National final season continues tonight when the first heat of Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix takes place! The first six acts will take to the stage, and Andy Richards from ESC Covers has compiled a short preview and review of each song.

Mathilde SPZ feat. Chris Archer & Slam Dunk – “Woman Show”

This one seems to have taken quite a few influences from the past 12 months. Straight away from the artwork of the single, it reminds me a little of the Barbie movie – quite pink! There’s also references to ‘cha cha cha’ in the lyrics, so it feels a little bit naughty by ‘cashing in’ on Käärijä’s success in Liverpool, but it’s a great, catchy little dance number, with a thumping rhythm and almost Aqua-style backing vocals. Love the keytar section! I think it’s a good contender to qualify tonight. Looking forward to seeing what the staging will be like. Quite possibly bright and migraine inducing vivid colours, at a guess!

Fredrik Halland – “Stranded”

Fredrik slows things down for the second song of the show. It’s a piano-led ballad, with a style that you’d expect from the likes of Ed Sheeran and co. It’s lacking a fair bit in production with only the drum beat kicking in at the mid-way point. It works, though – and the milimalistic approach helps boost his vocals, which sound great on the studio version. If he nails the performance tonight, I think it could do pretty well. Expect to see plenty or arm swaying and phone torches being waved in the audience during the chorus!

Myra – “Heart on fire”

Some nice strings and a bouncy pop rhythm open this one. Again it’s very upbeat, and almost reminds me of a Carly Rae-Jepson or Katy Perry song. There’s a bit of an 80s style to it, and the retroness makes it, without sounding too dated as can ofted be the case if done wrong.  It’s a little repetitive, but there seems to be plenty of lyrics crammed into the three minutes, without a second to pause. Another good contener. This could be a tough heat!

GOTHMINISTER – “We Come Alive”

Straight away I’m reminded of Lord of the Lost’s entry from Liverpool earlier in the year, and I’m sure Gothminister must have taken some inspiration from their act – which is brave considering Germany’s placing on the scoreboard. There’s tones of Rammstein in the songs too, and they’re popular across Europe, so that could help, should it win MGP 2024. I like it, but it possibly could be a bit too much of an aquired taste for the people of Norway to pick up their phones to vote for it. Not too sure if this will see its way into the final.

Ingrid Jasmin – “Eya”

From the opening couple of bars, you can tell that this song is going to be something more traditional/ethnic and ‘Scandinavian’, but it oddly takes a different turn to what I was expecting. It almost sounds like something you’d hear in a Bollywood movie towards the end. Turkish almost too. There’s the obligatory ‘dance break’ section towards the end – so it will be interesting to see what Ingrid will do the fill the stage time at that point. I thought the song was going more down the Sami style of Keiino, but sadly it didn’t. It’s pleasant enough, but I’ll have to reserve full judgement to see if it can be boosted by the live performance tonight.

Margaret Berger – “Oblivion”

Nice to see Margaret back at MGP. I really loved her song when she made it the the big Eurovision stage with ‘I Feed You My Love’. ‘Oblivion’ is exactly what you’d expect from her. A fantastic electro-pop banger, with her sweet Scandi vocals laid on top. This has surely got to make it to the MGP final, and could stand a good chance at winning the whole contest! Great production, and it sounds like they’ve spent a lot of time working on it.

So there’s my thought’s on tonight’s first six songs of the contest. The show is available to watch on NRK1 in Norway, and also here from 19:50CET.