Norway’s Head of Delegation, Stig Karlsen, predicts autotune will become an inevitable part of the future of Eurovision live shows. 

Karlsen scouts artists to compete in Norway’s selection for Eurovision, Melodi Grand Prix, and oversees changes to the national competition as a producer. 

Earlier this year, Melodi Grand Prix became the first national selection to go public with the use of autotune during live performances. 

Speaking exclusively to The Euro Trip as a guest on The Contest & Me series of episodes, Karlsen predicted Eurovision bosses would eventually embrace the technology. 

“I think it’s misunderstood and I think Eurovision will have to do it because the music industry will demand it,” he said. 

“The public think about autotune as making people who can’t sing into pop stars. That’s what you can do if you’re in a studio environment. If you’re putting someone on stage and you ask them to sing live you can’t make that person a great singer if they’re not. 

“The autotune used in MGP is optimising the sound… making it sound like a professional product like every other television show in the world. 

“In Norway everyone does it. 

“If we were the only show not to do it, people would say it’s not as good.” 

In the 2023 edition of Melodi Grand Prix, the way the qualifiers from each show were announced was different to methods used in previous years. 

Each artist was addressed one by one by the hosts, Arian Engebø and Stian Thorbjørnsen, and told if they had enough votes to progress to the show’s final or not. This was a break from the “and the next qualifier is…” convention. 

Asked by The Euro Trip if this is something that could be replicated at Eurovision, Karlsen said: “There is a balance between making a feelgood show where everyone is at the same party and enjoying it, and also making it exciting. 

“We’re looking at it. It’s hard to say. You just have to make sure that it’s exciting but still don’t make it too uncomfortable for the artists. You want the artists to have a fun night even though you’re not going through to the next round or winning.” 

A new qualifier announcement method was trialled during dress rehearsals of the first Semi-Final of Eurovision in Liverpool this year, but it was scrapped before the live shows took place. 

Eurovision Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl admitted that the suggested change was “not an improvement”.