Norway selected Kyle Alessandro’s “Lighter” through their Melodi Grand Prix national final. Kyle performed 8th in the first semifinal and will be opening the Grand Final with the first performance.

This is a pretty generic boy bop performed solidly with chainmail and a dance break. The melody and lyrics are catchy, though by no means revolutionary, and the string instrumentations elevate it. We also enjoy that there is a part of the chorus where it sounds like he is singing “Norway Norway” – though the music video makes clear that it is “no way no way.”

Kyle Alessandro had made it to the final of Melodi Grand Prix in 2023 as part of the boy band Umami Tsunami and their song “Geronimo”  (which is very K-pop coded). But the group finished last. Even in the group setting, Kyle Alessandro seemed to have a flair for star power. This year, Kyle returned by himself and won.

There are two things that really work in the favor of this entry, “Lighter”:

One is Kyle Alessandro’s stage presence and performance ability. He has mastered the super effective on stage slow walk, has enough dance chops to pull off additional choreography plus a dance break, and still has enough vocal control to hit the long notes at the end of the song. All while being the youngest competitor of the contest at the age of 19 years old. Plus, chainmail is always a good look.

The other thing this entry really benefits from is having a perfect recap clip that really shows off the best parts of the song in a 30 second chunk. Regardless of how the other 2 minutes and 30 seconds go, as long as Kyle nails those 30 seconds, the entry comes off looking really, really good in the voting recaps. At least, this is what we think.

Overall, this song and performance has just consistently been really solid, well performed, and easy to listen to. Hopefully, it will start the Grand Final off on a great foot!