Eurovision 2019 spotlight: Norway's KEiiNO with "Spirit In The Sky"...
Last year the Scandinavian country of Norway sent its most successful performer back to the competition, but instead of the glorious "Fairytale", we were left with the dull and banal sing-song pop of "That's How You Write A Song". Clearly one of the worst entries last year (thank goddess for Russia for that), somehow he one the semifinal, but his finals performance dropped him down to #15th in the end. Can the often-overlooked Scandinavian country turn things around this year?
Norway - "Spirit In The Sky" from KEiiNO
KEiiNO are the Eurovision-made trio of three separate artists, Tom Hugo from the southern city of Kristiansand, Alexandra Rotan from the southeastern town of Eidsvoll, and Fred Buljo from the very northern village of Kautokeino (hence the name), who is of Sami descent (the Scandinavian indigenous people) who provides their song's most striking feature, the joiking. Joiking is the spiritual chanting of the Sami people, and it is integrated into the chorus of this song which has the theme of equality and overcoming discrimination, according to Hugo. With lyrics summoning fairies and demons, the song becomes more than the usual Nordic dance-pop EDM that Darude and Victor Crone are serving up this year. The music video significantly ups the "cheese factor", with Hugo and Rotan sporting furry ears of some sort. But with Hugo and Buljo both "out" gay men, and Rotan representing the women, this is one big empowerment party...
An early favorite during the national finals in the country, Melodi Grand Prix, I think some ennui had set in among Eurovision superfans about the chances of this song (especially after the music video was released). But it's the general public who only get their first taste the day the semi-finals start and vote are who counts. And with neighbors like Sweden, Russia, Denmark, The Netherlands, and the UK able to vote here, as well as reliable vote-givers Ireland, and this should have no problem qualifying for the finals. I'm very interested though in how they will stage this, as it's a dramatic song, but have three equal leads to follow through it. Keep this posted. (Rating: 9.5/10)
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Norway has been competing in Eurovision since 1960, and while they hold the record for most times at last place, with eleven, but they also have won the contest thrice. The first time came in 1985 with the retro-style duo Bobbysocks and the cutesie song "La Det Swing" ("Let It Swing")...
Ten years later, the country scored a second win with the most left-field victor in the contest's history. "Nocturne", from Secret Garden, was a new age excursion that was almost devoid of lyrics, with two dozen words being sung by Gunnhild Tvinnereim. Coincidently, this was written by Secret Garden leader Rolf Løvland, who wrote "La Det Swing"...
And in 2009, Alexander Rybak scored a record point result with his classic Russo-folk of "Fairytale". Simply one of the best ESC songs of all time...
As for my own personal favorite, one that also fits on that list even though it didn't win came in 2013 with Margaret Berger and her electro-pop nugget "I Feed You My Love"...
On the other side of the coin, in 1997 singer Tor Endresen earned a deserved null points with his undecipherably tacky ode to "San Francisco"...
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