Morten at rehearsals with Sebastian

Here are the six performances from The Voice on 24 November:

1. Thomas Løseth: “Run” by Snow Patrol
2. Malin Joneid Ellefsen: “Elastic Heart” by Sia
3. Andrea Santiago Stønjum: “What Now” by Rihanna
4. Sebastian James Hekneby: “As Long As You Love Me” by Justin Bieber
5. Elise Nærø: “Think Before I Talk” by Astrid S
6. Agnes Stock: “Stjernesludd” by DumDum Boys

Malin received the least votes from the viewers, and had to leave the contest.

Standing applause for Andrea’s version of “Set Fire to the Rain”

Here are the seven performances from The Voice on 17 November:

1. Agnes Stock: “Fields of Gold” by Sting
2. August Dahl: “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes
3. Elise Nærø: “Du gråter så store tåra” by Ane Brun
4. Thomas Løseth: “Fix You” by Coldplay
5. Malin Joneid Ellefsen: “Sex On Fire” by Kings of Leon
6. Sebastian James Hekneby: “Sign Of The Times” by Harry Styles
7. Andrea Santiago Stønjum: “Set Fire To The Rain” by Adele

When asked at the end who had impressed him the most, Morten chose Andrea.

“You’re having a go at singing Adele, which is quite a task and a brave choice. Adele has a powerful nerve in what she does, a steadiness that you don’t hear very often. But your version was really good, Andrea, it had that same approach”, Morten told her after her performance.

The one who had to leave the contest this week was August. Three shows now remain; the seventh live show this Friday, 24 Novermber, the semifinal on 1 December and the final on 9 December.

Martin Bjercke and Morten on The Voice, November 10th

Here are the eight performances from the The Voice on November 10th:

1. Andrea Santiago Stønjum: “Dangerous Woman” by Ariana Grande
2. Sebastian James Hekneby: “Forever Young” by Bob Dylan
3. Elise Nærø: “Send My Love” by Adele
4. August Dahl: “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke
5. Ingeborg Walther: “Hide Away” by Daya
6. Agnes Stock: “Some Die Young” by Laleh
7. Malin Joneid Ellefsen: “Sorry Not Sorry” by Demi Lovato
8. Thomas Løseth: “Let Me Hold You” by Josh Krajcik

Funnily enough, two of the songs have previously been covered by Morten; “Forever Young” and “A Change is Gonna Come”.

The one who ended up with the least votes from the viewers turned out to be Ingeborg. So this means that Sebastian is the only talent remaining on Team Morten.

“This feels wrong, and I disagree with the viewers”, Morten told TV2 with a smile after the show. “There’s a lot of potential in Ingeborg, but this is how the game works.”

Morten on The Voice, 3 November

This Friday’s episode of The Voice was another live show where two talents from each team competed against each other in duels:

Team Lene
Olaves Fiskum: “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails
Agnes Stock: “Selmas sang” by Eva Weel Skram

Team Yosef
Andrea Santiago Stønjum: “Songbird” by Fleetwood Mac
Jeremaya John: “Love Me” by Wide Awake

Team Morten
Knut Kippersrud Nesdal: “Believe” by Cher
Ingeborg Walther: “Space Oddity” by David Bowie

Team Martin
Magnus Bokn: “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus
Elise Nærø: “When Love Takes Over” by David Guetta

“They both have such control and musicality, and really deserve to be standing on this stage. And they have every chance to continue onto other stages, if that’s something they want to pursue”, Morten said after Knut and Ingeborg had performed.

The four talents that received the most votes from the viewers ended up being Agnes, Andrea, Ingeborg and Elise. Instagram photos from after the show include Morten and Ingeborg and the mentors and Friday’s winners.

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).”

Martin, Morten and Lene on Senkveld, 8 September

The blind audition episodes of The Voice concluded this week, and now all four mentors have complete teams. Martin, Lene and Yosef bent the rules a little bit and ended up with 13 talents on their teams, while Morten has 12 talents on his.

Here is Team Morten, with YouTube-links to their performances:

1. Ingeborg Walther (17 years old)
2. Elias Grimstad Salbu (18)
3. Maria Celin Strisland (19)
4. Lena Haarberg (25)
5. Egil Sverre Langnes (20)
6. Jorunn Undheim (29)
7. Dina Sæle Ek (32)
8. Ninja Krystad (31)
9. Jeremaya John (32)
10. Anna Jæger (23)
11. Knut Kippersund Nesdal (26)
12. Sebastian James Hekneby (27)

All the 67 blind auditions can be seen in this YouTube playlist by TV2.

One special moment occured in the episode this Friday, when Morten’s niece Ragnhild Harket was one of the contestants. Morten had no idea she would be there, but he didn’t press the button as he instantly recognized her voice and felt it wouldn’t be appropriate. But both Yosef and Lene pressed their buttons, and Ragnhild ended up on Yosef’s team.

To promote The Voice, Morten appeared together with the other mentors at a TV2 press launch in Oslo on 22 August. “Norway is brimming with talent, and I feel I have something to contribute”, he told VG.

He was also a guest on TV2’s talkshow Senkveld this Friday, 8 September, together with Martin and Lene. The full episode is available for TV2 Sumo subscribers. But there is also a short bonus clip from the interview on Senkveld’s Facebook page.

The Voice continues this coming Wednesday and Friday with the first battle rounds.

Morten in the first episode of The Voice

The fourth season of The Voice premiered on TV2 in Norway last night, with Morten as one of the four mentors.

Back in 2012, Magne and his fellow mentors performed Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” at the beginning of the first episode, but this year there was no performance by the mentors. Instead, the show went straight to the first blind audition.

Six talents performed tonight, and Morten pressed the red button on five of them. In the end, Martin ended up with two talents for his team, while Morten, Lene and Yosef got one each. 17-year-old Ingeborg is the first talent on Team Morten.

The full episode is only available for TV2 Sumo subscribers, but TV2 has also posted video clips of all the performances on YouTube:
Andrea   Isabelle   Olaves   Phillip   Alexandra   Ingeborg

Keep an eye on TV2’s YouTube channel and The Voice‘s Facebook page for more video clips in the coming days.

The Voice continues with new episodes each night this week until Friday. Starting next week, there will be new episodes only on Wednesday and Friday.