climate changes going on.
Best move of the evening: Lenna Kuurmaa, flying around in the air like some other Freaky Fortune PeterPan RiskyKidd Greek God. We like. A lot. Now maybe she can give a few performing tips to Romeo and Juliet over there?
Biggest waste of good looks: Daniel Levi. Being totally hidden in darkness and neon. We recommend that for Ivo Linna next time.
Yay, we’re at Eesti Laul! Or at least in Tallinn, where we arrived on the same plane as Måns Zelmerlöw. We saw that he travelled on tourist class and even though that was highly inappropriate of SAS, we love him for accepting it. So far we have had our vokda and caviar (isn’t this Russia?), tried on a few vintage Chanel dresses, helped a Russian babushka who fell over in the street, avoided all the people pretending we are in the Middle Ages although people clearly are using iPhones to take their pictures and recieved our free VIP guest cards from the Tourist office so we can get a long and good look at occupation history. Safe to say we love this place, and we haven’t even had our cocktails yet.
With MGP going down the drain for yet another year here in Norway, we have decided to seek refuge in Estonia, our Nordic neighbor in the Baltics! With flight tickets and a suite at the Radisson booked, a dinner reservation at Alexander’s Table and front row seats in Saku Suurhall secured, we can hardly wait to jet off to Tallinn in a couple of weeks.
Here’s our review of the five finalists proceeding from the first semi-final in Eesti Laul 2017: Continue reading