I am catching up with this now, I have listened to the songs in the second and third semifinals, as well as the pre-qualifiers that were featured in each. Ty Rua for the very useful update! Here are my thoughts. Semifinal Two Ketil was lovely, probably not what is needed if a country aspires to do well in today's Eurovision, but I very much enjoyed the song. HFc sok. Daniel Owen and Raylee were utter crap Raylee also had the worst possible staging and that outfit doesn't do her any favours. I get that Maria Solheim was aiming for magical, but she only achieved bland, despite the pretty staging. Tl;dr: Ketil was robbed I also fully agree with Rua on Stavangerkameratene. Semifinal Three Dinaye's dated effort was pretty bad. Big Daddy Karsten was underwhelming despite having thrown everything and the rainbow kitchen sink at it. Emmy was appallingly bad and the lyrics are outrageous, but I'm not surprised it did well I enjoyed Ole Harz the most of this group, not that it was anything special but at least it didn't make me lose the will to live. Kaja Rode's song is very generic and totally forgettable and a bit of an F ROW.
The fourth heat can be listened to below: Landeveiens Helter - Alt det der KiiM - My Lonely Voice Royane - Circus Marianne Pentha & Mikkel Gaup - Pages Another eclectic bunch of different music styles. Alt det der is a nice throwback song, pleasant to listen to but probably not competitive enough. My Lonely Voice is a contemporary ballad with a professional vocal but it doesn't grasp me at all. Circus is another oddity like Witch Woods but with some more roughness and edge to it - not sure if it's my cup of tea. Pages is a mix of both joik and pop and reminds me of 'Hold Your Colours" by Solju from UMK 2015 - it's pleasant but I don't think it's as much of a standout as it could've been.
The fifth prequalified song is here: This really gives me Melodifestivalen reject entry - you could imagine Molly Petterson Hammar stomping about to this or Mans Zelmerlow doing this as an interval song. Doesn't really do much for me!
The fifth and final of the heats can be listened to here: Ane.Fin - Walking In My Sleep IMERIKA - I Can't Escape RIVER - Coming Home TuVeia - Bli med meg på gar'n One thing that I can safely say about Norway's selection is that it can keep you guessing just what might come next - if you listen to any, I suggest TuVeia because I imagine it was made on drugs. I think IMERIKA will probably be the choice as it's a well made song (albeit takes a bit too long to get going) but RIVER's is quite pleasant. Ane.Fin is verging on a F ROW and TuVeia is, well, what it is.
The final prequalified song can be found here: Do you ever just sit there in silence while you're trying to gather your thoughts but you never can fully grasp them? I feel like that listening to this song - it's like a James bond song mixed with a Disney villain's song and I really don't like it.
Oh, I think I do l like it. I hope he comes in with his dishevelled look but I don't suppose he will.
Right, so it seems I only manage to catch up with Norway every two weeks Here's what I thought. Semifinal Four Pages is not unpleasant but it's nothing to necessarily write home about. Same for Alt Det Der, it's what Rua said. I very much enjoyed My Lonely Voice. Circus was, much like the title suggested, a hot mess, I am so over this new age crap. World on Fire, the pre-qualifier, was just terrible, so generic, dated and repetitive. Semifinal Five Bli med meg på gar'n was great I found it immensely entertaining. Coming Home is on par for me with Malta's entry of the same name - both are pleasant, none goes anywhere really. Walking In My Sleep is crap. I Can't Escape is alright and well sung but doesn't do much for me. Eyes Wide Open. I didn't like Eyes Wide Open. Thanks, Rua, for all the informative and fun to read posts!
On the 20th of February, will decide on their entry. After five heats and a wildcard round, six songs join the automatic qualifiers in a twelve-song showdown. I put the studio versions just to keep a bit of mystery for anyone who is waiting for tomorrow to see how they are live. The top four advance to a gold final and then a gold duel will be decided between the top two with the online voting. These are in running order: 01 Atle Pettersen - World On Fire (AQ) 02 Raylee - Hero (Heat 2 Qualifier) 03 Stavangerkameratene - Who I Am (AQ) 04 KiiM - My Lonely Voice (Heat 4 Qualifier) 05 Blåsemafian feat. Hazel - Let Loose (Heat 1 Qualifier) 06 Emmy - Witch Woods (Heat 3 Qualifier) 07 TIX - Fallen Angel (AQ) 08 Kaja Rode - Feel Again (AQ) 09 Rein Alexander - Eyes Wide Open (AQ) 10 IMERIKA - I Can't Escape (Heat 5 Qualifier) 11 KEiiNO - Monument (AQ) 12 Jorn - Faith Bloody Faith (Wildcard) I'm disappointed that TIX decided to go for English as it has been my favourite all the way through and it loses power when it's translated, despite liking some of the english lyrics. I could have been okay with a chorus in English and the rest in Norwegian. Other than TIX, I'm okay with Jorn, IMERIKA and Raylee, too. I suppose KEiiNO has it in the bag (and while it's my 5th, I think someone else deserves a chance.)
What an absolutely boring dull final 12 songs all in English, have none of them got any pride in their own language ? obviously not
1. Stavangerkameratene 2. Blåsemafian feat. Hazel 3. Raylee 4. TIX 5. KEiiNO 6. Atle Pettersen 7. IMERIKA 8. KiiM 9. Jorn 10. Rein Alexander 11. Emmy 12. Kaja Rode