Introduction

In Denmark there has been a big national final called “Melodi Grand Prix” with ten competing songs. The winning entry “Only Teardrops” is sung by Emmelie De Forest is written by Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen and Thomas Stengaard. It has been the surprise of the night and will represent Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö this year. Lise Cable has written the Danish entries in 1995 and 2011 and came 5th each time, so it might be a good omen for this year as well. 

The 19 years old singer has been obviously overwhelmed when her name was called out for the super final. At the end she received 50% of the televotes and could beat her strongest competitors. The quality of the Danish show was excellent and there was a strong competition like in former years. The Danes know how to produce a thrilling show with lots of entertainment on an international level.

The song “Only Teardrops” is about peace and war and has a folkloristic touch with a strong flute melody, somehow like the Irish entries sounded in the 90’s. The young singer Emmelie has been totally unknown in Denmark before the Melodi Grand Prix. Her dream is to follow the footsteps of the Olsen Brothers of 2000, when they could win for Denmark in Sweden (Stockholm) by a surprise. Emmelie has spent her childhood in Sweden and has even a familiar connection the Royal family to England. 

History

Participations: 42

Debut: 1957

Biggest success: 2x 1st place 1963 “Dansevise” by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann, 2000 “Fly On The Wings of Love” by Olsen Brothers, 1x 2nd place “Never Ever Let You Go” by Rollo & King in 2001, 3x 3rd place “Skibet Skal Sejle I Nat” by Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler, “Ka' Du Se Hva' Jeg Sa'” by Hot Eyes, “Vi Maler Byen Rød” by Birthe Kjær, 2x 4th place, 5x 5th place, 2x 6th place, 1x 7th place, 3x 8th place, 2x 9th place, 2x 10th place

Since 1957 Denmark participates in the Eurovision Song Contest. The first entry “Skibet Skal Sejle I Nat” by Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler reached a third place. Denmark has been taking part regularly, but also took a big break of 12 years from 1966 until 1978, after that the Danes came back with new energy and more happy songs which are often described as “Happy Scandinavian Songs”.  In the years when singers were only allowed to sing in their native language, this might have been a disadvantage for Danish entries. Nowadays all Danish songs are presented in English for the reason of understanding and sales wise. There have been two victories in history: “Dansevise” by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann in 1963 and “Fly on the wings of Love” by the Olsen Brothers in 2000.

In former years a lot of people complained that the Scandinavian countries shove the points to each other. This is mainly due to the similar taste of music in that particular region. It’s the same situation in the Balkan region or Eastern Europe. Sometimes the singers are even well known in the neighbour countries this can better the result on the scoreboard at the end.