Hello and welcome to my first thread of the year - and it's for who have decided to use the same procedure as they did last year which I quite liked and I'm poised to see it return. This time, there are going to be twelve finalists of which six are already qualified. Two will be performed in the first semi final while one will be performed each semi final after that. There also will be a special wildcard round where one of the fifteen eliminated songs that did not make it to the final will be allowed another chance. The prequalified artists are as follows: KEiiNO - Monument TIX - Ut av mørket Stavangerkameratene - Barndomsgater Kaja Rode - Feel Again Atle Pettersen - World On Fire Rein Alexander - Eyes Wide Open And without further ado: The first semi final of Melodi Grand Prix 2021 which will face off in duels against each other, then a final duel to determine who gets to go to the final. Stina Talling - Elevate Jorn - Faith Bloody Faith Blåsemafian - Let Loose Beady Belle - Playing With Fire First Semi Final Recap First impressions are that at least it's four different genres of music, I can appreciate that. Beady Belle was the only one I struggled to get through but I think Faith Bloody Faith stands out the most and is most preferential to my own tastes, too. (Some odd choices of instrumentation, though.)
The first two of the Prequalified Songs are out: When I saw his style and the album cover, I thought 'oh dear' but this is rather quite pleasant - it has a anthemic quality to it. And here it is, the big return of KEiiNO: Less schlager, more electronic - it's not as instanteous as Spirit In The Sky but I still imagine this'll probably end up being their entry due to the massive hype behind them. If you come back, you have to do it even better than last time - the live might lift it up some more but my first impression is more or less what I expected.
KEiiNO song is more or less similar to the spirit in the sky but less catchy. Neither good nor bad for me. I like Ut av mørket, though. It sounds like something I could send to the contest
Stina Talling was just shouty, boring, below average Scandi pop that would get rejected in Melfest. Still, better than Beady Belle which was rather frightful - good performer but the song was weird and the scream cringy. I guess I was supposed to like Jorn, but found it very dated and formulaic. Blaseman was slightly more interesting, though not my cup of tea overall - I like the instrumental but he singing is quite bad. I am not keen on Keiino's Monument, I don't like the "rapping", I don't like the speaking, I don't like her screaming, and I think the song is not all that altogether. Then again, I didn't think Spirit In The Sky was all that, either Also, wtf were they wearing Not sold on TIX, not really my style at all, sounds a dime a dozen, and once again wtf was he wearing
I liked Elevate and (strangely) Faith Bloody Faith and couldn't stand Playing With Fire and Let Loose. KEiiNO I suppose will win MGP and do well in Eurovision..they're rather impressive and memorable, although not a song I would vote for. TIX I loved..ok not the clothes/staging but the song and the vocals I found really good
Looking at the performances on hand, Blasemafian just loses my interest after the first minute or so because the instrumental breaks are too long and Hazel's voice was quite pitchy. KEiiNO was what I expected - better when it's live but I still feel as if Fred and Tom are glorified backing singers in this version when they felt much more united for Spirit In The Sky. Alexandra was always impressive vocally to me. TIX actually impressed me with his vocals but the staging was weird and took me away from the song - although I guess it's very him. I read he will change his song to english if he ended up winning which means I can't root for him - changing the language strips away what made it stand out.
You can listen to the second semi final songs here: Raylee - Hero Daniel Owen - Psycho Maria Solheim - Nordlyset Ketil Stokkan - My Life Is Ok Second Semi Final Recap Well, that was rather horrendous. I wasn't a big fan of Raylee's song last year and I think Hero is a better song (despite the fact Laurell Barker has put her stupid lyrics on show for the seven hundredth time) and I imagine it'll be the winner of this semi final - Ketil still has a lovely voice, bless him and the other two were dire.
I had no idea he was really taking part when i said this he has made eurovision 2021 a bit brighter now
The second semi final's prequalified song can be found here: I expected as much from this band, they do a mixture of pop and folk - not a winner but not a bad song. Just not for Eurovision and better for sitting 'round a fire.
The third heat songs are out: Big Daddy Karsten - Smile Dinaye - Own Yourself Emmy - Witch Woods Ole Hartz - Vi er Norge Third Heat Recap Gay rap, a JESC-like song, a song about killing men and a medieval-tinged humour song about Norwegians being the best. I have no idea how this is going to go.
The fourth prequalified song can be heard here: Kind of reminds me of something Agnes would sing - a bit of a disco throwback. It's fine, typical Scandi-fare but if her vocals are good live, it'll help.