Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Ven a bailar conmigo" written by Thomas G:son. The song was performed by Guri Schanke. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2007 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland. 18 entries competed in the national final that consisted of three semi-finals, a Last Chance round and a final. Eight entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 10 February 2007 where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, "Ven a bailar conmigo" performed by Guri Schanke was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from three regional jury groups and a public televote.

Norway competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2007. Performing during the show in position 19, "Ven a bailar conmigo" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. This marked the first time that Norway failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. It was later revealed that Norway placed 18th out of the 28 participating countries in the semi-final with 48 points.

Background
Prior to the 2007 contest, Norway had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 45 times since its first entry in. Norway had won the contest on two occasions: in 1985 with the song "La det swinge" performed by Bobbysocks!, and in 1995 with the song "Nocturne" performed by Secret Garden. Norway also had the two dubious distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country and for having the most "nul points" (zero points) in the contest, the latter being a record the nation shared together with Austria. The country had finished last 10 times and had failed to score a point during four contests. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Norway has, to this point, finished in the top 10 once: in 2005 when Wig Wam finished ninth with the song "In My Dreams".

The Norwegian national broadcaster, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), broadcasts the event within Norway and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. NRK confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest on 26 June 2006. The broadcaster has traditionally organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix, which has selected the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in all but one of their participation. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster revealed details regarding their selection procedure and announced the organization of Melodi Grand Prix 2007 in order to select the 2007 Norwegian entry.

Melodi Grand Prix 2007
Melodi Grand Prix 2007 was the 45th edition of the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix and selected Norway's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. 18 songs were selected to compete in a five-week-long process that commenced on 20 January 2007 and concluded with the final on 10 February 2007. All shows were hosted by Synnøve Svabø and Stian Barsnes Simonsen and televised on NRK1 as well as streamed online at NRK's official website nrk.no.

Format
The competition consisted of five shows: three semi-finals on 20 January 2007, 27 January 2007 and 3 February 2007, a Last Chance round (Sistesjansen) on 8 February 2007 and a final on 10 February 2007. Seven songs competed in each semi-final and the top two entries directly qualified to the final. The entries that placed third and fourth proceeded to the Last Chance round, and the bottom two were eliminated from the competition. An additional two entries qualified to the final from the Last Chance round. The results of the semi-finals and Last Chance round were determined exclusively by public televoting, while the results in the final were determined by jury voting and public televoting. Viewers could vote through telephone and SMS, and for the semi-finals, the public was able to cast their votes in advance during the NRK P1 radio programme Nitimen that was broadcast on the day before each show was held.

Competing entries
A submission period was opened by NRK between 26 June 2006 and 1 September 2006. Songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit entries, while performers of the selected songs would be chosen by NRK in consultation with the songwriters. At the close of the deadline, 464 submissions were received. 18 songs were selected for the competition, 14 from the public call for submissions and four from artists and composers directly invited to compete. The six acts and songs competing in each of the three semi-finals were revealed on 27 December 2006, 3 January 2007 and 9 January 2007, respectively.

Semi-finals
Six songs competed in each of the three semi-finals that took place on 20 January, 27 January and 3 February 2007. The first semi-final took place at the Finnmarkshallen in Alta, the second semi-final took place at the Bodø Spektrum in Bodø, and the third semi-final took place at the Brunstad Conference Center in Stokke. In each semi-final the top two directly qualified to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs proceeded to the Last Chance round.

Last Chance round
The Last Chance round took place on 8 February 2007 at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo. The six entries that placed third and fourth in the preceding three semi-finals competed and the top two entries qualified to the final.

Final
Eight songs that qualified from the preceding three semi-finals and the Last Chance round competed during the final at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo on 10 February 2007. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, public televoting selected the top four entries to proceed to the second round, the Gold Final. In the Gold Final, three regional juries from the three semi-final host cities each distributed points as follows: 2,000, 4,000, 6,000 and 10,000 points. The results of the public televote were then revealed by Norway's five regions and added to the jury scores, leading to the victory of "Ven a bailar conmigo" performed by Guri Schanke with 108,541 votes. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval act featured 2006 Norwegian Eurovision entrant Christine Guldbrandsen performing her entry "Alvedansen" as well as her new song "Dansekjolen".

Promotion
Guri Schanke made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Ven a bailar conmigo" as the Norwegian Eurovision entry by performing the song during the sixth show of the Spanish Eurovision national final Misión Eurovisión 2007 on 17 February, and during the final of the Lithuanian Eurovision national final on 3 March.

At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2006 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final on 10 May 2007 in order to compete for the final on 12 May 2007. On 12 March 2007, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Norway was set to perform in position 19, following the entry from Macedonia and before the entry from Malta.

In Norway, the semi-final and the final were broadcast on NRK1 with commentary by Per Sundnes. The final was also broadcast via radio on NRK P1. The Norwegian spokesperson, who announced the Norwegian votes during the final, was Synnøve Svabø.

Semi-final
Guri Schanke took part in technical rehearsals on 4 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May. The Norwegian performance featured Guri Schanke performing a Latin-inspired routine on stage in a short brown dress together with two dancers and three backing vocalists. The colour of Schanke's dress, designed by Norwegian designer Carejanni Enderud and featured 25,000 Swarovski crystals, changed twice later on during the performance, first into orange and ultimately into gold. The performance concluded with Schanke being thrusted into the air on top of the dancers' arms. The LED screens displayed musical notes that changed colours throughout the song. The two dancers on stage with Guri Schanke were Asmund Grinaker and Bjørn Holthe, while the three backing vocalists were Åshild Kristin Stensrud, Jorunn Hauge and Karianne Kjærnes.

At the end of the show, Norway was not announced among the top 10 entries in the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. This marked the first time that Norway failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. It was later revealed that Norway placed 18th in the semi-final, receiving a total of 48 points. The semi-final was watched by 706,000 viewers in Norway.

Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Norway and awarded by Norway in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Iceland in the semi-final and to Sweden in the final of the contest.