Norway’s national selection show, Melodi Grand Prix (MGP), is now in its 60th edition and along with Lithuania’s national selection, started its shows in January. I watched the the first few but I will confess I drifted off to other finals, knowing that I could come back to the actual Norwegian final after all the preliminary shows.
There are 10 acts competing in the final, and as with recent years, the format follows a slightly clunky format of whittling the 10 down to four in a “gold final” and then two proceeding to a “golden duel” to determine who will be Norway’s Eurovision entry. I find it an odd way to do it and stretch it out (and may skew results towards certain songs) but countries are free to select as they see fit – and Norway’s recent Eurovision record is one most countries would be delighted to have.
Pre-show favourites (and my personal wildcard)
There seem to be two clear favourites prior to the final – one song that would likely appeal more heavily to the juries; the other song more likely to appeal to a public vote.
Favourite 1: Elsie Bay “Death of Us”
I would describe this song as a jury favourite (if there were juries in MGP) and if it were to make it to the contest, I think it would perform favourably with juries. That’s not to say it won’t be popular with a public vote, but I think her main rival to win MGP may get the bigger televote (and MGP is televote only). That said, Elsie is leading in the Eurovision scoreboard app.
Favourite 2: Subwoolfer “Get That Wolf a Banana”
In contrast to Elsie’s more classic and classy ballad, this is very much at the fun end of the national final entry spectrum. There’s a bit of a Mrs Merton style “heated debate” going on within Eurofan twitter on whether having such a “joke” entry going to the contest would demean it, set the contest back etc. but I think they are getting themselves unduly worked up. The contest works best with a variety and this would undeniably get some attention.
My wildcard/possible favourite: Oda Gondrosen
This stands no chance of winning I suspect, and also I will admit it’s both cheesy and clichéd but I enjoyed it when I saw it in the semi-finals and pleased to see it make it to the final.
The final of Melodi Grand Prix 2022 takes place from 6.55pm UK time on Saturday 19 February. You can watch the show on broadcaster NRK’s MGP website.