– This is completely beyond, writes Helene Olafsen.
Saturday was the premiere of TV 2’s brand new Saturday program “Norway’s new megahit” where varied, Norwegian celebrities will compete to make Norway’s new megahit.
Together with well-known, Norwegian music producers, the celebrities will perform a new song every Saturday which the viewers, together with a panel of judges, will vote and roll the dice over.
Already after the first program, however, it seems that Norway’s new megahit has been chosen.
Tops the hit lists after the first program
With music producer and artist Stian “Staysman” Thorbjørnsen in the back as a mentor, Helene Olafsen is now at the top of Spotify with Norway’s most played song.
The song “Ludvig Daae”, which Olafsen performed in the program on Saturday, has garnered well over 200,000 plays on Spotify in the last four days alone.
– NUMBER 1 !!! This is beyond !! We did it to me, Olafsen writes on Instagram on Wednesday.
Olafsen can tell Nettavisen that it has not really dawned on her.
– It is something you absolutely can not expect. I do not think I understand how sick this is, she says.
“Ludvig Daae” is about the man of the same name, who ran Ingierkollen slalom center when Helene Olafsen was a child – a man who, according to Olafsen, was a strict guy with strong opinions about behavior on the slalom slope.
This is how Ludvig Daae reacted when the song about himself became a national nuisance:
Got “slaughtered” by the judges
During the broadcast on Saturday, the song was not exactly received with a bang by the judging panel. Music expert Christine Dancke compared the song to “Crazy Frog”, but stated at the same time that she understood that this was a hit.
Earlier in the program, Thorbjørnsen also joked that being alone on the dice among music critics always means that his song becomes a hit.
– I had great faith, especially that it would go top five. She had a strong team behind her with Smaaland and Staysmann. They have a reasonably good CV in making hits from before, says Dancke to Nettavisen.
Olafsen believes this says a lot about what position the reviewers may have lost.
– Music has become much more accessible to people, and it is probably more in the hands of listeners of the music than it is with the reviewers, Olafsen says.
Also read: Helene Olafsen is expecting her second child
On Saturday, Olafsen will be on stage again, but will not be psyched out by the result from the first broadcast.
– It will probably take a lot to top the list again. Maybe I should give up now, but I have a good song this time too. I’m a person who will never give up, so I have faith this Saturday too, says Olafsen.
Did not believe
Thorbjørnsen, on the other hand, is overwhelmed with excitement. He was not aware that the song is number one on Spotify when Nettavisen calls.
– Delicious! shouts Thorbjørnsen.
– Absolutely gorgeus. Delicious! he repeats.
Thorbjørnsen admits that he did not fully believe that this song would be a hit, and believes that this is why this is extra fun.
– The thing about hits is that you can never plan them. I’m almost moved every time it happens. It’s something special. I knew we had a catshy song, and that Helene would perform it well, but it is never quite certain it will be a hit, says the hitmaker to Nettavisen.
Celebrated with beer
According to Thorbjørnsen, the song falls into an “easy to make” category because it “wrote itself”.
– I think the success factor here was that I, Smaaland (Erik Smaaland who wrote the song, journ. Note) and Olafsen had fun when we were making the song. We had a lot of fun in the studio. We laughed a lot and then it went very easily. The fact that we left the studio with a good feeling, I think is a good recipe, he says.
Thorbjørnsen has not had time to talk to Olafsen yet, but the celebration will be:
– It’s going to be a beer tonight!
TV 2 is also very happy:
– This is incredibly fun for a Norwegian-developed program, and we are very much looking forward to the continuation. We can promise more catchy and popular hits in the coming weeks, says program editor Kathrine Haldorsen in TV 2.
However, Olafsen’s song is not the only song from the TV 2 program that has been a success. The songs of Caroline Berg Eriksen, Maria Stavang, Abubakar “Abu” Hussain, Odd-Magnus Williamson and Einar Nilsson from the “Norway’s new megahit” premiere have also achieved respectable current metal, but have not yet made it into the top 50 list.
Odd-Magnus Williamson was the one who achieved the fewest votes in the premiere program, and thus had to thank for himself. In came challenger Oskar Westerlin, who, like the other five participants, will try to make a brand new hit that will be sung live on TV 2 next Saturday at 20.00. Then the theme is «Personal».
–
