Silent Storm (song)

"Silent Storm" is a song by Norwegian singer and songwriter Carl Espen, released as a single on 18 February 2014. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark after winning Melodi Grand Prix 2014, Norway's national selection for the event. It placed sixth in the semi-final with 77 points and finished in eighth place in the grand final with 88 points overall.

Background and composition
"Silent Storm" was composed and written by Espen's cousin, Josefin Winther. In an interview, he spoke of the song's development: "[Winther] knows me very well, both my personal struggles and my dream to sing. She sat down and thought about me for a long time, and then tried to write a song to express my feelings and my place in life. The result was "Silent Storm". No one else could have written this song for me."

The song has been described as an "intense, fragile and powerful ballad". Espen further described the song as about finding your place in life. Espen added, "that is something I hold dearly and I haven’t achieved yet. Its something that I miss and that I think a lot about":

"'The story is that my cousin saw me for who I am, and understood that it would be good for me to express the feeling I carry inside. She felt that I was still searching for my place in the world, and that I keep many of my difficult feelings closed inside. She feels that I am calm and quiet on the outside, but that strong feeling whirl around right underneath my surface. These feelings are like a silent storm inside me. The message is this expression of my looking for a home, and also a growing hope that someday I’ll be calm.'"

When asked about where the inspiration for the song came from, Winther said, "Carl Espen was the source of the song, because I felt like he had something bubbling under the surface waiting to come out".

Reception
Prior to the actual contest, "Silent Storm" was one of the favorites to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in betting odds. "Silent Storm" was also met with general acclaim from music critics. Martin Faulkner from BBC describes "Silent Storm" as a strong song, while Samantha Ross elaborated, "there’s something so appealing about a guy who looks like he could take down trees with his bare hands going on and singing so sweetly about his vulnerabilities and emotions". Multiple critics from Wiwibloggs also positively reviewed the song, applauding Espen's vocal delivery and the song's vulnerability. William Lee Adams from Wiwibloggs further elucidated: "Carl’s voice carries [melancholy] well, and any imperfections actually work in his favor. The occasional cracks and warbles fit with a performance about human frailty. Unlike so many Eurovision ballads, “Silent Storm” doesn't rely on Carl singing louder and louder. His emotions are real. He drives the song with sincerity."

Dennis Van Eersel from ESC Daily described the song as a very emotional song, with interesting lyrics. He further added, "I like how the text doesn’t match the appearance of the singer. It gives it even more strength to me, because you can never judge a book by it's [sic] cover and know what really goes on in someone else’s mind." Eurovision Song Contest 2013 winner Emmelie de Forest said that the song is her great favorite, and liked the song upon listening to it and have followed Espen through the Norwegian national selection.

Melodi Grand Prix 2014
Melodi Grand Prix 2014 was the 52nd edition of the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix and selected Norway's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. For 2014, the competition consisted of three semi-finals on 7 to 9 March 2014 and a final on 15 March 2014. Five songs competed in each semi-final and the top three entries qualified to the final, determined exclusively by public televoting. In the final, the top four entries will be selected from the nine qualified entries to go through to the Gold Final. In the Gold Final, the results of the public televote were revealed by Norway's five regions.

Espen was officially announced to compete in Melodi Grand Prix 2014 on 27 January 2014. "Silent Storm" was drawn to compete in the third semi-final, and later qualified to the final. In the final, the song would move on to the Gold Final, along with three other entries. The song eventually won the Gold Final and the Norwegian spot for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014.

At Eurovision
The song was selected to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, after Espen was chosen through Melodi Grand Prix 2014, the music competition that selects Norway's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. On 20 January 2014, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Norway was placed into the second semi-final, which was held on 8 May 2014, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. After all the competing songs for the 2014 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the show's producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Norway performed in position 3, and qualified for the final, which took place on 10 May 2014. It placed sixth in the semi-final with 77 points and overall finished in eighth place with 88 points.

Track listing

 * Digital download and streaming
 * 1) "Silent Storm" – 2:57
 * 2) "Silent Storm (Rykkinnfella Remix)" – 3:41