[4] As in previous years, NRK invited Norwegian and foreign musicians to submit songs to the competition.

This is a part of a long-term plan for Norway to win the Eurovision Song Contest again", said project manager Stig Karlsen.

The ten finalists were presented during a press conference on 15 January 2018, and the songs were released in their entirety on the same day.

[1] Ahead of the final, however, the newcomer Rebecca and "Who We Are" were the clear favorites with betting companies and the Norwegian Grand Prix club.

[8] However, Vidar Villa's "Moren din" was the most played song by the participants on the streaming service Spotify.

On NRK P1, the artists were presented two by two every Saturday in the program Snart MGP, and then daily during the final week on Nitimen.

In the intermission number before the gold final, Karoline Krüger and Anita Skorgan performed with "For vår jord", which won the competition 30 years earlier.

In the break before the gold duel, JOWST and Aleksander Walmann performed with last year's winning tune, "Grab the Moment".

[22] It would also turn out that two of the participants from 2018, Tom Hugo and Alexandra Rotan, would win Melodi Grand Prix 2019 as members of KEiiNO.

Ethics advisor Gunnar Bodahl-Johansen at the Department of Journalism, on the other hand, was skeptical of the practice and believed it helped to weaken the broadcast's credibility.

[25] Several of the participants, including Vidar Villa's team, also believed that the international expert juries would favor English-language contributions over Norwegian.

[26] NRK believed the fear was unfounded and responded by publishing the names of all 50 international jury members after the broadcast.

[28] NRK denied that they had favored Rybak, and silver winner Rebecca emphasized that she did not feel run over or unfairly treated.

Some think we have a chance to win, while others are just looking forward to Alexander Rybak having to wipe his grin when Norway breaks into the semi-finals," said Morten Thomassen, head of the Norwegian Grand Prix Club, to NRK.

[35][36] In the weeks before the Eurovision Song Contest, Norway was in seventh place among the biggest winning candidates.