Norway 2021- TIX with ‘Fallen Angel’

Norway's televote has spoken, with TIX seeing off Eurovision fans’ favourite KEiiNO by a comfortable margin at MGP:

I had the review for ‘Monument’ drafted and it was no winner but I think only the most anti-KEiiNO would try to argue TIX will get a better result at Eurovision.

TIX has a few negatives to address. Firstly the song is good, but it is far too ‘background music’; it’s fine on the radio and excellent on a spotify playlist of similar modern songs, it’s just not a contest song. It’s the direct opposite of KEiiNO in that sense. It’s worth remembering it’s his high profile, big fan base and weeks of momentum in the Norwegian charts that got him through, rather than the song being ‘instant’.

Which brings us to the performance. Memorable staging is needed to compensate for those issues and whilst TIX brings that in abundance, is this going to be voteable to wider Europe? Will people ‘get’ his semi-ironic character and act and vote for him, I’m not sure. The intentionally over the top staging may also be a turn-off for juries, TIX will do no better with them than KEiiNO would have done, maybe even worse.

TIX being the only fella in the entire second half of semi 1 is a major boost for his qualification hopes however- maybe the best thing he has going for him- and there are a few countries in there who might like the ridiculousness of the staging, as well as some that may take it earnestly.

You read it here first, but he’ll be 13th in the running order in semi 1, splitting the women in half and his entry matching the superstitions and religious symbolism around the number 13. It’s almost too perfect.

‘Fallen Angel’ as a whole is probably distinctive enough to qualify from the semi, and do OK in the final. Despite the line-up looking strong, it’s more likely he upsets fans again by knocking out a favourite in the semi, rather than gets knocked out himself. I think it’s probable he qualifies in 8th or 9th and he’s much more in than out for now. 40s is incredibly short on the outright however and I can’t see a top 10 here.

Personal Rating: 4/10 Competitive Rating: 6/10 Early Prediction: Semi one 7th-12th, Final 13th-18th