The group was created in late 2018 in order to participate in Melodi Grand Prix 2019; they won the competition and were thus selected to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, where they finished in sixth place and first in the public vote.

[1] The group was established in the late summer of 2018 when Tom Hugo and his husband, Alex Olsson, began writing "Spirit in the Sky", a song inspired by historical struggles for equality.

[2] In an interview with the Kven-minority-centered media Ruijan Kaiku, Fred Buljo discussed his Kven/Finnish ancestry, and that they had worked with a Finnish producer, and thus landed on the name keino, the Kven variant of North Sami geaidnu 'way'.

Following Eurovision, the group was appointed by the Sámi Parliament of Norway as ambassadors for the UN Year of Indigenous Languages.

On 11 January 2021, it was announced that Keiino would participate in the Melodi Grand Prix 2021 final with the pre-qualified song "Monument".