Norway was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "", written by Thomas G:son, and performed by Guri Schanke. The Norwegian participating broadcaster, (NRK), organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2007 in order to select its entry for the contest. 18 entries competed in the national final that consisted of three semi-finals, a Last Chance round and a final. Eight entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 10 February 2007 where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, "" performed by Guri Schanke was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from three regional jury groups and a public televote.
Norway competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2007. Performing during the show in position 19, "" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. This marked the first time that Norway failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. It was later revealed that Norway placed 18th out of the 28 participating countries in the semi-final with 48 points.
Background
Prior to the 2007 contest, (NRK) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Norway 45 times since its first entry in . It had won the contest on two occasions: in with the song "La det swinge" performed by Bobbysocks!, and with the song "Nocturne" performed by Secret Garden. It also had the two distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country and for having the most nul points (zero points) in the contest, the latter being a record the nation shared together with . It had finished last 10 times and had failed to score a point during four contests. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Norway has, to this point, finished in the top 10 once: when "In My Dreams" performed by Wig Wam finished ninth.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, NRK organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2007 contest on 26 June 2006. NRK has traditionally organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix to select its entry for the contest in all but one of its participation. Along with its participation confirmation, the broadcaster revealed details regarding its selection procedure and announced the organization of Melodi Grand Prix 2007 in order to select its 2007 entry.
Before Eurovision Melodi Grand Prix 2007
Melodi Grand Prix 2007 was the 45th edition of the national final Melodi Grand Prix organised by NRK to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. 18 songs were selected to compete in a five-week-long process that commenced on 20 January 2007 and concluded with the final on 10 February 2007. All shows were hosted by Synnøve Svabø and Stian Barsnes Simonsen and televised on NRK1 as well as streamed online at NRK's official website nrk.no.
Format The competition consisted of five shows: three semi-finals on 20 January 2007, 27 January 2007 and 3 February 2007, a Last Chance round (Sistesjansen) on 8 February 2007 and a final on 10 February 2007. Seven songs competed in each semi-final and the top two entries directly qualified to the final. The entries that placed third and fourth proceeded to the Last Chance round, and the bottom two were eliminated from the competition. An additional two entries qualified to the final from the Last Chance round. The results of the semi-finals and Last Chance round were determined exclusively by public televoting, while the results in the final were determined by jury voting and public televoting. Viewers could vote through telephone and SMS, and for the semi-finals, the public was able to cast their votes in advance during the NRK P1 radio programme Nitimen that was broadcast on the day before each show was held.
Competing entries A submission period was opened by NRK between 26 June 2006 and 1 September 2006. Songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit entries, while performers of the selected songs would be chosen by NRK in consultation with the songwriters. At the close of the deadline, 464 submissions were received, of which 262 came from Swedish songwriters and 143 came from Norwegian songwriters.Eurovision Song Contest Serbia 2008 | News – 464 songs submitted to NRK 18 songs were selected for the competition, 14 from the public call for submissions and four from artists and composers directly invited to compete. The six acts and songs competing in each of the three semi-finals were revealed on 27 December 2006, 3 January 2007 and 9 January 2007, respectively. Artist Song Songwriter(s)Selection Andreea "I Wanna Be With You"Maria MarcusInvited by NRK Amelia "Unbelievable"Svein Finneide, Ken Ingwersen, Daniel Pandher, Jens Thoresen, Tommy la Verdi, Halvor HolterPublic submission Christina Undhjem "Here"Eirik Husabø Crash! "Wannabe"Trond "Teeny" Holter Blue Moon Band "Goodbye to Yesterday"Kjetil Røsnes, Kirsti Johansen Dusty Cowshit "Chicken Rodeo"Dusty Cowshit Guri Schanke "Ven a bailar conmigo"Thomas G:sonInvited by NRK Hazen "Better Than This"Mikael Jensen, Eivind Skådal, Morten HazenPublic submission Jannicke Abrahamsen "Rocket Ride"Knut-Øyvind Hagen, Thomas G:son, Andreas Rickstrand Jenny Jensen "Vil du ha svar?"Mats Larsson, Åsa KarlsstrømInvited by NRK Infinity "Hooked on You"Birgitte Moe, Rune MindePublic submission Malin Schavenius "Under stjernene"Thomas Thörnholm, Dan Attlerud, Kurre Westling, Micke Løvdalen Marianne Solberg "Livets små stjerner"Kirsti Carr Marika Lejon "Perfect Sin"Adam Kalvermark Monica Hjelle "Creator"Jan Eggum, Kaja Huuse Stian Joneid "Are You Ready?"Kim A. Hagen, Hans Petter Moen Torhild Sivertsen and the Funky Family "Love on the Dancefloor"Taiwo Karlsen, Kehinde Karlsen Trine Rein feat. Andreas Ljones "Maybe"Niclas Molinder, Joacim Persson, Pelle AnkarbergInvited by NRK
Shows
Semi-finals Six songs competed in each of the three semi-finals that took place on 20 January, 27 January and 3 February 2007. The first semi-final took place at the Finnmarkshallen in Alta, the second semi-final took place at the Bodø Spektrum in Bodø, and the third semi-final took place at the Brunstad Conference Center in Stokke. In each semi-final the top two directly qualified to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs proceeded to the Last Chance round.
+ Semi-final 1 – 20 January 2007 Artist Song Result 1 Torhild Sivertsen and the Funky Family "Love on the Dancefloor" Final 2 Blue Moon Band "Goodbye to Yesterday" Last Chance 3 Marika Lejon "Perfect Sin" 4 Marianne Solberg "Livets små stjerner" 5 Stian Joneid "Are You Ready?" Last Chance 6 Infinity "Hooked on You" Final
+ Semi-final 2 – 27 January 2007 Artist Song Result 1 Guri Schanke "Ven a bailar conmigo" Final 2 Hazen "Better Than This" Last Chance 3 Malin Schavenius "Under stjernene" Last Chance 4 Andreea "I Wanna Be With You" 5 Amelia "Unbelievable" 6 Dusty Cowshit "Chicken Rodeo" Final
+ Semi-final 3 – 3 February 2007 Artist Song Result 1 Jannicke Abrahamsen "Rocket Ride" Last Chance 2 Trine Rein feat. Andreas Ljones "Maybe" Last Chance 3 Monica Hjelle "Creator" 4 Crash! "Wannabe" Final 5 Christina Undhjem "Here" 6 Jenny Jensen "Vil du ha svar?" Final
Last Chance round The Last Chance round took place on 8 February 2007 at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo. The six entries that placed third and fourth in the preceding three semi-finals competed and the top two entries qualified to the final.
+ Last Chance – 8 February 2007 Artist Song Result 1 Blue Moon Band "Goodbye to Yesterday" 2 Stian Joneid "Are You Ready?" 3 Hazen "Better Than This" 4 Malin Schavenius "Under stjernene" 5 Trine Rein feat. Andreas Ljones "Maybe" Final 6 Jannicke Abrahamsen "Rocket Ride" Final
Final Eight songs that qualified from the preceding three semi-finals and the Last Chance round competed during the final at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo on 10 February 2007. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, public televoting selected the top four entries to proceed to the second round, the Gold Final. In the Gold Final, three regional juries from the three semi-final host cities each distributed points as follows: 2,000, 4,000, 6,000 and 10,000 points. The results of the public televote were then revealed by Norway's five regions and added to the jury scores, leading to the victory of "Ven a bailar conmigo" performed by Guri Schanke with 108,541 votes. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval act featured Christine Guldbrandsen, who represented , performing her entry "Alvedansen" as well as her new song "Dansekjolen". + Final – 10 February 2007 Artist Song Result 1 Infinity "Hooked on You" 2 Jenny Jensen "Vil du ha svar?" 3 Trine Rein feat. Andreas Ljones "Maybe" 4 Dusty Cowshit "Chicken Rodeo" Gold Final 5 Torhild Sivertsen and the Funky Family "Love on the Dancefloor" 6 Jannicke Abrahamsen "Rocket Ride" Gold Final 7 Crash! "Wannabe" Gold Final 8 Guri Schanke "Ven a bailar conmigo" Gold Final
+ Gold Final – 10 February 2007ArtistSongJury TelevoteTotalPlace 1 Dusty Cowshit "Chicken Rodeo"14,00055,062 69,062 4 2 Jannicke Abrahamsen "Rocket Ride"14,00064,433 78,443 2 3 Crash! "Wannabe"24,00046,203 70,203 3 4 Guri Schanke "Ven a bailar conmigo"14,00094,541 108,541 1
+ Song Alta Bodø Stokke Total 1 "Chicken Rodeo" 2,000 10,000 2,000 14,000 2 "Rocket Ride" 6,000 2,000 6,000 14,000 3 "Wannabe" 10,000 4,000 10,000 24,000 4 "Ven a bailar conmigo" 4,000 6,000 4,000 14,000 Spokespersons AltaMarit Hætta Øverli BodøJonas Ueland Kolstad StokkeTove Lisbeth Vasvik
+ Song Total 1 "Chicken Rodeo" 30,508 11,761 2,923 4,473 5,397 55,062 2 "Rocket Ride" 32,902 13,179 3,869 6,604 7,879 64,433 3 "Wannabe" 24,684 8,634 2,478 4,489 5,918 46,203 4 "Ven a bailar conmigo" 50,867 12,021 6,225 11,829 13,599 94,541 Spokespersons Eastern NorwayJorun Vang Southern NorwayKnut Knudsen Eigenland Northern NorwayNina Birgitte Einem Central NorwayTom Erik Sørensen Western NorwayØyver Bakke
Ratings + Viewing figures by showShowDateViewers Semi-final 1 20 January 2007 769,000 Semi-final 2 27 January 2007 748,000 Semi-final 3 3 February 2007 734,000 Last Chance 8 February 2007 664,000 Final 10 February 2007 986,000
Promotion Guri Schanke made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Ven a bailar conmigo" as the Norwegian Eurovision entry by performing the song during the sixth show of the Spanish Eurovision national final on 17 February, and during the final of the on 3 March.
At Eurovision According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the are required to qualify from the semi-final on 10 May 2007 in order to compete for the final on 12 May 2007. On 12 March 2007, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Norway was set to perform in position 19, following the entry from and before the entry from .
In Norway, the semi-final and the final were broadcast on NRK1 with commentary by Per Sundnes. The final was also broadcast via radio on NRK P1. NRK appointed Synnøve Svabø as its spokesperson to announce the Norwegian votes during the final.
Semi-final