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Fairytale (Alexander Rybak song)

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Wikipedia article




{{Infobox song

| name = Fairytale

| cover = Alexander fairytale.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Alexander Rybak

| album = Fairytales

| released = 12 January 2009

| recorded = 2008

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = * Pop

* folk

| length = 3:03

| label = EMI

| writer = Alexander Rybak

| producer = Kim Bergseth

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title = Funny Little World

| next_year = 2009

| misc =

}}

"'Fairytale'" is a song written and composed by Belarusian-Norwegian violinist and singer Alexander Rybak, the first single from his debut album 'Fairytales'. The song was the winner for of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. In 2022, 'The Independent' named it 35th best Eurovision-winning song of all time.

Writing and inspiration



In February 2009, Norwegian media reported that "Fairytale" is about Rybak's ex-girlfriend Ingrid Berg Mehus whom he got to know through the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo.[http://www.rb.no/lokal_kultur/article4148907.ece Her er hun!] (Norwegian), Romerikes Blad, February 24, 2009[http://www.vg.no/musikk/artikkel.php?artid=547280 Dette er Alexanders eventyrdame] (Norwegian), VG, February 24, 2009 Rybak has since confirmed this. At a press conference in May 2009 he revealed that the song's inspiration came from the Hulder, a beautiful female creature from Scandinavian folklore, who lures young men to her, and then may curse them for all time.[http://www.tv2nyhetene.no/snop/article2749857.ece Avslrte hvem Fairytale egentlig handler om] (Norwegian), TV2 Norway, 28 May 2009 The Russian-language version of the song is entitled "Skazka" .

Eurovision 2009



The song was elected through the Norwegian festival Melodi Grand Prix 2009 on 21 February, winning in the biggest landslide of the contest's history, and competed against eighteen other Eurovision entries in the second semi-final on 14 May 2009, where it qualified for the final. The final took place on 16 May and the song won with 387 points  a new ESC record. It was 's third Eurovision win.

The backing dancers for the Eurovision performance, Sigbjrn Rua, Torkjell Lunde Brsheim and Hallgrim Hansegrd, are from the Norwegian dance company Frikar,[http://www.folkemusikk.no/content/view/1662/1 Frikar til Moskva!] (Norwegian), Folkemusikk.no, 22 February 2009 performing the folk dance halling.

The backing singers, Jorunn Hauge[http://www.agderposten.no/article/20090222/LOKAL8/965292514 Til MGP-finale for 4. gang] (Norwegian), Agderposten, 22 February 2009 and Karianne Kjrnes,[http://www.moss-avis.no/article/20090222/KULTUR/746570589/1044 - Det gikk som forventet] (Norwegian), Moss Avis, 22 February 2009 wore long pink dresses designed by Norwegian designer Leila Hafzi.[http://www.adressa.no/kultur/film/article1326629.ece Alle vil ha Hafzis kjoler] (Norwegian), Adresseavisen, 15 May 2009

Music video

The first official music video for the song, which was used to present the song before the Eurovision final, was Alexander Rybak's performance at the Melodi Grand Prix 2009 in Norway. The most recent video was of Rybak playing the violin and singing with his backing dancers behind him, where the background occasionally changes from white to black.

A video of Rybak's performance of the song at the Eurovision Song Contest final was chosen by YouTube as one of its 31 most memorable videos of 2009.[http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=7783&_t=Fairytale+reprise+one+of+YouTube's+most+memorable+of+2009 Fairytale reprise one of YouTube's most memorable of 2009], The official website of the Eurovision Song Contest, December 24, 2009

Record

In the Norwegian preselection, Melodi Grand Prix 2009, Rybak's "Fairytale" won with a combined televote and jury score of 747,888, in the biggest victory of the contest's history. The song received over 600,000 votes more than the runner-up, which made it the clearest win in the history of Melodi Grand Prix.

At the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, Rybak won with the highest recorded score since the contest began, with 387 points (out of a maximum possible of 492), surpassing Lordi's record of 292. He held this record until when Jamala from Ukraine, the first self-written winner after Rybak, won with a record 534 points (but because of the new scoring system with separate sets of televotes and jury votes, the results are not comparable with each other). His average score of 9.4 points from every voting nation was the highest since the wide use of televoting began in 1998. Rybak received sixteen scores of 12 points, also a new record, surpassing the previous record of ten held by Katrina and the Waves and Helena Paparizou ; this record was surpassed in , by Loreen, who received eighteen.

Commercial performance



The song also debuted on the Norwegian Singles Chart on the week of 11 February 2009 at number 3, before rising to number one on the following week, the week of the Melodi Grand Prix final. This was the first time that the Melodi Grand Prix winner reached number 1 before winning the contest. The song remained at number 1 for 8 consecutive weeks. The song has since entered the Swedish Sverigetopplistan, debuting at number 47, before rising to number 7 in its third week, the week of Eurovision - eventually reaching the top spot. After the song gaining the Top Spot on Eurovision, it entered the Top Ten of many Charts across Europe, and also the No. 1 position in many countries. The song debuted on the UK charts at #10 on Downloads Alone and then dropped to #38 the next week, it also reached Number 3 on the Download Chart. "Fairytale" is the ninth non-UK Eurovision entry to reach the top ten in the UK charts since the contest began in 1956, most recently Johnny Logan reached #2 representing in 1987.[http://www.everyhit.com/awardeuro.html Archive of Eurovision Song Contest Winners and British entries from 1956 to the present day], everyHit.com It was certified Gold in Finland and Norway. The single went multi-platinum in different formats in Russia. It first went platinum as realtone full track and sold 100,000 copies. Then it was certified 2 platinum as ring-back tone with another 400,000 copies sold.

Combined sales of the song are 500,000 copies without online downloads.

Charts



Weekly charts



Year-end charts



Certifications



Release history



References




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