''2023'' was the 61st edition of (MGP), the annual

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

music competition that serves as the country's preselection for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. It was organised by Norway's public broadcaster

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

, and consisted of three semi-finals and a final, held throughout January and February 2023. The winner of the competition, Alessandra with "

Queen of Kings King of Kings; grc-gre, Βασιλεὺς Βασιλέων, Basileùs Basiléōn; hy, արքայից արքա, ark'ayits ark'a; sa, महाराजाधिराज, Mahārājadhirāja; ka, მეფეთ მეფე, ''Mepet mepe'' ...

", went on to represent in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2023 The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 is the upcoming 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It is set to take place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, after , winner of the with the song " Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, was unable to meet the dem ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, United Kingdom in May 2023.

Format

The contest consisted of three semi-finals at Screen Studios in

Nydalen Nydalen is a neighbourhood in the Nordre Aker borough in northern Oslo, Norway. History In the late 19th century, the banks of the Akerselva River were dotted with various industrial buildings, Nydalen included. However, a transformation soon ...

, and a final at

Trondheim Spektrum Trondheim Spektrum (formerly Nidarøhallen) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Trondheim, Norway. It is located on the peninsula of Øya next to the Nidelven river. It is the home arena for women's handball team Byåsen HE. A new arena was c ...

. From 2020 to 2022, a number of artists were formerly pre-qualified for the final, but this was no longer the case in 2023. Moreover, there were no duels nor a "last chance" round, and voting began once all of the artists have performed. A total of 21 entries competed, with seven songs for each semi-final. The three performers who obtain the most votes qualified for the final. In addition, the international jury was re-introduced in the final, consisting of industry professionals from multiple countries. The jury and the public each contributed 50% to the final result. According to , who is in charge of the organization of the event for NRK, the contest would "now egoing for a competition model that is easier to understand, and where all the artists compete with the same starting point." In October 2022, it was announced that the contest would be hosted by and Stian Thorbjørnsen.

Competing entries

About one month after the

Eurovision Song Contest 2022 The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Måneskin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and h ...

, NRK officially opened submissions for songwriters to submit entries for Melodi Grand Prix 2023. The submission window closed on 18 September 2022. The competition is open to all songwriters, and each songwriter can submit up to three songs. Each song should have at least one Norwegian contributor, in order to "prioritise and promote the Norwegian music scene". In addition to the open submission, NRK also looked for possible entries through targeted search and direct dialogue with the Norwegian music industry, and through songwriting camps held in August 2022. In October 2022, it was announced that 21 entries were selected to take part in the contest. The competing artists were announced on 4 January, with the respective entries to be released on a weekly basis, starting from 9 January. Among the competing artists are

Kate Gulbrandsen Kate Gulbrandsen (born 6 August 1965 in Slemmestad) is a Norwegian singer. In 1986 she represented Norway at the Yamaha Song Festival in Tokyo with the song "Carnival". She won the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix 1987 in a very close ...

, Stig van Eijk,

Jowst Joakim With Steen (born 26 June 1989), better known as Jowst (usually stylised JOWST), is a Norwegian music producer and songwriter. He represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Grab the Moment", along with vocalist Ale ...

and

Ulrikke Brandstorp Ulrikke Brandstorp (born 13 July 1995), known professionally as Ulrikke, is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, musical actress and voice actress. Early life Ulrikke Brandstorp was born on 13 July 1995 in Skjeberg, a district of Sarpsborg, to Jørn ...

, winners of Melodi Grand Prix in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, respectively.

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 14 January 2023.

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 21 January 2023.

Semi-final 3

The third semi-final took place on 28 January 2023.

Final

The final took place on 4 February 2023. The winner was selected by a 50/50 combination of public televoting and ten international juries. In addition to the competing entries,

Subwoolfer Subwoolfer is a British-Norwegian pop duo formed in 2021. The two members perform in black suits with white shirts with distinctive yellow stylized wolf-head masks and yellow gloves and ties and go by the pseudonyms Keith and Jim. Their identitie ...

, who represented

Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy with "Give That Wolf a Banana" performed by Subwoolfer. The Norwegian broadcaster (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2022, Melodi Grand Prix ''2022'' in o ...

, also performed as an interval act.

Ratings

References

External links

''Melodi Grand Prix'' on NRK TV
{{Melodi Grand Prix

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

2023 song contests Eurovision Song Contest 2023