A text message sent from Melodi Grand Prix Executive Producer Stig Karlsen finalised the return of Margaret Berger to the competition. 

Berger, who last participated in and won Melodi Grand Prix in 2013, had always ruled out a return, but one text message from Karlsen made her sure she wanted to try to win again. 

Click to read this story at a glance…

• Margaret Berger returned to Melodi Grand Prix after an 11-year hiatus following a persuasive text message from Executive Producer Stig Karlsen
• Berger’s decision to participate was influenced by positive feedback from fans during her 2020 appearance as a spokesperson at Melodi Grand Prix
• Berger collaborated with Karlsen in the song selection process, ultimately choosing Oblivion

Speaking to The Euro Trip, Berger said: “Stig didn’t know I was thinking about coming back. 

“He thought if I wanted to come back, I would just call him. He hasn’t really asked me [to participate] that much. 

“Last year, we had the same idea at the same time, it was quite weird. I got a text message from him saying, ‘So, do you want to come back?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah!’.” 

Berger appeared at the final of Melodi Grand Prix in 2020 as the spokesperson who revealed the televote points from viewers in Central Norway. She also DJed the show’s afterparty. 

It was at that show when Berger first started to change her mind about coming back to the show as an artist for the first time since she bagged fourth place at Eurovision in 2013. 

“In 2020, I went to the MGP final.

“I was amazed that it had been so long since I participated but people still remembered me. They told me how much my performance in 2013 meant to them. 

“I’d always said I would never go back as an artist, but those little moments helped me change my mind slowly.” 

After deciding she’d enter Melodi Grand Prix again, Berger set about finding the right song. 

“I didn’t have the song when we texted each other and agreed I would try again, so I had to go out to find the perfect song. 

“I told Stig he’d have to help me find the song and we’d have to work simultaneously. 

“I went into the studio to write, and he went to writing camps to pitch my ideas. I worked for two months straight to find the perfect song. There were three or four songs available to me – I recorded two of them and Oblivion was one of them. It’s been a nice, fun creative process.” 

Oblivion was written, recorded and produced during summer last year by Berger herself, with Anders Kjær, Monika Engeseth and Sivert Hjeltnes Hagtvet. 

The song was actually submitted to NRK one week after the submission window closed on August 31, but was still chosen to compete in the show. 

Margaret Berger will perform Oblivion sixth in the running order of the Melodi Grand Prix final in Trondheim, Norway on Saturday night.