Tonight Norwegian broadcaster NRK revealed 10 of the 26 artists who will be taking part in this year's Melodi Grand Prix.
The 10 artists include the four artists taking part in this weekend's first of five semi-finals, as well as the six artists who automatically have a spot in February's final compered by 2020 hosts Ingrid Gjessing Linhave, Ronny Brede Aase and Kåre Magnus Bergh.
The six automatic finalists
KEiiNO - 'Monument'
KEiiNO were the big announcement of the night. They won Melodi Grand Prix in 2019 and then the televote at Eurovision in Tel Aviv finishing 6th overall. They went on to tour Australia and release a huge amount of music including a duet with our very own Electric Fields. Their song 'Monument' will be revealed on 15th January and they will perform (not compete) in the first semi-final this weekend.
Rein Alexander - 'Eyes Wide Open'
Rein Alexander made a huge impact at Melodi Grand Prix in 2020 with his song 'One Last Time' complete with epic staging including lighting a fire in his hand and summoning the undead. He made the Melodi Grand Prix final but didn't get through to the final four. His song 'Eyes Wide Open' will be revealed February 12th.
Tix - 'Out of the Dark'
Tix is an interesting artist who is the character of Andreas Haukeland. He created him after growing up with Tourette's syndrome. He chose to take ownership of the nickname and made it his own. He has had seven Spotify no.1 hits in Norway and co-wrote Ava Max's hit song 'Sweet But Psycho'. His song 'Out of the Dark' will be revealed this Friday 15 January and he will perform (but not compete) in the first semi-final this song.
Stavangerkameratene - 'Barndomsgater'
Prior to Stavangerkameratene's releases and concerts, the four artists in the band 'Stavangerkameratene' became known individually to large audiences via television. Kjartan Salvesen won Norwegian “Idol” in 2004, Tommy Fredvang is known from Norwegian 'X-Factor' 2009, 'Stjernekamp' in 2015, Glenn Lyse won Norwegian 'Idol' in 2007 and Ole Alexander Mæland has a background as a vocalist in 'Elle Melle' and participated in Norwegian 'The Voice' in 2012. Four years after their debut as a group, 'Stavangerkameratene' now have two albums behind them, over 50 million streams on Spotify, over 6 million views on YouTube, several gold and platinum songs and numeral tours around Norway. Today they are considered one of Norway's most popular live bands. Their song 'Barndomsgater' will be released on January 23
Kaja Rode - 'Feel Again'
Kaja Rode is a 22-year-old singer born in Oslo. She participated in Norwegian The Voice in 2017, where she made all the judges turn around at the blind audition. 'Feel Again' will be released January 30
Atle Pettersen - 'World on Fire'
Atle Pettersen had his breakthrough in Norwegian X-factor in 2010, and the same year released his debut single 'Light on' as a solo artist. The song reached 6th place on the Norwegian pop chart 'VGlista'. He released his debut album 'Based on a true Story' in 2011, which went straight into a 3rd place on the same pop chart. 'World On Fire' will be released on February 6. H
First semi-final
Stina Talling - 'Elevate'
Stina Talling is just 17-years-old but already has an impressive resume including her biggest hit 'More than Good Enough', which she co-wrote for BlimE, has streamed over 12 million times. Her song for this week is 'Elevate'.
Jorn - 'Faith Bloody Faith'
52-year-old Jorn is competing with 'Faith Bloody Faith'. He has nearly 50 international album releases behind him and is listed on the biggest sales charts around the world, including the US Billboard charts. Jorn is known for his great vocal capacity, and is claimed to be the largest Norwegian musical export since a-ha.
Blåsemafiaen ft Hazel - 'Let Loose'
Blåsemafiaen is one of the most renowned brass bands in Norway and Europe and consists of Sigurd Evensen (27) from Oslo on trombone, Stig Espen Hundsnes (32) from Stord on trumpet and Jørgen Lund Karlsen (27) from Fredrikstad on saxophone. They will be performing 'Let Loose' with singer Caroline (Hazel) Teigen.
Beady Belle - 'Playing with Fire'
BeateLech, known as Beady Belle, is a singer,songwriter and producer with a large international audience. She has toured in large parts of the world since the early 2000s and has worked with international stars such as Jamie Cullum and R&B artist India Arie.
The first semi-final will take place this Sunday 17 January at 5:50am AEDT (19:50 Saturday 16 January in Europe)