The Norwegian Final (Melodi Grand Prix) was held on February 20th at the H3 Arena in Fornebu, Bærum, hosted by Silje Nordnes, Ronny Brede Aase & Kåre Magnus Bergh. 12 songs contested the final - the 5 semi final winners, 1 wild card and 6 preselected finalists, The winner, chosen by online and app in a number of different rounds, was TIX with the song "Fallen Angel" .
TIX is centre stage on a small circular plinth. He is dressed in gold urban clothing, gold jewellery, sunglasses, his customary TIX headband and a pair of wings (hence the title). He is joined on stage by 6 dancers who are also wearing wings but with horn type headdresses. The dancers and TIX are connected by gold chains which are used in the choreography. The stage is mainly dark with a changing blue sky on the video screens and has the addition of some pryos near the end.
After a short intro, TIX starts with verse one which is very short and simplistic. Unusually the beat kicks in half way through the verse which makes your ears prick up a little. The beat then stops again for the build up to the chorus. This stop/start/stop motif continues on through the song, although annoying, does maintain your interest as you are never quite sure what is going to happen next. We then have verse two followed by an extended version of the chorus. We are then treated to a bridge, which repeats the name of the song and then we have another longer chorus preceded by a key change! The song then fades out just the way it faded in with the intro.
TIX is the alter ego of Andreas Haukeland, and has been rather big in his homeland for the past 5 years. He has had numerous hits in Norway including two number one songs in 2020, however the majority of this success has been in the Norwegian language. In fact, in his premier performance of the song during the competition he sang this song in it's Norwegian form but changed it to the English version for the final. Internationally, he has also had a hand in writing prominent songs for Flo Rida and Ava Max. His styling is rather OTT and harks back to a kind of boyband over-confidence of the late 90s/early 2000s and seem very lavish and slightly up himself. This is is direct contrast to Andreas who has himself been open about his Tourettes and his mental heath.
The thing about this whole entry is, that on the face of it, it quite a tired - almost clichéd - type of song and singing style... and I'm not even talking about in Eurovision terms either! The whole visual production of the song makes it feel like it is a pastiche or a mickey take of this genre of song. Taking it a step further it then also feels like it is parodying the contest itself. This all said and done, the song is not bad and is actually quite easy to get in your head. To that matter I feel that if this was a radio contest this would do very well. Once again I feel like this is very over produced and most of the time I couldn't tell where his voice was in the mix as the level of backing vocals was so high. As much as I would implore the team on this entry to rethink the staging and just tone it down a touch, I have a feeling this won't be happening.
ARTIST - TIX
SONG - Fallen Angel
WRITING CREDITS - Andreas Haukeland, Mathias Haukeland, Emelie Hollow
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