Malmö, Sweden will be hosting this years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest as it had done back in 1992 when Linda Martin romped to victory with her ballad, Why Me? In 2013, escflashmalta.com has engaged a panel of professional individuals to assess the competing entries. The tracks are supported by biographies, other music from the respective performers involved along with a background on the participating country. The formal introduction of each entry continues. All of the information is obtained from the official website of the international spectacle and indeed, pertaining to the running order as decided by the producers, Denmark will be performing in slot number five (5) from the sixteen (16) entries which will be competing during the first semi-final. DR, the broadcaster resposible for the participation of Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest will be represented by the song Only Teardrops co-written by Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen, Thomas Stengaard with vocals provided by Emmelie de Forest.

Growing up in the town of Mariager in the North Denmark region, Emmelie started singing professionally from an early age. Since she was 14, she has been touring all over Denmark with the Scottish musician Fraser Neill, performing both own songs and folk/blues-versions of hits from e.g. Nirvana and Johnny Cash. An important part of Emmelie's stage performance has always been her footwear - or the lack of it. "I have always preferred singing without wearing high heels or shoes. Being barefoot makes me feel closer to the ground, the earth and makes me feel more relaxed, Emmelie says. Royal roots: Emmelie is very much down to earth, despite her family tree. She is the great-grandchild of none other than Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. "Her son, Edward VII, had many children outside marriage. One of them was my grandfather, whom he had with an Austrian princess of the Habsburg family. 

My grandmother descends from old Swedish nobility, so thanks to that link, I have spent much of my childhood in Stockholm, where my brothers and sisters still live. I see Sweden as my second home", Emmelie explains. Now based in Copenhagen, Emmelie only has to cross Øresund to enter the stage at Eurovision Song Contest with her song Only Teardrops, which won an impressive victory in the Danish national final, gaining 50 percent of the televotes in the finale. "As soon as I heard the song, I fell in love with it. It has a melancholic feeling to it, and it is about war and peace, both in a relationship and in the world as a whole. I believe these are issues that people all over the world can relate to", she says. Lise Cabble is a Danish songwriter and used to be the songwriter and lead singer in the former girl band Miss B. Haven. She has had 12 songs in the national grand prix and has won it 3 times. The latest one was this year with Only Teardrops performed by Emmelie de Forest. First time in 1995 with the popular song Fra Mols til Skagen. Second time in 2011 with the song New Tomorrow. Both songs went Top 5 in the Eurovision.

The Dansk Melodi Grand Prix has become an annual spectacle for both local and international viewers noting that the competition is organised in extremely high quality ranking amongst some of the best selection procedures in the continent. At the end of the submission deadline, 692 entries were entered for the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, making it one of the highest number of submissions ever dating back to at least, 1988. 15,000 people were in attendance during the final in Herning to watch ten acts competing against each other to represent the Scandinavian country at the Eurovision Song Contest taking place in a town which is practically reachable by bridge. Simone with the song Stay Awake was the second runner-up behind Mohammed Ali and his entry Unbreakable. The latter track for the favourite of the jury but the public overturned the result giving Emmelie the victory with Only Teardrops.

1957 was the first year in which Denmark took to the stage of the international competition and started on a high having managed to finish in third place with the track Skibet skal sejle i nat performed by Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler. The first victory would eventually come with the track Dansevise performed by another duet made up of Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann. In 2000, the Olsen Brothers and their stunning track Fly On the Wings of Love surprised pundits and bookmakers when it managed to overcome strong competition to finish on top. Since the introduction of the semi-final system, Denmark has only failed to qualify on two occasions whilst finishing in the top five in two of the past three years. They are the outright favourites to win this years' edition of the international spectacle. 

Professional Critics Voice their Opinion

Rating: 83%

Magnus Kaxe: The favorite this year according to all betting companies. Emmelie sings very well with a Björk-ish vibe. Folk-music intro and swirling verse bursts into a simple and child-song-like chorus - in a great way! This will definitely be a strong candidate for the overall victory this year.

Lina Eriksson: I simply love this song and Emmelies characteristics voice.This kind of hybrid of Irish folklore meets popmusic is close to my heart. Good lyrics, good topline. I like it a lot!

Matt Mercieca (Muxu): I like the folky beginning, I think this is such a good mix of the usual typical eurovison sound, but still has something that is current. The more I hear it, the more I like it. I love the bridge, the way it opens up, this one should do well.

Source: eurovision.tv

Only Teardrops, co-written by Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen and Thomas Stengaard with vocals provided by Emmelie de Forest will represent Denmark in this years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest taking place in Malmö, Sweden. In a recent interview given to the official website of the international showcase, the young yet extremely talented Emmelie spoke of her excitement to take on the stage in a country which is her second home whilst adding 'we will definitely be top five'. This might be the right attitude in the mind of a performer but definitely not the right one in front of the cameras to be honest. 

One of the most intriguing cases in the Eurovision Song Contest is surely that one track which is said to do quite well ends up performing badly for example, Denmark in last years' competition was definitely one of the favourites but despite qualification the song entitled Should've Known Better performed by Soluna Samay could only muster up twenty-one (21) points to finish in a disappointing twenty-third (23rd) place. Only Teardrops will be performed on behalf of Denmark in the fifth slot of the first semi-final, a slot which has never managed a qualifier in the past. Emmelie de Forest will most likely change their statistic come May. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for more of the latest news.

Source: Eurovision.tv

Since the introduction of the semi-final system, Denmark has only failed to qualify on two occasions, those coming in 2004 with Thomas Thordarsson and his track Shame On You finishing in thirteenth place as well as in 2007 with Drama Queen performed by DQ only managing nineteenth place at the end of the evening. From 2008 onwards, their entries which have been dubbed on more than one occasion as a typical middle of the road type of genre have performed moderately well, with their appearances in 2010 and 2011 being the most significant noting fourth and fifth place finishes with the track In a Moment Like This by Chanée and N'evergreen as well as New Tomorrow by A Friend in London. Earlier today, DR announced the ten acts along with the entries that they will be performing as they aim to represent Denmark in the next Eurovision Song Contest which is taking place in the neighbouring country of Sweden.

Expectations have always been relatively high for Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest and despite their list of successes, it has to be noted that they only finished at the very top on two occasions, the first time in 1963 with 'Dansevise' performed by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann and the second time being in 2000 when the Olsen Brothers sung their beautiful melody 'Fly on the Wings of Love'. The artists that have been selected bring about dance and pop and the main genres whilst English is also seemingly predominant. One will definitely focus on a couple of names in the list especially if history serves right of course with major nineties group known as Daze making a comeback to music alongside former Eurovision Song Contest representative Brinck who in his national final had beaten Simone Egeriis who is also back for another shot and is a favourite to triumph according to a poll conducted by the official website.

1. Jeg har hele tiden vidst det - Frederikke Vedel (Georgi, Thomas & Jeppe Reil)
2. Human - Brinck (Niels Brinck)
3. I'm Not Alone - Kate Hall (Jensen, Larsson, Bell, Holter, Erixson, Hermansen)
4. Rejs dig op - Louise Dubiel (Lindstad, Braager, Dubiel)
5. We Own The Universe - Daze (G:Son, Boström)
6. Stay Awake - Simone Egeriis (Jensen, Lindberg)
7. Invincible - Jack Rowan ft. Sam Gray (Darwich, Rowan, Gray)
8. Only Teardrops - Emmerlie de Forest (Cabble, Jakobsen, Stenggard)
9. Beautiful to Me - Albin (Clausen, Haugaard)
10. Unbreakable - Mohammed (Friss, Parsberg, Bjørnskov, Dissing)

The announcement of Malmo as the host city of the Eurovision Song Contest has provided a lot of excitement for people who live in Denmark due to the fact that the city is actually just a couple of minutes away being on the edge of Sweden. Therefore, there is a lot of hype going round that they will be very careful to have a great song hoping to achieve the third positive result in four years noting that their only disappointment came this year with the song Should've Known Better by Soluna Samay which was predicted to finish in the top five but unfortunately languished in twenty-third (23rd) place with just twenty-one (21) points. Therefore, a copy of the regulations have now been released by the Danish Broadcaster, DR and it seems that there are not too many changes from previous years for those who have been keeping an eye on the proceedings in the past couple of editions.

The songs could be sent immediately actually as submission period is now offiicially open and the deadline has been set for the 24th September 2012 although it is imperative that the songs have not been officially played anything prior to the 1st September 2012. The songs sent into the broadcaster will be competing against each other for six slots as allocated whilst another three (3) to four (4) entries would then be added by the broadcaster as wild card tracks hoping to have some well known names or songwriters enter the competition. Speaking to the media, the Entertainment Manager at DR stated 'We would like to continue the positive development of the Grand Prix, where the songs are modern… Dansk Melodi Grand Prix is not the same as ten years ago. We want hits, which are up to date and are the sounds of 2013'. It is also quite important to note that foreign songwriters could submit entries if they work with either Danish songwriters or singers. You can have a copy of the rules but accessing the official website.

Source: DR

One of the most intriguing nations to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest is surely Denmark noting that they have become quite successful in recent years with top five finishes in a row, something that France did during 2001 and 2002 thanks to Natasha St Pier and Sandrine Francois. This year, their hopes lie on the ever so charming Soluna Samay who is performing the song Should've Known Better written by Chief 1, Remee and Isam B. They are posed to qualify and the betting odds as well as the polls suggest that this could yet be another positive result for the Scandinavian country even though the song is once more very middle of the road and making me lose interest in it every time it is performed. Nevertheless most of the people who hear it in the semi-final would be listening to it for the very first time.

Despite a large amount of positive results during the years, Denmark have only won the competition on two occasions, the last one being in 2000 thanks to the Olsen Brothers and their entry Fly On The Wings of Love which surprised everyone by running to victory. The following year, their entry had been my number one with Never Ever Let You by Rollo & King featuring the typical Scandinavian Pop sound which was very much in vogue at the time. As already mentioned, their success in recent years has prompted the nation for the possibility of another positive result. In this interview with Soluna Samay, Juergen Boernig and Lilian Brunell discuss the fact that she is representing Denmark, see more facts and details about her background and ultimately analyse the name of the singer and where it comes from. Make sure to stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for more exclusive interviews.