Morten with Sebastian and Dina at rehearsals this week

Another Friday and another episode of The Voice, live from Fornebu.

This time two talents from each team were up against each other in duels, but the final result was all decided by viewers’ votes. At the end of the show, only four of tonight’s talents would remain in the contest.

“Everyone on stage tonight are talented and have fantastic possibilities. Setting them up in duels feels like somewhat of a joke, but that’s what we’re doing now”, Morten said at the beginning. “But it’s meant to be like this, and I’m totally OK with that”.

Team Martin
Maria Celin Strisland: “Stone Cold” by Demi Lovato
Malin Joneid Ellefsen: “Purple Rain” by Prince

Team Morten
Dina Sæle Ek: “Uprising” by Muse
Sebastian James Hekneby: “Empire State of Mind” by Alicia Keys

Team Lene
Lillen Stenberg: “It Must Have Been Love” by Roxette
Thomas Løseth: “Heaven” by Bryan Adams

Team Yosef
August Dahl: “Want To Want Me” by Jason Derulo
Kaja Rode: “I’m Every Woman” by Chaka Khan

“Tonight Dina did a good performance, but I feel that Sebastian maybe did his best performance so far”, Morten said after his own team members had been on stage.

The four talents that received the most votes from the viewers, and are now one step closer to the finals, were Malin, Sebastian James, Thomas and August. The other four are out of the contest.

Earlier this week, Morten made a quick trip to Cologne, Germany, to be a guest on the TV-show “Die 2 – Gottschalk & Jauch gegen ALLE”, which will air on RTL sometime in November.

Martin Bjercke and Morten Harket on The Voice, October 20th

This Friday it was time for the ten remaining talents on Team Morten and Team Martin to perform on The Voice, live from H3 Arena.

A few moments in the beginning were spent talking about a-ha’s performance at Wembley the night before:

“We didn’t play a concert last night, we did one song live. “Take On Me” acoustically, with a pump organ. There’s a crowd of 8000 people, and it happens right there and then, in 3 minutes. ‘Now you’re on, Morten’ – out on stage, almost right back in and you’re done. And that’s what our talents will be experiencing tonight, it’s the same thing”, Morten said.

Here are video clips of the five talents on Team Morten:
– Isabelle Eberdean Bjørneraas: “Crazy” by Seal
– Dina Sæle Ek: “Darkness, Darkness” by The Youngbloods
– Knut Kippersund Nesdal: “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode
– Sebastian James Hekneby: “Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel
– Ingeborg Walther: “So Good” by Zara Larsson

Sebastian and Ingeborg received the most votes from the viewers, while Morten had to choose between Isabelle, Dina and Knut. He chose the last two, and Isabelle is out of the contest.

TV2 has posted a picture of Morten with his remaining four talents on Instagram. And as usual, videos of all 10 performances are up on on TV2’s YouTube channel.

Morten on The Voice, October 13th

Morten was back at Fornebu’s H3 Arena in Oslo on Friday, for this season’s first live show of The Voice.

As there were now 20 talents remaining in the contest, only the 10 talents on Team Lene and Team Yosef performed during Friday’s show. Morten and Martin’s 10 talents will perform next Friday, October 20th.

Among the best performances on Friday were Agnes and Thomas on Team Lene, and Kaja and Jeremaya on Team Yosef. Jeremaya was previously on Team Morten.

Two talents had to leave the contest; Ida on Team Lene and Mirjam on Team Yosef.

All 10 performances are available on TV2’s YouTube-channel.

Morten talked a bit about his role as a mentor on The Voice during the BBC Radio Devon interview last week:

“It is interesting and it makes sense to me to make use of all I know at this stage, with my experience after all this time and being sort of on the arena as much as I have been. There are lot of things that I instantly can say about a performance and about the psychological aspects of what goes on in the head or in the heart of whoever is on stage. What is holding them back, for instance. What is blocking their access to themselves. There are things I know that I can offer as insight.”

“I’m proud of the team I’m bringing with me to the live shows”, Morten says.

The Voice has continued on TV2 over the last few weeks, with 5 episodes of battle rounds and 3 episodes of knockout rounds, which were taped between 22 May – 2 June this year.

Here are the six battles on Team Morten, with YouTube-links:
1. Ingeborg vs Elias –> Morten chose Ingeborg
2. Maria Celin vs Anna –> Morten chose Anna, while Martin stole Maria Celin
3. Jeremaya vs Egil Sverre –> Morten chose Jeremaya
4. Sebastian vs Jorunn –> Morten chose Sebastian, while Yosef stole Jorunn
5. Dina vs Ninja –> Morten chose Dina
6. Lena vs Knut –> Morten chose Knut

In addition, Morten stole Alexandra from Team Martin and Synne from Team Lene.

Meanwhile, on Team Yosef, Morten’s niece Ragnhild Harket was up against two others, but went through to next round.

Rehearsals with Elias and Ingeborg

This meant Team Morten had 8 talents remaining before the knockout rounds, where the singers themselves decide what they want to perform.

Here are the four knockout duels on Team Morten, with YouTube-links:
1. Ingeborg vs Synne –> Morten chose Ingeborg
2. Alexandra vs Knut –> Morten chose Knut
3. Anna vs Dina –> Morten chose Dina
4. Jeramaya vs Sebastian –> Morten chose Sebastian

In addition, Morten stole Isabelle from Team Martin.

On Team Yosef, Ragnhild Harket was up against August, but wasn’t chosen this time.

Studio rehearsals with Dina and Ninja

The next stage of The Voice starts on TV2 tomorrow, October 13th, with the first of nine live shows from H3 Arena in Oslo. The live shows will continue every Friday until the finale on December 9th. So this will keep Morten busy for the next couple of months. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.

The final five talents on Team Morten are:
– Ingeborg Walther (17)
– Knut Kippersund Nesdal (26)
– Dina Sæle Ek (32)
– Sebastian James Hekneby (27)
– Isabelle Eberdean Bjørneraas (20)

For a presentation of all 20 talents that are ready for the live shows, check out the video clips about each team on TV2.no.

After the press conference in Berlin last month, Magne was asked by TV2 what he thought of Morten following in his footsteps as a mentor on The Voice:

Magne: “Although I haven’t seen that much yet, I feel Morten is making a good impression, based on what I’ve seen. Absolutely.”
Morten: “That means he hasn’t seen it.”
Magne: “It could also mean they have done a great job in the editing room (laughs).”