Introduction

The Norwegian music festival is called “MGP Melodi Grand Prix” and the winner has the honour to represent Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest. The MGP consists of four show altogether with three semi finals in various cities and one big final in the capital Oslo. The show enjoys a huge media interest; it’s one of the most watched TV shows in Norway. This year’s clear winner is Margaret Berger with an electro pop song called “I Feed You With My Love”.

Margaret Berger was born in Trondheim, Norway, back in 1985. She is a singer and songwriter and came second in the Norwegian Idol show. In the meanwhile she has released three albums and four singles, her music style is electro pop, Dance, Rock and R&B. Nowadays she is the music director of a Norwegian TV station. Being the representative for Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest is the next step in her career. She may profit from her stage experiences the gained over the years.

The song “I Feed You With My Love” can also be described as electro pop entry with a lot of “electric” sound effects. In the Norwegian MGP she was wearing a white dress – an unemotional apparition in cold blue light with a frenetic melody. This electric sound is also used by Slovenia this year and seems to be a trend of 2013. Last year Norway did not make it into the grand final, maybe Margaret is able to change it. She looks a bit like a snow queen with a winning smile.

History

Participations: 52

Debut: 1960

Biggest success: 3x 1st place 1985 “La Det Swinge” by Bobbysocks, 1995 “Nocturne” by Secret Garden, 2009 “Fairytale” by Alexander Rybak, 1x 2nd place “I Evighet” by Elisabeth Andreassen, 1x 3rd place “Intet Er Nytt Under Solen” by Åse Kleveland in 1966, 2x 4th place, 3x 5th place, 1x 6th place, 2x 7th place, 2x 8th place, 3x 9th place, 1x 10th place

This year, Norway celebrates its 52nd anniversary in regards of participations in the Eurovision Song Contest. In the past Norway had the bad luck being last or ending up with zero points, but things have changed. Altogether there have been three victories: “La de swinge” by Bobbysocks in 1985, “Nocturne” by Secret Garden in 1995 and “Fairytale” by Alexander Rybak in 2009. Beside of that there were 16 Top 10 places, so there is nothing to complain about. The most memorable performances out of these were: “Romeo” by Ketil Stokkan in 1986 (12th rank), “Alle mine tankar” by Silje Vige in 1993 (5th rank) and “I Evighet” by Elisabeth Andreassen in 1996 (2nd rank).

There have only been two years, Norway did not qualify for the grand final in 2007 and 2011.