Norway was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Fairytale", written and performed by Alexander Rybak. The Norwegian participating broadcaster, (NRK), organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2009 in order to select its entry for the contest. 21 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 21 February 2009 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, "Fairytale" performed by Alexander Rybak was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from four regional jury groups and a public televote.
Norway was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2009. Performing during the show in position 6, "Fairytale" was announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 16 May. It was later revealed that Norway placed first out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 201 points. In the final, Norway performed in position 20 and placed first out of the 25 participating countries, winning the contest with 387 points. This was Norway's third win in the Eurovision Song Contest and the first since 1995.
Background
Prior to the 2009 contest, (NRK) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Norway 47 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 dubious 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 . The country had finished last 10 times and had failed to score a point during four contests. Following the introduction of semi-finals in , Norway has, to this point, finished in the top 10 twice: when "In My Dreams" performed by Wig Wam finished ninth, and when "Hold On Be Strong" by Maria Haukaas Storeng finished fifth.
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 2009 contest on 9 June 2008. 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 2009 in order to select its 2009 entry.
Before Eurovision Melodi Grand Prix 2009 Melodi Grand Prix 2009 was the 47th edition of the national final Melodi Grand Prix, organised by NRK to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. 21 songs were selected to compete in a five-week-long process that commenced on 24 January 2009 and concluded with the final on 21 February 2009. All shows were hosted by Per Sundnes and Maria Haukaas Storeng, who represented Norway in 2008, and televised on NRK1 as well as streamed online at NRK's official website nrk.no. The final was also broadcast online at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.
Format The competition consisted of five shows: three semi-finals on 24 January 2009, 31 January 2009 and 7 February 2009, a Last Chance round (Sistesjansen) on 14 February 2009 and a final on 21 February 2009. Seven songs competed in each semi-final and the top two entries directly qualified to the final, while the entries that placed third and fourth proceeded to the Last Chance round. Two wildcards were also awarded to proceed to the Last Chance round, one being the act that received the most votes out of the bottom three songs in the semi-finals and one selected by online voting held on the website of VG between 7 and 9 February 2009. 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 on the day before each show was broadcast.
Competing entries A submission period was opened by NRK between 9 June 2008 and 1 September 2008. A new rule required songwriters to hold Norwegian citizenship or have permanent residency in Norway in order to be eligible to compete. Collaborations with foreign songwriters were permitted, however their percentage of contribution must not exceed 50%. Performers of the selected songs would be chosen by NRK in consultation with the songwriters, and the broadcaster reserved the right to directly invite certain artists and composers to compete in addition to the public call for submissions. At the close of the deadline, over 350 submissions were received. 21 songs were selected for the competition and their titles were revealed on 10 and 17 December 2008. The seven acts competing in each semi-final were revealed on 22 December 2008, 29 December 2008 and 5 January 2009, respectively, and among the artists was past Eurovision entrant Wenche Myhre who represented . Artist Song Songwriter(s) Alexander Rybak "Fairytale"Alexander Rybak Alexander Stenerud "Find My Girl"Alexander Stenerud Charite "Sweeter Than a Kiss"Christian Ingebrigtsen, Laila Samuelsen Chicas del Coro "Men, Men, Men!"Hilde Marstrander Espen Hana "Two of a Kind"Trond Andreassen, Christian Bloom Foxy "Do It Again"Hanne Sørvaag, Harry Sommerdahl Jane Helen "Shuffled"Jane Helen, Christine Litle Janni Santillan "(Like You Did) Yesterday"Janni Santillan Julius Winger "Like an Angel"Julius Winger, Ole Jørgen Olsen KeSera feat. Anita Hegerland "Party"Robin Nordahl, Thomas Ewel, KeSera Ovi "Seven Seconds"Simone Larsen, Simen Eriksrud Publiners "Te stein"Bertil Bertelsen, Olav Nygaard, Morten Horn, Ronny Bertelsen Rebelettes "Soul Train"Rebelettes Sichelle "Left/Right"Mats Lie Skåre Sunny "Carrie"Solgunn Ivana, Hans Petter Aaserud Surferosa "U Look Good"Surferosa, Lars-Erik Westby, Mariann Thomassen Thomas Brøndbo "Det vart en storm"Svein Gundersen, Rolf Mokkelbost Tine Wulff "Ride"Marte Wulff Tone Damli Aaberge "Butterflies"David Eriksen, Billy Burnette, Tone Damli Aaberge, Mats Lie Skåre Velvet Inc. "Tricky"Hanne Sørvaag, Niklas Bergwall, Niclas Kings Wenche Myhre "Alt har en mening nå"Thomas Thörnholm, Michael Clauss, Danne Attlerud, Jan Vincent Johannessen
Shows
Semi-finals Seven songs competed in each of the three semi-finals that took place on 24 January, 31 January and 7 February 2009. The first semi-final took place at the Kongsvinger Hall in Kongsvinger, the second semi-final took place at the Bodø Spektrum in Bodø, and the third semi-final took place at the Skien Fritidspark in Skien, Grenland. 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. "Party" performed by KeSera featuring Anita Hegerland received the most votes out of the bottom three songs in the semi-finals and proceeded to the Last Chance round as a wildcard. Voting for the VG online wildcard ran between 7 and 9 February 2009, and 6,467 votes were registered. Wenche Myhre withdrew from the voting as she was unable to compete in the Last Chance round due to a concert in Portugal. KeSera featuring Hegerland won the voting with 24.58% of the votes, but since they have already been awarded one of the wildcards, "Do It Again" performed by Foxy, which came second with 23.58% of the votes, was awarded the VG wildcard and proceeded to the Last Chance round.
In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the first semi-final featured a tribute to the "Mitt liv" performed by Kate Guldbrandsen, the second semi-final featured a tribute to the "La meg værre ung" performed by Wenche Myhre, and the interval act in the third semi-final featured Anita Skorgan, who represented and , performing her 1979 entry "Oliver". + Semi-final 1 – 24 January 2009 Artist Song Result 1 Surferosa "U Look Good" Last Chance 2 Chicas del Coro "Men, Men, Men!" 3 KeSera feat. Anita Hegerland "Party" Last Chance 4 Espen Hana "Two of a Kind" Last Chance 5 Charite "Sweeter Than a Kiss" 6 Thomas Brøndbo "Det vart en storm" Final 7 Velvet Inc. "Tricky" Final + Semi-final 2 – 31 January 2009 Artist Song Result 1 Wenche Myhre "Alt har en mening nå" 2 Publiners "Te stein" Last Chance 3 Tine Wulff "Ride" 4 Alexander Stenerud "Find My Girl" Final 5 Janni Santillan "(Like You Did) Yesterday" Last Chance 6 Julius Winger "Like an Angel" 7 Tone Damli Aaberge "Butterflies" Final + Semi-final 3 – 7 February 2009 Artist Song Result 1 Sichelle "Left/Right" 2 Rebelettes "Soul Train" 3 Ovi "Seven Seconds" Final 4 Jane Helen "Shuffled" Last Chance 5 Foxy "Do It Again" Last Chance 6 Sunny "Carrie" Last Chance 7 Alexander Rybak "Fairytale" Final
Last Chance round The Last Chance round took place on 14 February 2009 at the Sunnmørshallen in Ålesund. The six entries that placed third and fourth in the preceding three semi-finals as well as the two wildcards competed and the two entries that qualified to the final were selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the eight entries competed in four duels and the winners of each duel proceeded to the second round. In the second round, the remaining four entries competed in two duels and the winners of each duel qualified to the final. + First Round – 14 February 2009 Duel Artist Song Result I 1 KeSera feat. Anita Hegerland "Party" 2 Espen Hana "Two of a Kind" Second Round II 3 Janni Santillan "(Like You Did) Yesterday" 4 Surferosa "U Look Good" Second Round III 5 Sunny "Carrie" 6 Publiners "Te stein" Second Round IV 7 Foxy "Do It Again" 8 Jane Helen "Shuffled" Second Round + Second Round – 14 February 2009 Duel Artist Song Result I 1 Espen Hana "Two of a Kind" Final 2 Surferosa "U Look Good" II 1 Publiners "Te stein" Final 2 Jane Helen "Shuffled"
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 21 February 2009. Before the final, the group Velvet changed their name to Velvet Inc. in order to avoid confusion with Swedish singer Velvet who was competing in Melodifestivalen 2009. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top four entries were selected by public televoting to proceed to the second round, the Gold Final. In the Gold Final, four regional juries from the three semi-final and Last Chance round host cities each distributed points as follows: 2,000, 4,000, 6,000 and 8,000 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 "Fairytale" performed by Alexander Rybak with 747,888 votes. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval act featured a medley performed by host Maria Haukaas Storeng.
After winning Melodi Grand Prix 2009, "Fairytale" reached number one on the VG-lista singles chart, making it the first time in the history of Melodi Grand Prix that the winning song reached the top of the charts before winning the contest.