Lynn Macgillivray
Eurovision royalty, Alexander Rybak, is returning to the Eurovision stage in May after winning the countries national selection show Melodi Grand Prix 2018 last night. Alexander put on a fun, energetic performance of his song “That’s How You Write A Song” with dancers joining him on stage and a special appearance from his famous violin.
The song is completely different to his previous entry “Fairytale” but is so upbeat and catchy, that you just cannot stop yourself from singing along. Alexander knows how to put on a show and we cannot wait to see this come to life on the Eurovision stage in May.
Melodi Grand Prix 2018 was organised by the Norwegian broadcaster NRK and received a total of 1,200 entries. Only ten of these were selected to perform in last night’s show, with an international jury and public vote choosing the top four acts. These four then went on to battle it out in the “gold” final, where only the public vote could decide the winner. Alexander Rybak won the jury vote in the first round before also coming out on top in the public vote in the ‘gold’ final. Therefore, he won the show and will be heading off to Lisbon in May to do his best to lift that coveted trophy once again.
You can watch Alexander Rybak perform “That’s How You Write A Song” below:
Norway made their debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960, and have had mixed fortunes over the years. They have won the contest on three occasions, with Bobbysocks “La det swinge” in 1985, with Secret Garden’s “Nocturne” in 1995, and most recently with Alexander Rybak in 2009 with the now iconic “Fairytale”. Alexander’s entry “Fairytale” was a masterpiece which saw Norway win by a huge margin, receiving 387 points compared to 218 for second-placed Iceland. This was also the most points received by any entry under the voting system that was used up to 2015. However, Norway has not always enjoyed success in the contest as they also hold the record for finishing last eleven times.
Norway will be hoping Alexander Rybak can once again lift the trophy and take the Eurovision Song Contest back to Norway in 2019, however they already have some tough competition.Other acts that have been announced so far are Sennek for Belgium, Saara Aalto for Finland, Waylon for the Netherlands, AISEL for Azerbaijan, Cesar Sampson for Austria, Jessica Mauboy for Australia, Eugent Bushpepa for Albania, Iriao for Georgia, Madame Monsieur for France, Julia Samoylova for Russia, Alfred & Amaia for Spain, Mikolas Josef for the Czech Republic, Ryan O’Shaughnessy for Ireland, Eleni Foureira for Cyprus, Christabelle for Malta, Zibbz for Switzerland, SuRie for the United Kingdom, Rasmussen for Denmark, Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro for Italy, Eye Cue for F.Y.R Macedonia, Franka for Croatia, Netta Barzilai for Israel, Gianna Terzi for Greece, Alekseev for Belarus, Vanja Radovanovic for Montenegro, Sanja Ilic and Balkanika for Serbia, Michael Schulte for Germany, DoReDos for Moldova, AWS for Hungary, Mélovin for Ukraine, Laura Rizzotto for Latvia, Lea Sirk for Slovenia, The Humans for Romania, Sevak Khanagyan for Armenia, Ari Ólafsson for Iceland, Elina Nechayeva for Estonia, Gromee featuring Lukas Meijer for Poland, Jessike featuring Jenifer Brening for San Marino, and Claudia Pascoal for Portugal.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 will be hosted at the Altice Arena, Lisbon, Portugal; with the two Semi-Finals taking place on 8 May and 10 May and the Grand Final taking place on 12 May. A total of 43 countries will compete in the contest.
