Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Melodi Grand Prix 2015 was the 53rd edition of the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix and selected Norway's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. The show took place on 14 March 2015 at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, hosted by Silya Nymoen and Kåre Magnus Bergh.[4] For the first time since 1998, NRK reinstated a live orchestra as part of the show. The 54 members of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra accompanied each performance in varying capacities.[5] The show was televised on NRK1 as well as streamed online at NRK's official website nrk.no and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[6] The national final was watched by 1.25 million viewers in Norway, 500,000 more than the viewing figures for 2014.[7]

A submission period was opened by NRK between 5 June 2014 and 1 September 2014. Songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit entries. In addition to the public call for submissions, NRK reserved the right to directly invite certain artists and composers to compete.[3] At the close of the deadline, 800 submissions were received – a 30% increase over the previous year.[8] Eleven songs were selected for the competition by a jury panel consisting of Vivi Stenberg (Melodi Grand Prix music producer), Marie Komissar (radio host and music producer), Tarjei Strøm (musician and radio host) and Kathrine Synnes Finnskog (director of Music Norway). The competing acts and songs were revealed on 21 January 2015 during a press conference at NRK studios, presented by Kåre Magnus Bergh and broadcast via NRK1 and online at mgp.no.[9] Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest entrants Tor Endresen, who represented Norway in 1997 and Elisabeth Andreassen (Bettan), who represented Sweden in 1982 and Norway in 1985 (as part of Bobbysocks!), 1994 (alongside Jan Werner Danielsen) and 1996.[10] 15-second clips of the competing entries were released during the press conference, while the songs in their entirety were premiered on 17 February.

Eleven songs competed during the final on 14 March 2015. Six of the songs were performed together with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra: "Thunderstruck" performed by Erlend Bratland, "All Over the World" performed by Tor & Bettan, "Ta meg tilbake" performed by Marie Klåpbakken, "En godt stekt pizza" performed by Staysman & Lazz, "A Monster Like Me" performed by Mørland & Debrah Scarlett and "Cinderella" performed by Alexandra Joner. The winner was selected over two rounds of public televoting. In the first round, the top four entries were selected to proceed to the second round, the Gold Final: "Thunderstruck" performed by Erlend Bratland, "All Over the World" performed by Tor & Bettan, "En godt stekt pizza" performed by Staysman & Lazz and "A Monster Like Me" performed by Mørland & Debrah Scarlett. In the Gold Final, the results of the public televote were revealed by Norway's five regions and led to the victory of "A Monster Like Me" performed by Mørland & Debrah Scarlett with 88,869 votes.[11]

Mørland and Debrah Scarlett at a dress rehearsal for the second semi-final

Mørland and Debrah Scarlett took part in technical rehearsals on 13 and 16 May,[21][22] followed by dress rehearsals on 20 and 21 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries.[23]

The stage show featured the duo in costumes designed by Elisabeth Stray Pedersen: Mørland appeared in a white and black suit and Debrah Scarlett appeared in a white crop top and skirt with an ornate silver hair clip. The performance was simplistic and was largely captured using one camera. The stage atmosphere was dark for the beginning of the song with bronze and orange lighting intensifying as the song progressed. The performance choreographer, Mattias Carlsson, stated: "all the focus should be on the song and the artists, so we don't think we need any graphics".[21][22] While Mørland and Debrah Scarlett appeared on stage alone, they were joined by four backing vocalists: Julie Lillehaug Kaasa, May Kristin Kaspersen, Håvard Gryting and Bjørnar Reime.[24]

At the end of the show, Norway was announced as having finished in the top ten and subsequently qualifying for the grand final.[25] It was later revealed that the Norway placed fourth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 123 points.[26]

Shortly after the second semi-final, a winner's press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Norway was drawn to compete in the first half.[27] Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Norway was subsequently placed to perform in position 9, following the entry from Serbia and before the entry from Sweden.[28]

Mørland and Debrah Scarlett once again took part in dress rehearsals on 22 and 23 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show.[29] The duet performed a repeat of their semi-final performance during the final on 23 May. At the conclusion of the voting, Norway placed eighth with 102 points.[30][31]

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, first awarded during the 2002 contest, are awards honouring the best competing songs in the final each year. Named after the creator of the annual contest, Marcel Bezençon, the awards are divided into three categories: the Press Award, given to the best entry as voted on by the accredited media and press during the event; the Artistic Award, presented to the best artist as voted on by the shows' commentators; and the Composer Award, given to the best and most original composition as voted by the participating composers. "A Monster Like Me" was awarded the Composer Award, which was accepted at the awards ceremony by the song's composer Kjetil Mørland.[32]

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.[33]

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Norway had placed seventeenth with the public televote and seventh with the jury vote in the final. In the public vote, Norway scored 43 points, while with the jury vote, Norway scored 163 points.[34] In the second semi-final, Norway placed fifth with the public televote with 104 points and third with the jury vote, scoring 144 points.[35]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Norway and awarded by Norway in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:[26][31][36][37]

The following five members comprised the Norwegian jury:[33]

• Jan Thomas Holmlund – Chairperson – editor
• Anita Halmøy Wisløff – booking agent
• Marianne Jemtegård – editor
• Margaret Berger – singer, represented Norway in the 2013 contest
• Sverre Vedal – editor

Split voting results from Norway (Semi-final 2)
Draw	Country	J. T. Holmlund	A. H. Wisløff	M. Jemtegård	M. Berger	S. Vedal	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Lithuania	7	4	5	5	4	4	1	2	10
02	Ireland	1	11	12	4	9	8	14	11
03	San Marino	16	13	16	15	13	16	15	16
04	Montenegro	15	8	10	10	7	9	9	8	3
05	Malta	6	5	7	6	8	6	16	12
06	Norway
07	Portugal	5	16	9	12	10	11	13	14
08	Czech Republic	13	10	13	14	16	14	10	13
09	Israel	14	2	2	3	2	3	4	3	8
10	Latvia	2	3	3	2	6	2	5	4	7
11	Azerbaijan	12	9	15	11	11	13	12	15
12	Iceland	11	15	14	16	15	15	6	9	2
13	Sweden	4	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	12
14	Switzerland	9	12	8	8	14	10	11	10	1
15	Cyprus	10	6	4	7	3	5	7	5	6
16	Slovenia	3	7	6	13	5	7	8	7	4
17	Poland	8	14	11	9	12	12	3	6	5

Split voting results from Norway (final)
Draw	Country	J. T. Holmlund	A. H. Wisløff	M. Jemtegård	M. Berger	S. Vedal	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Slovenia	2	8	7	16	8	7	13	10	1
02	France	26	11	12	13	21	16	24	20
03	Israel	10	5	4	5	3	4	10	7	4
04	Estonia	20	4	5	11	7	9	9	8	3
05	United Kingdom	25	25	23	25	22	25	19	24
06	Armenia	24	24	24	23	23	24	26	26
07	Lithuania	13	7	10	6	6	8	3	5	6
08	Serbia	14	13	14	21	17	15	12	12
09	Norway
10	Sweden	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	12
11	Cyprus	8	10	6	7	5	6	14	11
12	Australia	7	3	2	2	2	3	2	2	10
13	Belgium	4	6	11	4	9	5	5	4	7
14	Austria	5	15	9	15	12	12	21	16
15	Greece	16	22	21	20	16	20	25	25
16	Montenegro	22	16	20	12	18	17	17	17
17	Germany	12	14	18	14	13	14	22	18
18	Poland	21	23	17	22	19	22	7	13
19	Latvia	1	2	3	3	4	2	6	3	8
20	Romania	17	18	16	24	20	21	11	15
21	Spain	9	19	15	10	11	13	16	14
22	Hungary	23	21	26	18	26	23	18	22
23	Georgia	15	20	19	17	24	19	20	19
24	Azerbaijan	18	17	22	19	14	18	23	23
25	Russia	6	9	13	9	15	11	8	9	2
26	Albania	19	26	25	26	25	26	15	21
27	Italy	11	12	8	8	10	10	4	6	5