I don't consider myself very principled. As a travelling musician, you have to adapt and adjust to different contexts every day. It is always difficult to connect preach and practice. For instance, I fly more in a year than I had hoped to do in my whole life. I eat what people serve me, not what I think is right. I tried writing songs that were principled, but always ended up contradicting myself when trying to convert the principles into practice. In fact, these days I try not to be too principled, but rather be pragmatic.

The Eurovision Song Contest is by definition apolitical - unless your song criticises Russia, of course.

There are trade-offs in everything we do in life, and I have accepted that if I would like to be principled - and just principled - my best call would be to sit at home and shut up, because nothing I preached would be connectable to the practice.

I am afraid of what is happening in the West. In a way, the link between art and politics is about to snap. Music and politics, it seems, are increasingly considered to be separate domains. Music is about making peace, not conflict, they say. And, therefore, it is best to do what is considered normal and uncontroversial. Increasingly, accepting the status quo is a precondition for being considered entertainment, while protest culture is grouped alongside politics.

I was quite surprised when I started looking at the lyrics for 'Punk Prayer'. Given its brutal style, I did not expect the lyrics to be so well written and thought through. But the more I understood of it, the more I realised that this was not only a protest, it was brilliant art as well. So I decided I would try to strip away the layers that made me sceptical in the first place, and focus on the desperate beauty Pussy Riot have conceived in this song.

I am white, male, Norwegian and fairly resourceful. I am indeed among the least suppressed people on earth. If anyone can sing songs without fear, it should be me.

Norway is much more than just oil. We have a rapidly growing fish sector, a high-tech metal and aluminium industry, abundant access to green hydropower with all the opportunities that provides, an educated workforce, and an incredibly potent welfare system where people are allowed to contribute with what they have and what they know. And if that is not enough, our potential has perhaps even been limited by the oil sector draining all the intellectual and creative talent.