Country Denmark Selection date(s) 25 February 2017 Selected song "Where I Am" | Selection process Melodi Grand Prix 2017 Selected entrant Anja Nissen | |
Selected songwriter(s) Anja Nissen
Angel Tupai
Michael D'Arcy | ||
Denmark will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The country will be represented by the song Where I Am performed by Anja Nissen and co-written by Australian songwriters Angel Tupai and Michael D'Arcy. The Danish broadcaster DR selected the entry through the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2017.
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Background
Prior to the 2017 contest, Denmark had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-five times since their 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 the 2016 contest, "Soldiers of Love" performed by Lighthouse X failed to qualify Denmark to the final, making it the second consecutive year that Denmark missed out on qualification.
The Danish national broadcaster, DR, broadcasts the event within Denmark and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. DR confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 6 June 2016. Denmark has selected all of their Eurovision entries thus far through the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix.
Melodi Grand Prix 2017
Melodi Grand Prix 2017 was the 47th edition of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, the music competition that selects Denmark's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The event was held on 25 February 2017 at the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, hosted by Annette Heick and Johannes Nymark.
Format
Ten songs competed in the final, where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top 3 songs based on the combination of votes from a public vote and a five-member jury panel qualified to the super-final. In the super-final, the winner was determined as well by the combination of votes from the public and the jury panel. The jury panel consisted of five Danish Eurovision fans: Mogens Dalsgaard Myklebust, Mette Thorning Svendsen, Peter Hansen, Morten Kaiser, and Søren Toft.
Competing entries
DR opened a submission period between 6 June 2016 and 5 September 2016 for artists and composers to submit their entries. The entertainment director for DR, Jan Lagermand Lundme, stated that the competition would seek out "good songs with a strong chorus, which have the potential to be a hit—and that can get us in the final of Eurovision." Five of the competing entries were selected by a committee of industry professionals, members of OGAE and a representative sample of television viewers. The remaining five entries were selected by music producers Cutfather and Jonas Schrøder. The broadcaster received a record breaking 1,115 entries during the submission period; the previous record was set in 2016 when the broadcaster received 982 entries. The competing artists and songs were announced in a press conference held by DR on 19 January 2017.
Final
The final took place on 25 February 2017.
In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Danish Eurovision Song Contest 2000 winners Olsen Brothers performed as the interval act.
At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will take place at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine and will consist of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and the final on 13 May 2017. 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.