Morten from OGAE Norway wrote this and ESC COVERS google translated it from Norwegian to English.

This is a blog entry and represents only writer Morten Thomassen’s own views.

Our Danish friends will choose their contribution and hopefully they will be able to choose a melody that can take them to the final, this year, as you know, it is 5 years since they were last there, so the person who wins tonight probably has an ever-so-small boot on his shoulders until their semi-final in May.

It’s a bit cool that you still have a live orchestra in the national final here and as usual I think the stage decor is lovely in this country’s final, I think those who are responsible for this at NRK have something to learn here.

During the evening, 8 songs will become 3 songs that will duel in a super final and both votings will be decided by 50% jury and 50% telephone voting and with this information given you start on the song, quick and easy this.

Melody 1 – Saba –

We are served a song that starts a little slowly before it gains a little more energy, but without it taking off completely. Vocally, this is a bit shaky at times and it’s a shame as this kind of slightly big songs deserve a very steady vocal, something that doesn’t occur here. In fact, the mediocre vocals plague the whole song and this was not the start of the finale that this song could have been. Something that could have been very powerful became quite a puzzle instead.

Melody 2 – Star –

Well, it’s rare to start an MGP song with a chorus and perhaps a little surprising that it turns into a rock song that’s a little too tame in my opinion. I also think that the arrangement of the song is a little too stripped down and thus the whole song is a little poor for me. Too bad, because this is a song with potential, vocally it is delivered, but just that is not enough to save the song for me. I like the rawness in the voice, so I’ll let that draw it up a bit.

Melody 3 – CHU CHU –

One becomes skeptical when the vocals are as bad as they are here and when, in addition, there is mostly no one who can call themselves a melody in the whole thing, this will be a few long minutes, I’m afraid. This is just some sour and bland chaos for me and I’m really struggling to find anything positive here. Should we put a cool hairstyle on the positive side, that’s probably the only thing I can come up with unfortunately.

Melody 4 – Basim –

A fellow we have seen before and this will be a cordial reunion, I think? It is not known whether it is the nerves of the eyes or not, but the vocals here are also a little unstable at times. The song is a bit too fussy and energetic for me and there is too little going on in the song for me to completely fall for this, I’m afraid. But, the charm this guy had 10 years ago has fortunately not faded, so there is something about the old here. Unfortunately, the artist seems to think he’s at a live concert and not a music competition, which also ruins the song.

Melody 5 – RoseeLu –

Finally an artist who has such a reasonable control over the vocals, there are a few missteps though. A song with a melancholic undertone and that’s something I like. Here, there are some insistent ones that I find very similar and when the artist also has a distinctive voice, I simply fall a little for this. The show itself was a bit confusing with four dancing boys in huge bubble jackets, I guess I’m a bit done with winter now.

Melody 6 – UBLU –

And here the 80s synth wave sailed in with a 2024 version that is decidedly rockier and much more edgy than what I remember from back then. I think the song starts very well, but I’m afraid that it will get lost a little too much in something that is a little too punk for me. The vocals are mostly steady and fit very well into this type of song and fortunately the song saves itself well towards the end.

Melody 7 – Janus Wiberg –

A hearty fellow from the Faroe Islands serves us an absolutely delicious song. Here the other artists are knocked down in the mud vocally, this is raw and deliciously melancholic and I fall head over heels for this. Here you manage to get a song to be toned down and very powerful at the same time and the vocals are sometimes very insistent and it fits very well into the song. If there is an MGP god, this song must be sent on to the gold final, this was simply magnificent.

Melody 8 – Aura Dione –

It’s good to have a distinctive voice, but sometimes it can be overbearing and become more tiresome than distinctive Here we move on the border and also the melody I feel is in a kind of borderland that I’m not entirely sure I want to visit. The whole performance is a bit over the top and the lack of a proper melody only becomes more and more prominent throughout the songs. All in all, quite confusing this for me.

A very motley collection of songs this, I hope that songs 5 ​​and 7 get a further MGP life tonight, but it’s not up to me to decide then, my experience makes me think that I will be disappointed later tonight, we’ll see.

Otherwise, I just love when you take an old MGP song and make a completely new version of it, so the break with our Danish friends contribution from 1961 is top notch in my opinion.

Then we will find out which 3 songs will get the final chance for a ticket across the strait to Malmö in May and it will be Saba, Janus Wiberg and Basim who will be given that honor, well my big favorite is still there and the MGP life is still on livable.

I feel that Saba is moving up a few notches this time around, certainly much better vocally and suddenly this has become a much more powerful song and if I were to throw new dice I think the die would have one more dot on it, in other words 4 on the die this one time.

Basim has also realized that you have to raise your game when there is a gold final and he does it at the start and is much more focused this time. But, his song hasn’t improved in an hour, so here I would still think that the roll of the dice should be 3.

Janus Wilberg has already received a top score from me and he actually manages to top his performance as well, this is raw and very emotional at the same time and I can only hope that those who decide have their ears tuned to the same frequency as me.

Should you have seen, also in the Danish final they pay tribute to Sweden, this time only Loreen’s winning songs are paid tribute and I think this tribute was good.

It all ended with Saba winning in a voting process that was super short, let’s hope she practices a lot until she goes to Malmö, this is a song with potential, let’s just hope she learns to use it .

Saba Lykke Oehlenschlæger (26) is a singer, actor, entrepreneur, model, and freelancer. When Saba was eight months old she and her identical twin sister, Andrea Lykke Oehlenschlæger, were adopted by a family from Ringkøbing, Denmark, after they were left as lost children in Ethiopia.

Featured image –  Youtube