"Spirit in the Sky" is a song by Norwegian music group
Keiino. It was released as a digital download and for streaming on 25 January 2019 as the lead single from their debut studio album ''
Okta
In meteorology, an okta is a unit of measurement used to describe the amount of cloud cover at any given location such as a weather station. Sky conditions are estimated in terms of how many eighths of the sky are covered in cloud, ranging from ...
''. It represented
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
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 ...
in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, Israel.
It was performed during the second semi-final on 16 May 2019, and qualified for the final. It placed first in the televote with 291 points and finished in sixth place with 331 points overall.
Background
The song is an uptempo number, inspired by 80s disco and dance music, which has been described as
dance-pop
Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...
,
[Alt du trenger å vite om KEiiNO](_blank)
/ref>[MGP-vinner beskyldes for plagiat](_blank)
/ref>[Dette betyr joiken i Melodi Grand Prix-vinnerlåten](_blank)
/ref> electropop
Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...
,[Tel Aviv 2019 , Participants KEiiNO](_blank)
/ref> yoik
A joik or yoik (anglicised, where the latter spelling in English conforms with the pronunciation; also named , , , or in the Sámi languages) is a traditional form of song in Sámi music performed by the Sámi people of Sapmi in Northern Europe. ...
,[– Veldig fin joik, men vanskelig å lære](_blank)
/ref> and Sami folk music. It is about the struggles for equal rights regardless of ethnicity, gender identity and sexuality, given their long struggle in pursuit of equal rights. The music video of "Spirit in the Sky" was released on 4 April 2019.
It contains some lyrics in the Northern Sami
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
language, ''Čajet dan čuovgga'' ("Show me the light") and the non-lexical vocables, ''He lå e loi la'' as part of the yoiking segment.
Eurovision Song Contest
The song was selected to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Spirit in the Sky" written by Tom Hugo Hermansen, Fred-René Buljo, Alexandra Rotan, Henrik Tala, Alex Olsson and Rüdiger Schramm. performed by the group Keiino. The Norw ...
, after Keiino were chosen through ''Melodi Grand Prix 2019'', the music competition that selects Norway's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Norway was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 16 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. After all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the show's producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Norway performed in position 15, and qualified for the final, which took place on 18 May 2019. It placed first in the televote with 291 points and overall finished in sixth place with 331 points.
Charts
Certifications
See also
*"Sámiid ædnan
"Sámiid ædnan" ( no, "Sameland", italic=no; en, "Sami Land"; describing the motherland of Sápmi) was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980, performed by Sverre Kjelsberg and Mattis Hætta. The song is sometimes mistaken for being in ...
" by Sverre Kjelsberg and Mattis Hætta
Mattis Hætta (15 March 1959 – 9 November 2022) was a Norwegian Sami singer and recording artist.
In 1980, he and Sverre Kjelsberg won the 1980 Melodi Grand Prix with the entry Sámiid Ædnan and went on to represent Norway in the Eurovisio ...
. Another song containing joik representing Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest 1980
The Eurovision Song Contest 1980 was the 25th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in The Hague, Netherlands, and was organised by host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) – which agreed to stage the event a ...
.
References
;Notes
2019 songs
Eurovision songs of 2019
Eurovision songs of Norway
Number-one singles in Norway
Songs against racism and xenophobia
LGBT-related songs
Melodi Grand Prix songs of 2019
{{2019-single-stub