NorthKid is a Norwegian band which consists out of five members (Bilal, Håkon, Sebastian, Helge and Vegard), it was formed in the city of Alta back in 2016. They say that the five of them suddenly started making music together in their early teens, and suddenly people started caring about them which was really fun. The music style they perform Northkid describes as rock influenced pop, which is probably because they grew up playing rock when they were kids. The frontman of the band Bilal Saab is the winner of 8th season of Norwegian show Stjernekampen which was broadcast in 2019.

Hello Bilal, Helge, Håkon, Sebastian, Vegard, or shorter hello NorthKid, can you tell us more about how did you five decided to create the band and why NorthKid?
Helge: Helloo ESCBubble <3 We’ve been friends as long as I can remember, and we started playing together when we were like 12 or 13 years old. We started as a rock band, and dyed our hair black and felt really cool. After a while we started drifting more and more towards pop, and we decided that screw it, let’s start a new popband. At this point Bilal wasn’t a part of the group, so we texted him saying «Hey man, you can sing – we can only sing rock, do you wanna start a band?» and NorthKid was made haha.

Bilal: As for the name, we wanted something that represented us. We were kids, still young enough that we had to sneak out of our room to go to parties – and we were from as far north as you can go basically. So NorthKid is literally just us.

What made you decide to take part at Melodi Grand Prix?
Helge: We’ve kind of always known that at some point we were gonna be in MGP – it was just about finding the right song. When we made “Someone”, and heard Bilal’s vocals on the song we kind of knew that this is it.

The last boy band who reached the final in MGP was Suite 16 who ended on 3rd place back in 2016. In addition to that boy bands usually don’t score well at Eurovision. How does that make you feel? Do you think boy bands could change their results in future? What is necessary for that?
Vegard: Haha well, there are a lot of discussions within the band if we qualify for the term boyband. Like, we play instruments – but on our live concerts we still have choreography. So if we’re calling ourselves a band and look at the history of bands in Eurovision we don’t have to look further back than last year to find some success stories! 

Sebastian: We’re not a boyband lol

Håkon: We’re definitely a boyband, just with a couple of instruments.

Bilal, you rose to fame after winning Stjernekamp in 2019, how was that experience and what did you learn from it?
Bilal: It was honestly a surreal experience. I learned so much from the whole thing, and I think the experience I got from Stjernekamp is one of the reasons why we feel so at home on the MGP stage. I’ve literally been on H3 arena for 10 weeks singing on live television, so that definitely helps a lot. The thing I guess I kind of discovered, or learned on Stjernekamp was to just be myself. There were some parts of me that kind of said do that or act like that, which felt unnatural. When I started relaxing and just started acting like myself without a filter, I think the people at home also kind of connected with me. Hopefully in a good way haha.

Can you tell us a bit about “Someone”, given the fact that you are one of the coauthors of it, and what does the song mean for you?
Helge: I wrote “Someone” with Sandra Lyng, Alex Charles and Jim Bergsted last year. The song didn’t really start as a NorthKid song – we had the chorus and tried to make it an upbeat banger. It didn’t really work tho, so we threw the whole production away and sat down with only the piano and played the chorus. That was really where the heart of the song was, and I guess we all felt like we had something really special in this song. We made a super stripped version of it, just piano and vocals, and lived with that for a couple of months. I texted the other writers and said “guys, Bilal’s voice on this one is gonna be insane. This needs to be a NorthKid song” and they all loved the idea. After we tracked Bilal and got a big production we just knew that this was gonna be our MGP song.

Melodi Grand Prix has long history, 62 years have passed from the first edition. What is your favourite song which competed at the stage of MGP and tell us why did you choose it?
Sebastian: I guess with 5 different guys in the band it is tricky to name only one song. But I think there is a consensus that Bjørn Johan Muri’s “Yes Man” is insanely good. We can all vibe to that song and feel it in our hearts haha.

Do you watch Eurovision regularly, if so would you like to share a memory which you have of it or a favorite song from the contest?
Håkon: We’ve usually gathered at Helge’s place and watched it together! Last year was really fun, we played Eurovision Bingo <3 

If you could choose a boy band to reunite and to cooperate with which one would it be and way?
Bilal: One Direction any time any place. <3

What do you do when you’re not singing? Any hobbies?
Bilal: This is starting to become a cliche, but I love fishing haha. I actually work as a fishing guide in my hometown up north with my family. The other guys in the band kind of tease me a bit for how much I either talk about fishing or eating fish haha. But it’s a huge part of my life that I truly love. Just being outdoors on the ocean with friends in -20 degrees is just an amazing experience <3

What are your plans after Melodi Grand Prix 2022?
Sebastian: Well we’re planning to go to Italy hehe. Our dream is to represent Norway on the big stage in Torino, and I actually think we got a fair shot.

Håkon: We’re going to Eurovision anyway, either as contestants or as fans <3

Thank you so much for your time NorthKid. We wish you the best of luck at Melodi Grand Prix. Do you want to share something else or you maybe have a message for readers of escbubble?
Bilal: Thank you <3 If anyone has read this whole interview and kind of likes us then slide into our dm’s! We love talking to all Eurovision fans, or just fans in general!

Vegard: And also, watch our music video you’re definitely gonna shed a few tears. 

You can listen to “Someone” on Spotify , or watch the music video below

If NorthKid is your favorite to win Melodi Grand Prix 2022 which will take place this Saturday, make sure you cast your vote for them in our poll right here: