Introduction

• Participant(s): Subwoolfer
• Song: Give That Wolf A Banana
• Writer(s): Jim, Keith, DJ Astronaut
• Composer(s): Jim, Keith, DJ Astronaut
• Broadcaster: NRK
  
• Social media:        
  
• Team review: 

The popular Norwegian “Melodi Grand Prix” has send forth another very striking entry: Subwolfer with “Give That Wolf A Banana”. It took six rounds over six weeks to find out, who is going to Turin and will represent Norway.

The Norwegian pop duo consists of Keith and Jim, these are pseudonyms. The true identity of the singers is kept as a secret. Rumours say that this could be lvis brothers, Gaute Ormåsen, Ben Adams or Erik & Kriss. The most striking thing element of the duo are the wolf masks. The lyricists and composers are named as “Jim / Keith / DJ Astronaut“. So there is a certain mysticism around the Norwegian entry this year. Nevertheless, Subwoolfer’s song streamed more than 5 million times via Spotify right after winning the MGP.

The fictional story of Subwoolfer is pure hullaballoo and tell about their origins was published online, stating that they began their career 4.5 billion years ago on the Moon and claiming to be the most successful band in our galaxy.

The text is similar imaginative:

Give that wolf
And before that wolf eats my grandma
Give that wolf a banana
Give that wolf Give that wolf (banana)
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum

This is the only gimmick song this year. It has a strong rhythm and a catchy chorus, it will definitely be a dancefloor filler. There is even an acoustic version of that song “Give That Wolf a Romantic Banana” 

History

• Debut: 1960
• Participations: 62
• Victories: 3
• Finals: 56 (14 since 2004)
• Top 10: 24

Norway has joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960. The very first entry “Voi-voi” by Nora Brocksted made a good 4th place. Norway is the record holder in getting last at the ESC when it comes to the points. In the 62 years old history, Norway has been last for 11 times! Furthermore four times Norway has not received a single point! Even if the Scandinavian countries have a similar taste of music and singers are mostly known all over Scandinavia, Norway and Sweden battle out their own competition, but like all Nordic countries are generally very generous exchanging points with each other, which can also be noticed in the Balkan countries, Greece and Cyprus and in other neighbouring countries.

On the other hand, Norway has won three times and has been in the Grand Final for 56 times and reached the Top10 for 24 times, that’s a 39% chance for Top10 position for Norway. So that’s quite a success. There are stronger periods e.g. the 1990’s where Norway made a top 10 position for five times! In some years it seems that Norway has not such a lucky hand to send a song with hit potential. But some Norwegian entries have become real evergreens over the years in Norway and beyond.

In recent years Norway has been quite successful again, since 2012 Norway could mostly qualify for the Grand Final, that’s mainly due to the good quality of the songs on a good international level and the evolved a new selection process in the Melodi Grand Prix – the national final. Last year the charismatic singer TIX reached the 13th rank in the Grand Final of Rotterdam.

Biggest successes

• 3x 1st place
  “La Det Swinge” | Bobbysocks (Gothenburg 1985) 
  “Nocturne” | Secret Garden (Dublin 1995) 
  “Fairytale” | Alexander Rybak (Moscow 2009) 
• 1x 2nd place
  “I Evighet” | Elisabeth Andreassen (Oslo 1996) 
• 1x 3rd place
  “Intet Er Nytt Under Solen” | Åse Kleveland (Luxembourg 1966) 

Video Nostalgia

• “Mata Hari” | Anne-Karine Strøm
  Rank 18, The Hague 1976
  
• “Romeo” | Ketil Stokkan
  Rank 12, Bergen 1986
  
• “High” | Knut Anders Sørum
  Rank 24, Istanbul 2004
  
  

First Rehearsal