Denmark: | Eurovision Song Contest News - 2009 Moscow, Russia 

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix - Final

Date: 10 February 2007

For the first time in the history of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, two semi finals were held to lead to the final. The top4, chosen by televoting, went forward to the final. Two further entries were determined through a wildcard selection.

Among the contestants, some former participants could be found: Annette Heick (DMGP 1991 - 4th with Du er musikken i mit liv), Jørgen Olsen (Denmark 2000 - winner with Fly on the wings of love - and various national final attempts), Danni Elmo (runner-up with 2in1 in DMGP 2006)and Stig Rossen (DMGP 1988 - 4th with Vi danser rock og rul). Aud Wilken was already voted out before the final.

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix - 1st semi final

Date: 26 January 2007

After some karaoke clips we were ready for some action: (by clicking the name of the song you will be guided to DR's Melodi Grand Prix site where the lyrics can be found under "læs sangteksten")

If you were among those who suffered from a broken webcast or a bad TV transmission videos of the songs can be found on DR's website by clicking here.

Song nr. 1: Paparazzi – Christoffer Brodersen
Christoffer gave a very cool and relaxed performance in the song which tells the story of a paparazzi photographer always chasing pictures of famous like Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Jim, Carey, Madonna and Steven Spielberg. The song is very latino inspired although he himself doesn’t look like Ricky Martin.

Song nr. 2: Listen to love – Jacob Andersen
This was beforehand the big favourite by the bookmakers and as usual Jacob gave a very professional performance where he was in front of a classic rock band line-up which is very untraditional for a typical Danish final. The song can best be described as classic pop/rock a la Oasis.

Song nr. 3: Flammer indeni – Dariana & Olau
This song had the traditional Danish line-up with a four people backing choir containing two male and two female. Now we were back with the traditional music style for a Danish selection. All through the show DR had problems with the TV transmission and unfortunately this song suffered from quite a lot of break-ups.

Song nr. 4: Copenhagen Airport – Annette Heick
Gina G. no longer have the record of how much bare skin can be shown. Annette Heick dressed in almost invisible short hot pants and some kind of a stewardess shirt. Half way through the show she was joined by two male dancers dressed in pilot uniforms. This song was quite clearly inspired by the traditional Swedish Schlager style and it left one wondering where the microphone holder was! Despite the English title the song was in Danish,

Song nr. 5: Meaning of life – Danni Elmo
Danni finished second in last year’s Danish final and therefore the expectations to him is quite high this year. He was without his guitar in front of a traditional backing choir and joined by a female singer who was placed on a podium in front of him. This song was pop/rock a la Robbie Williams.

Song nr. 6: On top of the world – Heidi Degn
She was alone on stage in the beginning, but later joined by a three people choir and two dancers. This song is a traditional song in a style which have been heard many times before in the Eurovision Song Contest. Sometimes it was hard to tell if this was Denmark or Estonia.

Song nr. 7: Fly – Annika Askman
Once again we had the very unusual full band on stage. Annika herself was sitting at an electric piano that she left half way through the song. She was dressed like a real rock mama which matched quite well with this rock song.

Song nr. 8: It ain’t for the money - Camille feat. DJ Mary
This was the most unusual song ever seen in a Danish selection. Camille had to dancers, two backing singers and of course DJ Mary, one of Denmark’s best DJ’s and the song let people to believe they were at a discothèque. It is one of those techno/dance songs which is good to dance at when you had too much to drink, but impossible to sing a long to.
All on stage was dressed very different from each other, but all seemed to have been along the second hand shop on the way as it was a mix of all styles.

After the break the show continued. First we saw examples of Danish fans trying to sing Disco Tango, the Danish entry for the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, as a karaoke performance in front of a web cam. Let it be said right away, none of these are going to be the Danish singer for the 2008 competition!


We continued with Disco Tango as Flaskedrengene once again entered the stage. After the first verse played on bottles Simone, a young 14 year old talented girl continued the song. She was afterwards asked for her favourite Grand Prix song and told that it was Tænder på dig, the Danish 2005 entry. Simone then sang her new song As if and we were now reaching the final moment; who would qualify for the final?

All participants joined the stage and the four lucky winners were announced:

Danni Elmo – Meaning of life
Jacob Andersen – Listen to love
Annette Heick – Copenhagen Airport
Annika Askman – Fly

These four songs are directly qualified for the Danish final held on 10th of February. One of the remaining four from tonight will however be given a second chance as two radio stations on the 5th of February will chose a wildcard from each of the two qualification heats.

With all three rock songs chosen Denmark continues the style from the Nordic Junior Contest which Denmark won with a rock band. Next Friday we’ll know if the Danish rock continues through the second qualification heat.

DR had been inspired from SVT's continuing story from last years Swedish selection. That was about the life of Lena Philipsson's microphoneholder! This Danish version was about Gordon Kennedy who esctoday.com have previously mentioned in relation to his new CD with rejected songs. Tonight we heard about his first two attempts to get into the Danish final - for the second qualification heat this story will continue. Click here to read more about it and to listen to the songs.

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix - 2nd semi final

Date: 2 February 2007

Drama Queen – DQ: DQ is the first ever drag act in a Danish selection, and right from the start we knew that it would be “the show of the night”; Peter Andersen alias DQ performed in a glitter dress containing 7000 stones. He wore big red plume on his head, and the stage had a large silver crown with a cross on top. The song is a real Swedish Schlager which Thomas G: Son couldn’t have made much better, in fact sometimes you were wondering if this really was a Danish drag or one of the many Swedish Schlager singers. For fans of the Eurovision Song Contest it is a catchy song that will have fans, but maybe Denmark isn’t quite ready for a drag show yet?

Husker du - Aud Wilken: In the German selection we have a song that can be translated as ”Women rules the world” and on stage that was definitely true for this song. 6 women entered the stage: 4 choir singers, one guitar player and then of course Aud herself who was dressed in an anonymous blue dress. It is a song in her typical style although adjusted with slightly more guitar than usual for these rock times. The fans had high expectations for this one, but adding the guitar seems to have taken away something special - a bit mystery which Fra Mols til Skagen had.

Vi elsker bare danske piger -Jørgen Olsen: Having won the Eurovision Song Contest Jørgen Olsen was among the favourites for this, his 9th participation in the Danish selection. In 2005 he sang about a little yellow radio – that was now replaced with a yellow guitar. The 4 male guitar players all had white guitars. It is nice pop song, easy to sing along to, but maybe a bit too Danish in the sound. For people who know the Danish music scene this is a bit of a “happy go lucky” song that can best be described as a meeting with Shu-bi-dua! Half way through the song Jørgen talks to one of the band members about where in the country you find the best girls – Jørgen prefers the girls from Jutland!

Merhaba – Julie Lund: Anyone who remembers the junior contest in 2003? The Danish entry from that time called Arabiens drøm seems to have inspired the songwriters of this song. It is as the title also indicates it's ethnic inspired, and this is again very unusual for a Danish selection; the big question is if Denmark is ready for that. The two male dancers dominate the stage quite a lot and the song changes a little bit half way through as a male singer joins her.

Så nær som nu – Stig Rossen: Stig starts out being alone on the stage with a lot of smoke surrounding him. He is dressed in a black suit, and it takes quite along time before the choir comes in. It is a very strong power ballad, which challenges the voice of the singer, but being one of the best musical singers in Europe Stig’s voice can handle it. Ballads usually don’t do well in a Danish selection, but this one is an exception, because of his fantastic voice.

It’s a beautiful day – Katrine Falkenberg: This song is a somewhat country inspired ballad/pop song which is actually quite nice to listen to, but in the long run it might drown. Katrine is dressed in a nice red dress with thin red gloves. On the stage she has a female guitar player and two female choir singers. Two roller blade runners join the stage leaving Thomas Thordarson no longer being the only one to use this in a Danish Melodi Grand Prix song.

Say you love me – James Sampson was dressed all in white, so was his 2 male choir singers while 3 female ones was in 1960’s Mary Quant/ Lulu dresses. The song itself is quite catchy, it is Motown style and right from the start it sounds like a possible Danish winner. James is very secure on a stage and his voice is quite strong too.

Two are stronger than one – Me & My: These international famous sisters were counted among the favourites also and unlike others they are able to live up to it. The song is a bit Swedish in the sound and they even borrowed Carola’s wind machine! They are dressed in black and gold, one in tights and the other in a skirt. With the mantle and the special designed belt this looks a bit like Superman though. Once again we have two female guitar players and a choir that contains two men. It is a catchy song which Alcazar would have been glad to do.

The interval act was a French Canadian bicycle – horn player Michel Lauziére who played different songs with 50 or so of these horns attached to his clothes. Before he was allowed to perform the two hosts tried to explain the rules of the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix to him figuring that if they could explain that so a French speaker would understand then they were sure everyone knew it!

When we finally came to the exciting moment - 4 dancers danced their way to the hosts with the 4 envelopes containing the names of those four songs that made it to the final:

Me & My
Stig Rossen
Katrine Falkenberg
James Sampson

With favourites like DQ, Jørgen Olsen and Aud Wilken suffering a downfall tonight it is now a bit harder predicting the two wildcards as all 8 losers from these two Danish qualification heats are in for a chance.

The final however already looks very interesting: From the first semi-final we had two rock songs, a pop song with rock-n-roll elements and a disco Schlager. Now we can add an up-tempo pop song, a strong power ballad, a Motown pop song and a country pop/ballad song. The wildcard selection starts Monday the 5th and esctoday.com will cover this selection as soon as it kicks off. We are of course also providing you with all the latest from Denmark as we prepare for the big final on 10th of February.

Second Chanse (P4)

Date: 8 February 2007

Second Chance (P3)

Date: 8 February 2007

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