Everyone knew that the second Danish qualification would be a strong one; we also knew that it featured a lot of favourites, and now we know that quite a lot of these suffered a downfall.
esctoday.com guides you through the 8 songs which you can listen to or watch here:
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.
