Josh O'Brien
Stavangerkameratene release their Melodi Grand Prix entry
No strangers to competing on a televised stage, boy band Stavangerkameratene released their Melodi Grand Prix (MGP) entry 'Barndomsgater' today.
The song, which translates to 'Childhood Streets in English' is one of six songs that have automatically qualified for the MGP finale on 20th February (21st February AEDT).
The members, Tommy Fredvang, Kjartan Salvesen, Glenn Lyse and Ole Alexander Mæland, consist of alumni from the Norwegian editions of the reality-competition singing shows 'The Voice', 'Idol' and 'The X Factor'.
Salvesen and Lyse both won their editions of 'Norwegian Idol' in 2004 and 2007 respectively, while Mæland was a participant of 'The Voice Norway' in 2012 and Fredvang, who also has a songwriting credit on 'Barndomsgater', was a competitor in 'The X Factor Norway 2009'.
Stavangerkameratene's style is a fusion of pop and folk genres which is appreciated in their home country as they have managed to amass a large fan following through their release of two albums since they were established in 2015.
The bands songs have generated 50 million+ total streams on Spotify to date which started with their debut single in 2016, a Norwegian version of Avicii's global hit 'Wake Me Up'.
Among the other automatic finalists for MGP this year are two other alums from reality-competition singing shows, 'The Voice Norway 2017' entrant Kaja Rode with her song 'Feel Again' and 'The X Factor Norway 2010' contestant Atle Pettersen with his entry 'World On Fire'. Rounding out the other three pre-selected acts in the grand finale are returning Eurovision fan favourites KEiiNO with 'Monument", MGP 2020 finalist Rein Alexander with 'Eyes Wide Open' and songwriter of international hit 'Sweet but Psycho' TIX with his song 'Ut Av Mørket'.
Just like the other automatic qualifiers, Stavangerkameratene will get the chance to show the song off to the public prior to the grand finale.
They will perform 'Barndomsgater' live in this weekend's second semi-final which airs 23rd January in Europe.
There will be four acts competing on Sunday for the chance to join Stavangerkameratene in the final.
See who is competing in the semi-final and where the Aussievision team ranked the entries here.
Australians can watch Semi-final 2 of Melodi Grand Prix this Sunday 24th January at 5:50am (AEDT) via nrk.no/mgp/