Overnight Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK), the Norwegian broadcaster, announced the first nine of 25 artists and song titles that will be competing in Melodi Grand Prix (MGP) 2020.
The competition has undergone a huge overhaul and will be run differently to previous contests, thus giving more artists a chance to earn the ticket to Rotterdam in May. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Norway’s first foray in the competition and is the 58th edition of Melodi Grand Prix. Norway have won Eurovision three times with The Bobbysocks in 1985, Secret Garden in 1995 and with the then record score breaking Alexander Rybak in 2009. There was a delay in the announcement that was initially due to take place on January 03. It was re-scheduled due to the funeral of Ari Behn, the former husband of Princess Martha Louise. The five acts that have pre-qualified for the final are:
Didrik & Emil - “Out Of Air”
Ulrikke Brandstorp - “Attention”
Akuvi - “Som Du Er”
Sondrey - “Take My Time”
Tome Damli - “Hurts Sometimes”
Didrik will be familiar to many after competing for Norway at Eurovision 2010 in Oslo with 'My Heart At Yours' finishing in 20th. He will be performing with his brother Emil, who in 2013 participated in Melodi Grand Prix with the metal band “Gromth”.
Many will also know Ulrikke, she finished 4th place in MGP back in 2017 with 'Places'
Tone Damil has also parcipated at MGP. In 2009 her song "Butterflies" came second in the final, beaten only by Alexander Rybak who won with "Fairytale". Tone's song sold to platinum and was on the Norwegian hit chart for 17 weeks. In 2013, she also participated in the Swedish "Melodifestivalen" together with Erik Segerstedt. They performed the song "Hello Goodbye”.
Sondrey and Akuvi have both competed on TV contests in Norway.
The other 4 are competing for the Southern Norway Semi Final on January 11 (January 12, Australian Time). The artists are:
Kim Rysstad - “Rainbow”
Raylee - “Wild”
Geirmund- “Come Alive”
Lisa Børud- “Talking About Us”
Some of these artists are relative newcomers however Lisa does have some experience as a backup singer and dancer to Alexander Rybak’s 'That How You Write a Song' in Lisbon.
Raylee participated in the Melodi Grand Prix with the song 'Louder'. In 2016 she came third at the Norwegian version of “Dancing with the stars”.
MGP will run every Saturday (Sunday in Australia) from January 11 to February 15 (January 12 to February 16). Five semi finals will be held on January 11, 18 and 25 as well as February 01 and 8 at the H3 Arena in Fornebu. One qualifier from each semi final will join the 5 pre-qualifiers at the Trondheim Spektrum on February 15 for the final. More announcements are scheduled for the remaining semi finals, artists will be confirmed on:
Eastern Norway- January 13
Western Norway- January 20
Central Norway- January 27
Northern Norway- February 03
The five artists who pre-qualified will perform their song (but not compete) in each semi final with Sondrey first up on January 11.