Could It Be Denmark's Year?

This year Denmark have presented one of the strongest fields for their national final, DMGP, which brings me to the question could they select the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest tonight? Regardless of your answer there are some real gems in the final tonight. Let's take a peek:

Frederikke - Jeg Har Hele Tiden Vidst Det
This is a fairly normal song. It starts slow and builds, however unlike many of these songs I actually think that there are too many changes in this song and the overall rhythm of the song is damaged, but still it is pretty good and should be a nice opener to the show. Grade: B-

Brinck - Human 
Brinck, having represented Denmark at the contest in 2009, returns for the first time to DMGP since his win with the gentle song Human, which could be a big hit in a final which does not really include many slow songs. However I find the Danes are not really prone to going for this style of song. Personally I think it is one of those songs I like to have for quieter times on the MP3 player. Grade: A-

Kate Hall - I'm Not Alone
In total contrast to Brinck we turn to Kate Hall and her complete Disco stomper I'm Not Alone. This takes a few seconds to get going then it delivers a real schlager song that may not do extremely well with the Danish public but is bound to light up Twitter on the night. This really will need a bit more bass though to carry it on the night to make it a possible super finalist. Grade: B+

Louise Dubiel - Rejs Dig Op
I've actually been a fan of Louise for some time now though she has never participated in DMGP before I always though that she would be there at some stage. Personally, even as a fan, I'm disappointed by this overly poppish song she has entered which not exactly her best material but it is easy to understand why she is in last place with the bookies. Grade: C

Daze - We Own The Universe
Another disco oriented song which gathers pace and then lets fly with a real strong schlager-ish song. I have not paid much attention to this song but it actually is a great one. Because of the standard in this national final I don't this has much chance of being a surprise winner but still it is a great one to listen to. Grade: B+

Simone - Stay Awake
Returning from her surprise loss in 2010 Simone returns to DMGP, once again as the favourite. Personally I do not understand why she is the favourite of the contest. While her song is good and has a great beat to it I don't think that this will be the ultimate winner of DMGP. Clearly she proved in 2010 that Denmark will not vote for her simply because it is Simone. There are better songs in this national final which would get Denmark a better result at ESC. Grade: B

Jack Rowan feat. Sam Gray - Invincible
We have to have a male duet simply because it is Denmark don't we? This one of the weaker pop songs in the final and given the fact that this show will be full of them this song is unlikely to progress to far. Grade: C

Emmelie De Forest - Only Teardrops
Many people will have noticed that I have suggested that there may be a potential winner of the entire Eurovision Song Contest in this final and in my opinion you are looking at it. Emmelie takes part in the national final for the first time with what I think is currently the best song in the 2013 national final season so far. This is different in so many ways that it does have to do well even if it is somewhere between the second and third favourite with the bookies. Grade: A+

Albin - Beautiful To Me
Another dull pop song that actually be a surprise qualifier to the super final, though I do think that the song is not that impressive though Denmark does have a record for going for this style of song. Grade: B-

Mohamad Ali - Unbreakable
Simple question, why call yourself Mohamad Ali? Does he not have any clue how hard it is to find a music video on Youtube with a name like that. This probably one of the stronger pop songs in the the Danish national final this year. I like it, and I would certainly consider it a possible super finalist and even a surprise winner of the whole competition. The song itself is modern enough to widely appeal to the masses but also carries some schlager elements which will boost the song with the fans. Grade: A-

The Favourites
According to Nicerodds the favourite is Simone, with Emmelie and Mohamad behind.

Prediction
I'm predicting a victory for Emmelie

Super Songs, Sexy Women And Your Left With Mixed Feelings

After one of the biggest nights of Nordic Semi-Finals and Finals here is my reaction:

Iceland: It is quite clear that the semi-final in Iceland did not generate the same enthusiasm as the semi-final last month. My favourite Simbi og Hrútspungarnir made it through as did Regína Ósk (from Euroband). While we would have preferred Guðrún Árný Karlsdóttir 1/2 is not bad given that we did not see the live performance. Ws still think that the two qualifiers last week were a lot better.

Norway: Norway had the first semi-final of Melodi Grad Prix 2012. There was the usual mix of songs that we would expect of MGP. Nora Foss Al-Jabri came first with The Carburetorsin second and Reidun Saether came in third. I predicted two out of three, but I underestimated Nora’s ability to get votes. Instead I had thought that Lisa Stokke’s song was the most likely to go through. I thought her song was stronger. With the benefit of hindsight Nora had better staging and styling. The only one that surprised me was the super sexy performance from Irresisrible. It was a shame they didn’t cut the rap from the song.

Denmark: Last night saw the 3^rd song of this ESC 2012 being picked. Soluna Samay will sing for Denmark in Baku. I haven’t seen any performances other than the winning one. I was surprised by the winner (but not shocked). I was just briefly switching in and out of Twitter during the evening, and was very surprised by the winner. However after seeing the performance it is very clear why this won. The performance was a little different and the dress worn by Soluna was very original. Full review of the song will be up by next weekend. We predicted Chirstian Brons and Patrik Issakson. However based on the Twitter coverage I saw their song was vocally poor. Soluna won with both the support of the juries and public. Congratulations to her.

News Flash

We're very happy with how our "Why Ireland Needs Jedward" post was received. In the future we will try to publish a little more on Jedward (just wait until RTÉ gives the full list of who is participating)

Turkey have announced that Can Bonomo will represent them in Baku. I don't personally go for him but many people will think he is good. (It's Turkey afterall)

Tine Lynggaard has been disqualified from DMGP 2012 due to her song being published to early. (Must not own a calender).

Nina Badric will represent Croatia in ESC 2012. Seems like a good choice.

Melodifestivalen running order has been revealed. The best slot in the semi finals has gone to Danny (sigh) Timoteij are singing fifth in their semi-final (Another sigh).

Love Oh Love! I gotta come back to Eurovision. Cos I oh I can't go a minute without Eurovision.

Today Denmark annonuced the 10 finalists they selected. While most of them seem like the usual unheard of hopeful two interesting names popped up in the songwriters list: John Gordon and Julie Frost. In terms of performers there's an X Factor finalist; someone who is similar to Kelly Clarkson or Pink and someone who claims they spent a third of their life in a Caravan. No doubt the Schlagerboys will be disappointed that Thomas G:son is not a songwriter here but I have no doubt we will see at least one good schlager anthem here - we often do. What concerns me is that none of the contestants coming out of Denmark are well known. Myself and many others have Denmark ear marked to win. While the real test is the quality of songs; this is a bad step.

Nearby in Netherlands they too announced their finalists who, it seems are less known than the people in Denmark. Most interestingly four of the six contestants are in some way connected to The Voice of Netherlands.

And One More Thing

In continuing to recap on the news around Eurovision I shall endure to continue:


The Cypriot song this year will be sung in English. This is not surprising as the singer will most likely bring a very contempory sound from Cyprus, but still they have entered 2 songs in their own language in the last 4 years.


DMGP has won an award for their excellent programme that attracts many viewers each year, and had a 70% share of viewers this year. The album of the songs in DMGP charted well in Denmark. It is one of the best National Finals on the go, both in terms of quality of the music and general staging. Unfortunately due to the high intensity of the National finals I overlooked DMGP in favour of Melodifestivalen. When I came back to it I realised just how good it was and I am delighted to see it receive an award. I'm also delighted to hear DMGP is to occur in late January when there is a less intense national final season.


The big story that I forgot to report on over the last week was that eurovision.tv is reporting that the Spice Girls are considering to try to go to Baku. Normally I would dismiss this as speculation, however Eurovision.tv is quite a reliable source. While I have nothing against the Spice Girls I would warn the BBC and UK against allowing them directly through to Eurovision without any form of National Final. I believe this was key in Blues somewhat failure to break the Top 5 at Eurovision. At least the national final puts artists under an amount of pressure.


Ukraine has announced their plans for 2012, which involves a talent show style National Final. However you never really know with Ukraine. Ani Lorak and Filipp Kirkorov are thought to be involved.


So that brings the news articles to an end. Tomorrow I will continue with the And The Winner Of Eurovision 2012 is........ series. 


In other news, Saturday night saw the return of X Factor on TV. (Being in Ireland I can see it.) I was very impressed with an Irish girl - Janet Devlin. You can see her performance here.