''Melodi Grand Prix 2021'' was the 59th edition of the

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

Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix ( no, Norsk Melodi Grand Prix), is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK). It dete ...

(MGP). The contest served as the country's preselection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host the , ...

. The competition was organized by

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 was held between 16 January 2021 and 20 February 2021. A total of 26 songs participated – the highest number in the history of the competition. The competition consisted of five semi-finals, a " wild card" show, and the final on Saturday 20 February 2021. A total of twelve songs participated in the final. Of these, six songs were pre-qualified, while the rest had to qualify through the five semi-finals and the wild card show. All shows were broadcast live from the

H3 Arena H3, H03 or H-3 may refer to: Entertainment * ''Happy Hustle High'', a manga series by Rie Takada, originally titled "H3 School!" * H3 (film), ''H3'' (film), a 2001 film about the 1981 Irish hunger strike * h3h3Productions, styled " 3, a sati ...

Fornebu Fornebu (local form ''Fornebo'') is a peninsular area in the suburban municipality of Bærum in Norway, bordering western parts of Oslo. Oslo Airport, Fornebu (FBU) served as the main airport for Oslo and the country since before World War II and ...

, just outside

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. The contest was won by the song "

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" by

Tix Andreas Andresen Haukeland (born 12 April 1993), better known as Tix (stylized as TIX), is a Norwegian singer. He represented Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Fallen Angel". He has Tourette syndrome, a condition charact ...

. The song therefore in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, Netherlands.

Format

The contest was held without an audience due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Norway The COVID-19 pandemic in Norway has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. On 26 February 2020, the virus was confirmed to have spread to Norway. The number of cases increased rapidly during the month of March, prompting a num ...

Presenters

The competition was hosted by the same three presenters as the previous edition: Kåre Magnus Bergh hosted for the seventh time, whereas

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and

Ingrid Gjessing Linhave Ingrid may refer to: * Ingrid (given name) * Ingrid (record label), and artist collective * Ingrid Burley, rapper known mononymously as Ingrid * Tropical Storm Ingrid, various cyclones * 1026 Ingrid, an asteroid * InGrid, the grid computing project ...

hosted the show for the second time. Linhave left the show from the fifth semi-final, citing long-term back problems, and was replaced by Silje Nordnes.

Competing entries

Song submissions were open from 15 May 2020 to 16 August 2020. The competing entries in each semi-final were revealed five days before their respective semi-final's scheduled airdate. The six pre-qualified acts were revealed on 11 January 2021, along with the competing entries in the first semi-final.

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1

The entries competing in the first semi-final were revealed on 11 January 2021, and the semi-final took place on 16 January 2021.

Semi-final 2

The entries competing in the second semi-final were revealed on 18 January 2021, and the semi-final took place on 23 January 2021.

Semi-final 3

The entries competing in the third semi-final were revealed on 25 January 2021, and the semi-final took place on 30 January 2021.

Semi-final 4

The entries competing in the fourth semi-final were revealed on 1 February 2021, and the semi-final took place on 6 February 2021.

Semi-final 5

The entries competing in the fifth semi-final were revealed on 8 February 2021, and the semi-final took place on 13 February 2021.

Second Chance

The second chance round took place on 15 February 2021.

Final

Twelve songs consisting of the five semi-finals winners and one Second Chance alongside the six pre-qualified songs competed in the final which was hosted by H3 Arena, Fornebu on 20 February 2021. In the first round, all twelve finalists performed once, after which the four best songs proceeded to the gold final. After the second voting round, the two best songs from the gold final proceeded to the gold duel. A third voting round then determined the winner of Melodi Grand Prix 2021. After the gold duel, the results of the online voting were revealed by representatives of Norway's five regions, which led to the victory of "

" performed by

Incidents

After the second semi-final, NRK revealed that there had been technical difficulties in the first two semi-finals, which caused votes from devices with older

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

and Android operating systems to be rejected. NRK stated that the results of the semi-finals were unaffected. The system was corrected for the later shows. After the final, it was reported by Norwegian newspaper ''

Verdens Gang ''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...

'' that voting issues had again occurred in the final, and that some viewers' votes had not been counted. NRK stated that the voting system had interpreted the large number of votes as suspicious, and confirmed that the error did not affect the results.

Ratings

Notes

References

External links

''Melodi Grand Prix'' on NRK TV
{{Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest

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2021 song contests January 2021 events in Norway Eurovision Song Contest 2021 February 2021 events in Norway 2021 in Norwegian music 2021 in Norwegian television