"Monument" is a song by 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 ...

supergroup Keiino. It was released as a digital download and for streaming on 14 January 2021 by Caroline International. The song placed second in ''

Melodi Grand Prix 2021 ''Melodi Grand Prix 2021'' was the 59th edition of the Norwegian music competition Melodi Grand Prix (MGP). The contest served as the country's preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. The competition was organized by NRK and was held ...

'', the Norwegian pre-selection 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 song was written by Alexander Nyborg Olsson,

Alexandra Rotan Alexandra Rotan (born 29 June 1996) is a Norwegian singer. Rotan began her career as a child singer, becoming a superfinalist in Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2010 with the song "Det vi vil". She later joined the group Keiino in 2018, and represent ...

Fred Buljo Fred-René Øvergård Buljo (born 6 February 1988), better known as simply Fred Buljo, is a Norwegian Sámi rapper and joiker. Buljo is a member of the Sámi rap duo Duolva Duottar, consisting of Buljo and Ole Mahtte Gaup, established in 2007. In ...

, Rüdiger Schramm and

Tom Hugo Tom Hugo Hermansen (born 27 October 1979 in Kristiansand), better known as simply Tom Hugo, is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and musician. He is currently living in Oslo. Career Recording artist In 2007, Hugo moved to Hamburg and started worki ...

Background

This is the second time the group are taking part in ''

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 ...

'' after winning in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, the group represented Norway in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the 2018 contest with the song " Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broad ...

with the song "

Spirit in the Sky "Spirit in the Sky" is a song by American singer-songwriter Norman Greenbaum, originally written and recorded by Greenbaum and released in late 1969 from the album of the same name. The single became a gold record, selling two million copies f ...

". They qualified to the final and received the highest points from the televote with a total of 291 points, although combined with their score from the jury they finished in 6th place, with 331 points. Talking about returning to compete on ''

'', Alexandra Rotan said, "We can’t wait to be back! We absolutely love the MGP and Eurovision world, and it feels like home. Being in KEiiNO has really been life changing for me." Talking about the song, Tom Hugo said, "We really believe 'Monument' has that little something extra that will appeal to both the public and the juries. It is time to bring the Eurovision Song Contest back to beautiful Norway, and we really hope the Norwegian people will vote us through and give us that chance."

Music video

The release of the music video for "Monument" was published on Keiino's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel on 4 February 2021. It was filmed at different locations in Norway during October and November 2020 by Tobias Aasgaarden with production executed by Tom Hugo and Keiino, editing by Alex Holm and grading by Håvard Småvik. Additional video footage was taken by Natural Light Earth. Recording took place at

Lindesnes Lindesnes ( en, the Naze) is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Mandal. Other villages in Lindesnes include Åvik, Høll ...

Lysebotn Lysebotn is a village in Sandnes municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located at the eastern end of the Lysefjorden in a very isolated valley that is only accessible by one road or by boat. The name itself means the "bottom nd ...

Haukeli Haukeli (or historically ''Haukeligrend'') is a village in Vinje Municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The village is located up in the Haukelifjell mountains, just south of the Hardangervidda National Park and immediately west of ...

, Vøringsfossen, Skåla,

Slogen Slogen is a mountain rising up from Hjørundfjorden in the municipality of Ørsta in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The mountain is located just west of the municipal boundary with Stranda and just north of the nearby mountain Jakta. Many fa ...

, Hoddevik, Vestkapp,

Lofoten Lofoten () is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolvær ...

Kautokeino Kautokeino ( no, Kautokeino; se, Guovdageaidnu ; fkv, Koutokeino; fi, Koutokeino) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. Other villages ...

and Alta.

Melodi Grand Prix

On 11 January 2021, it was announced that the group would participate in the ''

'' final with the pre-qualified song. They performed the song during the first heat on 16 January 2021. The song reached the final four, and entered the gold duel at the finale on 20 February 2021, placing second in the duel to

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 ...

Personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. * Rüdiger Schramm – producer, composer, lyricist, associated performer, programming *

– producer, composer, lyricist, associated performer, executive producer, vocals * Alexander Nyborg Olsson – composer, lyricist *

– composer, lyricist, associated performer, vocals *

– composer, lyricist, associated performer, vocals * Andrea Christiane Berglihn – associated performer, violin * Armando Toledo Aribu – associated performer, violin * Håvard Kværne Hansen – associated performer, drums * Kjell Åge Stoveland – associated performer, viola * Leonardo Sesenna – associated performer, cello * Markus Bastoe – associated performer, guitar * Thomas Berlin – associated performer, programming * Georg Tanderø – mastering engineer, studio personnel * Christer André Cederberg – mixer, studio personnel * Jaran Gustavson – recording engineer, studio personnel

Charts

Certifications

References

{{reflist 2021 singles Melodi Grand Prix songs of 2021 Sámi-language songs English-language Norwegian songs