Thirty-nine countries are competing with the aim to lift the trophy in Malmö. The tenth country to be introduced is Denmark. The country won the Eurovision Song Contest twice and this year Emmelie de Forest will fly the Danish flag in Sweden.

Basic information

Performer: Emmelie de Forest
Song: Only teardrops
Language: English
Music: Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen, Thomas Stengaard
Lyrics: Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen, Thomas Stengaard

The song

This year’s Danish entry is about a couple that is facing difficult times. The couple is not feeling comfortable living together as they are making it hard for themselves.

The sky is red tonight
we’re on the edge tonight
no shooting star to guide us

Eye for an eye
why tear each other apart
please tell me why
why do we make it so hard
look at us now
we only got ourselves to blame
it’s such a shame

How many times can we win and lose
how many times can we break the rules
between us
only teardrops
How many times do we have to fight
how many times till we get it right
between us
only teardrops

The performer

Emmelie de Forest started singing at the age of nine. At fourteen years, she collaborated with Scottish musician Fraser Neill, including appearances in many festival and cultural centers. In 2011, she moved from Mariager, Nordjylland to Copenhagen and registered at Katrine Sadolins Complete Vocal Institute for singing students. Emmelie de Forest claims to be the great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria, as her grandfather, Count Maurice Arnold de Forest supposedly was an illegitimate child of King Edward VII. The claim was made in a Danish newspaper, where her great-grandfather was erroneously specified to be King Edward X. Her grandfather married into the Swedish nobility.

The songwriters

Only teardrops is penned by Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen and Thomas Stengaard. Cabble is a Danish singer and songwriter. Between 1986 and 1997 she was the front singer in the rock band Miss B. Haven. The song Fra Mols til Skagen by Lise Cabble and Mette Mathiesen (the drummer of Miss B. Haven) performed by Aud Wilken represented Denmark in the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest. Jakobsen is also a Danish songwriter who was born in Indonesia. She wrote various songs for different record labels including EMI and Sony. Stengaard’s career as a songwriter and producer kick-started in 2007 when his band, The Benefits, signed to Universal Republic in New York after their home made video blew up online. He is currently producing and co-writing new material for the forthcoming album release for German retro/modern outfit The Baseballs.

The national selection

The Danish entry was selected through the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. Ten acts participated in the show and the winner was decided through jury deliberation and public voting.

Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest

Denmark entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957, which was the second edition of the show. After a successful debut (third place) and the first Scandinavian victory in 1963, the country took a break from the contest in 1967 and would not return before 1978. In the 1980s, Denmark produced a rather high number of successful songs but it would take until 2000 that the Olsen Brothers brought the contest to Denmark again. The last three top ten finishes in a final to date came in 2005, 2010 and 2011.

Statistics

This will be Denmark’s 42nd participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. This is the 15th time and the second time in a row that Denmark is represented by a female solo performer. Denmark also remains one of the countries to have all of their entries performed entirely in English since the abolishment of the language rule in 1999.

Danish vote in Eurovision

Throughout its history in the Eurovision Song Contest Denmark gave its most points to Sweden while Norway gave the most points to the Danes. If the semi-final votes are considered, Denmark also awarded its most points to Sweden while Iceland mostly helped Denmark to qualify.

The betting odds

According to oddschecker.com, Denmark is the hot favourite for victory as the country is currently standing at number 1 to win the Eurovision Song Contest. According to the odds, Denmark is also the first favourite to qualify from semi-final one.

Vi ønsker Danmark og Emmelie de Forest held og lykke og et godt resultat i Malmö!

Videos

Preview clip

Only teardrops – Stormby Mix

Tomorrow another country will be introduced (hint – her beauty will shine in Malmö)

Have your say

You can rate the Danish entry by voting in our poll

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You can view previous parts of this series by clicking here