Article in Norwegian. Published by TV2.no 14.03.2018

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REJOICED ON STAGE: Alexander Rybak after winning the Norwegian final in the Melodi Grand Prix with the song “That’s How You Write a Song” in the Oslo spectrum Saturday night. Photo: Audun Braastad / NTB scanpix 

Climbing the betting lists: “I will be very disappointed, if I don´t take Norway to the Final”

Alexander Rybak took a superior victory in Norway – now he hopes to do the same in Lisbon.

Saturday won Alexander Rybak (31) Melodi Grand Prix with the song “That’s how you write a song”.

He is Norway’s hope at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon in Portugal in May, nine years after he went to the top of the competition with the song “Fairytale” .

Only now, NRK has announced how the rallies between the four semifinalists were distributed – and then it appears that Rybak had more than twice as many votes as second place Rebecca (19).

Rybaks song “That’s How You Write a Song” got 306.393 viewing voices, while Rebecca with the song “Who We Are” received 123.504 votes.

Would have cheered more

Alexander Rybak tells TV 2 that he thought the result was much smoother.He did not feel the victory was so superior.

“Had I known that I got that many votes, I had cheered a little more on the stage. But it really felt like it was a close race, and it’s cool that NRK kept on tension – even if it cost me some gray hair, says Alexander Rybak.

In third place, Stella Mwangi (31) & Alexandra Rotan (21) came with “You Got Me” with 29,784 votes, while Aleksander Walmanns (32) let ‘Talk to the Hand’ score fourth with 7,927 votes.

In the first part of the program, half of the votes came from professional jurors in Europe. Details of how the jurors voted, will not be revealed, reports NRK. In the program, only one of the ten professional jury members received the favorite contribution. Four out of ten countries voted Rybak to their favorite : Russia, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Macedonia.

Climbing the betting lists

Monday was the final deadline for all countries to submit their contributions to Eurovision, which means that the betting lists have now made a complete overview of who they think will win.

Norway is writing 9th on the betting lists, according to Eurovision World .

Before Saturday’s final, Norway was in 22nd place, but when it became clear that Rybak will represent the country, Norway climbed on the betting lists.

“I think I’m moving up the list because more and more people understand that my song is made especially for the MGP scene. And even though it does not lead the streaming or radio lists, it’s doing well on a scene, says Rybak to TV 2.

– What do you think about your chances of winning in Lisbon?

“It has a lot to do with which competitors are doing well on the stage, which starting number I get and so on. First of all, I have to concentrate on the semi-finals. As soon as you think “It will be easy to get to the final,” you relax and do it badly. I dont want to. I will be very disappointed if I do not get Norway to the final, says Rybak.

Must change the act

In the top of the betting lists are Israel, Estonia and the Czech Republic.Sweden is seventh place.

In the future, Rybak will make a fuss on the Norwegian contribution and make it even clearer for the European audience.

“I’ll be creative, as I’m always under pressure. Although my number had many cool details in the spectrum, I’m sure we’ll find even more such details, too, that can be fine-tuned, “he says.