NORWAY

The Norwegian Final was held on February 27th at the Spektrum in Oslo, hosted by Silya Nymoen & Kåre Magnus Bergh. The winner was chosen in two rounds of televoting - the first to select the top 4 and the second to select the winner. Going to Sweden is Agnete with the song “Icebreaker”

The song is literally a song of two halves. The verses are quite atmospheric and hs a feel of Loreen’s “Eurphoria” abou them. It’s slightly dark and mysterious and interesting to listen to. The chorus kicks in and the whole tempo, emphasis and style of the song changes as it becomes a beat-driven r’n’b ballad with a repetitive chorus. This continues throughout the song during the performance Agnete is stood on top on a huge plinth which dismounts by using the spiral staircase around the outside. When the lighting changes we also see a female dancer inside. However one cannot deny that she looks stunning with her long blond hair and her champagne coloured two-piece ball gown.

Although only 21 years old, Agnete is almost a veteran at this game. She first came into the public eye in 2008 when as lead singer of The Blacksheeps, they won Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2008 with their song "Oro jaska, beana". The song went on to win Song of the Year at the Spellemannprisen Awards and peaked at number-one on the Norwegian singles chart. Three years later the band entered adult Melodi Grand Prix with the song "Dance Tonight" but came second. Last year she took part in he Danish version on Strictly Come Dancing “ Skal vi danse” and went on to win.

I find this song highly irritating. I often joke that some songs sound like the writer or the chorus and the writer of the verse wrote their parts in separate rooms but this actually feels like this is true. Either that or the writer shoved two separate songs together in the hope of making one good song. The parts separately are not bad by put them together and it sounds odd. There is no flow, no proper build up and no cohesion that takes you step by step throughout the song and I personally think this is a huge issue. I also find the words of the chorus quite laughable “I’ll be your icebreaker, when your stuck in frozen water” – you know, just in case none of you have worked out what ice is *really* made of…! In terms of stage show, it ALMOST works. I have a huge issue with Agnete leaving the audience’s view whilst she descends the stairs. If anything, I would prefer if they turned the plinth round so you could actually see her get down but still see the dancer inside.

Norway find themselves in a good situation as they are drawn in the second half of semi 2 but in a draw full of quite catchy uptempo songs it could struggle. Without a huge hook or story to get them through I don’t think they have a chance of winning. It might just scrape a qualifying place but not much more than that.

ARTIST – Agnete

SONG – Icebreaker

MUSIC – Agnete Johnsen, Gabriel Alares, Ian Curnow

LYRICS – Agnete Johnsen, Gabriel Alares, Ian Curnow