While most attention is focused on the Melodifestivalen rehearsals, let’s take a look at this week’s Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix songs.

The first two semi-finals in Norway have met with far from universal approval, with the second week in particular featuring some rather less than stellar performances, so let’s hope things will get better this Saturday, in the third and final semi-final.

Gothminister – Utopia
Far more of a name in their genre than Gromth were in the first semi-final, Gothminister play industrial metal, though ‘Utopia’ is far more accessible than may be expected. The metal songs nearly always surprise in the voting in Scandinavian national finals, often due to the genre’s large, but quiet, fanbase, so expect Gothminister to put in a strong showing.
In summary: probable qualifier

Adelén – Bombo
The kind of pseudo-Latino pop that always used to crop up in Belgian finals throughout the last decade, and then be performed terribly. I expect nothing else here from 16 year old Adelén, even if she does have some hefty hitmakers behind the song in Ina Wroldsen and Quiz & Larossi. And this year’s MGP hasn’t exactly been kind to pop.
In summary: lots of fun, but not a qualifier

Lucky Lips – Sweet and Heavy
Country bluegrass from Lucky Lips. I personally think this is absolutely beautiful, and with Melodi Grand Prix traditionally being a lot kinder on country music than its Swedish counterpart, may do better than expected. Will need a strong performance to stand out though.
In summary: Lovely, needs a good performance, borderline qualifier

Gaute Ormåsen – Awake
Unfortunately, Gaute’s song isn’t available on Spotify or on YouTube internationally, so I haven’t been able to listen to this in full, so will have to base this on the 30-second snippet broadcast last night. Which, in summary, a man who’s slightly older than he wants to be singing a song that’s far too young for him. With potential for some terrible falsetto notes.
In summary: your dad doing Bjorn Johan Muri (not like that!) at karaoke.

Anina – The Young
Now this is a surprise. While the televoters haven’t been kind to the girly pop this year, The Young stands out as far more substantial, with its Katy Perry-vibe and stand-up-and-sing-along chorus. We’ll see on Saturday whether Anina can carry it off live, but if she does, this could be the big surprise of the competition.
In summary: with the right performance, a potential superfinalist

Winda – Not Afraid
A big dance number designed the get the audience on their feet but ultimately, if it didn’t work for Mimi Blix with a much better song, there’s no reason it should work here. Not Afraid comes from the team behind ‘Haba Haba’, but really has none of the catchy elements behind that huge hit – Norway’s dance music can do much better.
In summary: not a chance

Sirkus Eliassen – I Love You Te Quiero
Sirkus Eliassen had one of the biggest hits of 2012 with the frankly quite brilliant ‘Æ vil bare dans’. Their MGP entry isn’t a patch on that, but follows much the same pattern, and is bound to have a strong performance, so should have a good chance.
In summary: qualifying, another likely superfinalist

To sum up, a much stronger semi-final than the past two weeks, though again a lot is going to depend on performances on the night. Last week it was the three best vocal performances that qualified, almost by default, and if the same is true again on Saturday we could see some surprises.

In theory, it’s pretty open, though I suspect Sirkus Eliassen are nailed on to qualify. Gothminister should follow them if the metal fans are voting (and they usually do), with the third place between Lucky Lips and Anina.

The Melodi Grand Prix lorry rolled into Larvik, and it looked absolutely freezing. And the chill affected the stage, until it warmed up by the third act…

We started with the all-female Cocktail Slippers’ Keeps On Dancing. It started off nicely enough, but for all the costumes and big hair (and, in a couple of cases, drag queen make-up), the song never really went anywhere. A perfect lesson in how to disguise a chorus so you don’t know it’s happened until it’s over.

Isabel Ødegård’s I’ve Got You was a rolling, acoustic ballad backed with a string quintet. Look, it was very nice and all, but… well, put it this way – look at the video and tell me if you can remember a single thing about it (apart from the ill-fitting frock).

The surprise of the evening was Tommy Fredvang’s Make It Better, which took one of the three places to the final. He started off with the Danny Saucedo trick of hiding behind a wall before it vanished to reveal – shock! – the audience and the stage. I suppose when you’re watching live, it would be quite hard to imagine Tommy making much of an impact past “He’s quite cute, isn’t he?”. Watching him back as I write this, though, it’s clear that this was one of the evening’s strongest songs (co-written by the wonderful Hanne Sørvaag). Quite brave having no one else on stage with him, as well. Especially when he was dressed in black. On a black stage.

Rikke Lie’s Another Heartache was one of the songs I thought would get to the final easily. But then she started singing. Oops. Flat, flat, flat. And the dancers having convulsions while pretending to play violins really didn’t help. I felt sorry for Rikke, it’s obvious that she can sing, and this was a strong ballad. Something just went wrong.

Another fairly flat performance was Malin’s Crush. However, Malin had the power of the tween behind her, and was the second finalist of the night. This was sugar-pop at its finest. “My heart beats 1-2-3 – hello! – when I see you, boy”. Etc etc. I may sound disparaging, but I’m actually not – the song was put together really well, if a bit under-produced. It could have easily made a much bigger impact if everything had been ramped up a bit more.

Greatest non-shock of the night was Plumbo’s Ola Nordmann going to the final. I bet it got a sizable portion of the total votes, too. You know the score – rock-folk with the easiest chorus ever. If Cocktail Slippers got it wrong, Plumbo did the complete opposite. Everything was sign-posted in red, white and blue. Easy, easy, easy. Can we still get odds on this winning the entire contest, or are all bets off?

Rounding off the evening was electro-pop and old-school dance. I’ve been beating the drum for Minnie Oh’s You And I since I first heard it, and she was steadily getting more publicity in the week before the show. The performance wisely kept Minnie centre-stage, with a couple of Pet Shop Boy tributes manning the machines. Style-wise, Minnie was indescribable. Best moment of all was Minnie channeling Ganesh with her dancers, before breaking off into a mini dance. Minnie, get someone to look after your clothes shop and give us MORE!

Rikke Normann’s Shapeshifter was a great dance number. You’ve heard it all before – complete with ropey vocal (and very dodgy money note – I want a refund) but it was great. Never had a hope of victory, but who cares?

It’s always lovely to see Per Sundnes back – that’s when you know we’re in Nordic schlager season. Although I did miss the aerial shots of the snowy town as the grand prix truck drove with the show – that always added an extra frisson of excitement.

No messing around though, after a brief intro we were straight into the songs. I’d already criticised Irresistible’s Elevator, saying that for what it seemed to think it was – contemporary R&B – it was hopelessly out of date. The performance didn’t do much to change my mind. It’s a shame, as the group looked great, and the vocals were actually all right. The rap didn’t help, though – a dance break would have been more exciting.

Så vidunderlig should have been a lovely ballad. But poor Kim André Rysstad’s singing was as flat as a pancake. I really don’t like criticising live vocals, because the focus should mainly be on the song. But when you have three minutes of flat tones, you kind of just want it to end.

It won’t shock anyone here to realise that I loved Reidun Sæther’s High On Love. It’s the song I’ve played the most from the album. But let’s face it, that key change was painful, and some of those notes were decidedly dodgy. Reidun broke down in tears during rehearsals because of throat problems, but still went on, so she is due a break. Reidun’s saving graces were sharp schlager, hair, frock and wind machine. (You could put a woman on stage burping, but as long as she had all the above at her disposal, then I’d love her. Yes, I’m utterly fickle.) Now, Reidun, get back in that rehearsal studio, forget any troubles from Saturday, and let’s see what you can really do in Oslo.

Rudi Myntevik’s lyrics on You Break It, You Own It are terrible, I’ve already discussed those. The most interesting part of the performance wasn’t Rudi’s oh-so-quirky outfit (Converse, Rudi? Really?), it was his Robert Palmer-glam female back-up band. I liked them.

Lisa Stokke made much more of an impression on me during her performance of With Love than the studio version did. Lovely, strong vocals with an involving performance. I wish I’d realised this sooner, instead of wasting time moaning about Rudi’s heart being used as a football. Lisa just got herself a new fan.

The fantastic street dancing in the background of United’s Little Bobbi distracted from the absolute mess of the song. What was going on there? And that was BEFORE the wailing started. I’d have put through the dancers and sent the singers home.

Nora Foss Al-Jabri’s Somewhere Beautiful was easily the best performance of the evening. Self-assured vocal and no gimmicks – she allowed the song to shine. I am astounded that she’s only 15 years old. I’m delighted she got through to the final, and I hope someone is looking after her – regardless of what happens next, I can’t wait to hear what she does next.

I knew The Carburetors would do well. “Meh”, as they say.

To the final:
Reidun Sæther – High On Love
Nora Foss Al-Jabri – Somewhere Beautiful
The Carburetors – Don’t Touch The Flame

During Eurovision season, I find it quite hard to write about lots of different songs in one go. Unlike music reviews at other times of the year, when doing the Eurovision preselections the artists are often unknown, so the element of personality is completely removed. Then there’s the sheer volume of tracks to get through. Sure, you can fast-forward a bit through the ones that you know are going to be boring/pretend hard rock, but you still have to give each one a bit of a chance, not knowing whether what you’re saying about a track is spot-on or complete bollocks for most of them.

So with all that in mind, Irresistible’s Elevator is playing as I write this. And I’ve quickly decided that it’s dated and boring. I’d advise these four to get on YouTube and see what Little Mix have been doing, and then think again. Is that right? Is that wrong?

Reidun Sæther’s High On Love is a great Eurovision pop-rock ballad with a keychange. Reminiscent in some ways of Kati Wolf’s What About My Dreams? from last year, this is what modern Eurovision is all about. It’ll rarely bother the charts but it’s a great barnstormer that will get the crowd going.

Rudi Myntevik’s You Break It You Own It features the lyric: “You can play with my heart any way you like; You won’t hear me complain; You can kick it around your local football pitch; And poke it with a stick.” Sometimes, I wish people would read their words back.

United are trying something like grime with Middle Eastern influences at Melodi Grand Prix with Little Bobbi. It’s interesting. A bit messy.

Somewhere Beautiful is a, erm, [checks thesaurus for synonyms for ‘beautiful’] exquisite ballad sung by Nora Foss Al-Jabri. She could do well with it.

Cocktail Slippers’ Keeps On Dancing is something I’d never normally bother with – modern rock ‘n’ roll, but actually interesting. Think The Waitresses.

Another Heartache, another ballad, from Rikki Lie. This one builds up into what should be a glorious finish, but throws it away by the end. A shame.

Malin’s Crush is electro with a brash vocal that slams through it. And not in a good way. Taken down a notch, it could be great.

Plumbo have been the source of much talk in the last few days, due to a pathetic remark one of them said to Madcon. They’re still in the competition, though, and rock-lite Ola Nordmann, with its Irish tin whistles and a key-change, is going to bring the house down. It’s the song that will entertain all the non-Eurovision folk, and will gain plenty of sympathy from the fans. Sigh.

Minnie-Oh’s You And I, on the other hand, is really good. Electro with a great chorus, her influences must include the likes of Robyn, Oh Land and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. I’d be surprised if she gets near the top of the leaderboard, but Minnie-Oh is one to watch for the future.

Shapeshifter is fantastic! Dancefloor pop, Rikke Normann (yes, she of last year’s Åste & Rikke) is begging not to be caged. I hope there’ll be some mixes of this. It’s co-written with Silya Nymoen, who’s competing herself with the much-less successful Euphoria (a bit of a mess, in fact).

It really annoys me that Rikke and Minnie-Oh will be totally overshadowed by bloody Plumbo.

Tooji is trying to be Eric Saade on Stay. It doesn’t work.

I’m sure the three heats will all be very entertaining.

I’d like to see Reidun Sæther and Minnie-Oh do well. I’m not going to hold my breath, though. However, if Nora Foss Al-Jabri gets into the final, I will be delighted.

NRK has put all the songs up on iTunes, but it doesn’t appear to be worldwide at the moment. Alternatively, try this Spotify playlist for some of the songs, and try here if you use WiMP.