520/917 Kate Guldbrandsen: Mitt liv (Norway 1987)

After their first ever Eurovision victory in 1985 Norway had a good run of success until the 1980's. Quality entries and handful of good results as well. Their 1987 entry, the 520th song ever sung on a Eurovision stage was particularly anticipated since it was composed by the composer of the 1985 winning song with lyrics by another half of Bobbysocks.

An unthinkable thing happened to a dedicated Eurovision fan in 1987. I forgot to watch the first preview show on television and didn't remember it until first three songs were already presented. Even more incredible happened a year later when I missed the first episode the same way.

So I saw and heard the Norwegian entry of 1987 for the first time during the actual Eurovision final evening, when Kate Gulbrandsen opened the show with Mitt liv. Expectations were high for the song because it was written by none other than Rolf Løvland and Hanne Krogh, who had given Norway its first Eurovision victory two years earlier. Kate Guldbrandsen gave a professional but also quite cold performance and received an OK 9th place on the scoreboard.

I had also waited for this song with anticipation but didn't really get what I was waiting for. And today, 27 years later the song still gives absolutely nothing to me. Professional, yes. Well performed, yes. International, yes. But moving, no. Warm, no. Personal, no. Kate Guldbrandsen fails to reach out to me and Rolf Løvland had better songs to come both inside and outside Eurovision circles.

My points 2/5