Introduction

• Participant(s): Leonora
• Song: "Love Is Forever"
  
• Writer(s): Lise Cabble, Melanie Wehbe, Emil Lei
• Composer(s): Lise Cabble, Melanie Wehbe, Emil Lei
• Broadcaster: DR
  
• Social media:    
  
• Team review: 

Every year the Danish broadcaster DR is producing a national final called “Dansk Melodi Grand Prix”. This year it was held in Herning and out of ten finalist Leonora could win the first price with 42% of the entire votes. This clear victory confirms that the Danes will stand behind their entry. “Love Is Forever” was the most outstanding song of the ten participants as it showed heart and emotions.

Leonora, whose real name is Leonora Colmor Jepsen was born in Hellerup, close to Copenhagen in 1998. She started singing and playing the guitar in the age of 15 and even composed her own songs which she performed in cafés, libraries and small school concerts. Beside of her musical talent she is also a successful figure skater. With her brother Linus they have competed in several championships and won gold medals.

The Danish song “Love Is Forever” is a clever made love song. It’s about that love is forever no matter where you are born and believe in. It will also be sung in four languages: English, Danish, German and French! A global message which can be understood by everyone. In the national final she Leonora performed her song on an oversized chair, which appears very cute and touching. Especially when the background singers join her on the chair this song shows a special atmosphere and the French lyrics are very pleasant. This is a perfect good mood song for a summer day.

History

• Debut: 1957
• Participations: 48
• Victories: 3
• Finals: 44 (11 since 2004)
• Top 10: 25
• Chances for Top 10: 56%
• Chances for Final: 69%

The very first Danish entry in 1957 was called “Skibet Skal Sejle I Nat” and sung by Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler. Denmark achieved a fantastic 3rd place immediately. So this year it will be the 48th time for Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest. There has been a big gap in the participation from 1966 to 1978. Denmark has paused because of a lack of public interest, luckily these days are gone and the great enthusiasm has returned to the Danish homes! In all that years, Denmark could reach the Grand Final for 42 times, which is a quite good average chance of 69% and it’s still increasing!

In former years when it was only allowed to sing in the native languages, so this might have been seen as a disadvantage for Danish entries – and also entries of other countries of course. That's why the Danes were so eager to compensate the language disadvantage with good and happy compositions. So the typical so called “Scandinavian Happy Song” was born.

The "Happy Scandinavian song" has been dominating in the 80's and 90's, which has also been used in Norway, Sweden and other countries. Nowadays all Danish entries are being sung in English and the style has changed, there were very contemporary songs in the past years. The statistics say that the chance to reach a Top10 position for Denmark is at 56%, so not too bad. It has often been said that the Danes give all their points to the other Nordic countries and vice versa. But this is a quite natural phenomenon, as the music taste is similar and singers are well known in the neighbour countries, like in the Balkan region, the ex-Soviet countries and in the Mediterranean.

The Danes were number one for three times. This meant a lot to the Eurovision enthusiastic Danes. The ESC in Copenhagen 2014 has set a new standard of stage design and effort. This was the far most outraging stage which has even been seen at Eurovision so far. Last year Rasmussen could reach a solid 9th place with his Viking song “Higher Ground”.

Biggest successes

3x 1st place

• Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann | "Dansevise" (1963)
• Olsen Brothers | "Fly On The Wings Of Love" (2000)
• Emmelie de Forest | "Only Teardrops" (2013)

1x 2nd place

• Rollo & King | "Never Ever Let You Go" (2001)

3x 3rd place

• Birthe Wilke & Gustav Winckler | "Skibet Skal Sejle I Nat" (1957)
• Hot Eyes | "Ka' Du Se Hva' Jeg Sa'" (1988)
• Birthe Kjær | "Vi Maler Byen Rød" (1989)

Video Nostalgia

• “This Time (I Mean It)” | Trine Jepsen & Michael Teschl , Rank 8, 1999, Jerusalem
  
• “All Night Long” | Simon Mathew , Rank 15, 2008, Belgrade
  
• “The Way You Are” | Anti Social Media , Rank 13 (Semi Final), 2015, Vienna