Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Background

Prior to the 2016 contest, Denmark had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-four times since its first entry in 1957. Denmark had won the contest, to this point, on three occasions: in 1963 with the song "Dansevise" performed by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann, in 2000 with the song "Fly on the Wings of Love" performed by Olsen Brothers, and in 2013 with the song "Only Teardrops" performed by Emmelie de Forest. In 2014, Denmark hosted the Eurovision Song Contest at the B&W Hallerne in Copenhagen where their home entry, "Cliché Love Song" performed by Basim, placed ninth.

For the 2015 Contest, the Danish national broadcaster, DR, broadcast the event within Denmark and organised the selection process for the nation's entry. Denmark has selected all of their Eurovision entries through the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. DR confirmed that Denmark would participate in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest on 22 May 2014, at the same time announcing that the Danish entry would be selected through the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2015.

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2015

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2015 was the 45th edition of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, the music competition that selects Denmark's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The event was held on 7 February 2015 at the Gigantium in Aalborg, hosted by Esben Bjerre Hansen and Jacob Riising. The competition received a visual update for the 2015 edition including a new logo and slogan. The new logo, which replaced the three star logo that had been in use since 2009, has been described as a round organism from which sound waves emanate. The slogan for the 2015 edition of the competition was "Drømmen lever" (The Dream Lives).

Format

The format of the show featured one show consisting of ten songs where the winning song was selected by the combination of the viewers' SMS votes and votes cast by five regional juries. The public and the jury each had a total of 290 points to award. Each jury group awarded points as follows: 1–8, 10 and 12 points. The public vote were based on the percentage of votes each song has achieved. For example, if a song gained 10% of the public vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 290 points rounded to the nearest integer. The juries representing the five Danish regions were located at concurrent competition related events in the following locations: Pumpehuset (Copenhagen) in the Capital Region of Denmark, Glød nightclub (Næstved) in Zealand, Hotel Torvehallerne (Vejle) in the Region of Southern Denmark, Gbar club (Aarhus) in the Central Denmark Region and the Gigantium (Aalborg) in the North Denmark Region. Each regional jury was composed of three members and headed by a former Danish Eurovision Song Contest entrant.

DR announced in July 2014 that they aimed to make changes to competition with the goal of producing "Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2.0", which stressed quality over quantity. The entertainment director for DR, Jan Lagermand Lundme, stated that the competition would seek out more authentic and real songs that can connect with viewers, providing the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 winning Austrian entry "Rise Like a Phoenix" performed by Conchita Wurst and the second-placed 2014 Dutch entry "Calm After the Storm" performed by The Common Linnets, as examples of such songs that had a story to tell.

Competing entries

DR opened a submission period between 4 July 2014 and 8 September 2014 for artists and composers to submit their entries, which received a total of 687 songs. A selection committee selected seven songs from the entries submitted to the broadcaster, while three participants (Sara Sukurani, Marcel & Soulman Group and World of Girls) were invited to compete based on editorial considerations. The artists and songs for Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2015 were officially revealed by DR on 26 January 2015, however, the entries were leaked two days before the official presentation due to an early delivery of pre-ordered CDs. Following the official presentation, the songs were released in full-length on YouTube and the official album was made available on the largest Danish streaming services.

Final

The combination of regional jury votes and public SMS votes selected "The Way You Are" performed by Anti Social Media as the winner.

Results

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into five different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 26 January 2015, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Denmark was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 19 May 2015, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2015 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Denmark was set to perform in position 13, following the entry from Russia and before the entry from Albania.

All three shows were televised on DR1, with commentary by Ole Tøpholm. The Danish broadcaster also broadcast the three shows with sign language performers for the hearing impaired on DR Ramasjang. The Danish spokesperson, who announced the Danish votes during the final, was 2014 Eurovision entrant Basim.

Semi-final

Anti Social Media took part in technical rehearsals on 12 and 15 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 18 and 19 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries.

The stage show featured the members of Anti Social Media in a retro band set-up with two backing vocalists in red dresses. The background LED screens displayed white moving vertical line patterns. The stage design was black and white with bursts of colour added. On stage, Anti Social Media was joined by two backing vocalists: Nellie Ettison and Johanna Beijbom.

At the end of the show, Denmark failed to qualify to the final and was not announced among the top ten nations. It was later revealed that Denmark had placed thirteenth, receiving a total of 33 points.

Voting

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Denmark had placed fourteenth with the public televote and twelfth with the jury vote in the first semi-final. In the public vote, Denmark scored 23 points, while with the jury vote, Denmark scored 51 points.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Denmark and awarded by Denmark in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Danish jury: