Denmark 2012

	DANSK MELODI GRAND PRIX 2012 On Saturday night next, the national final season for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest hits top gear as Denmark chooses its entry for Baku. The entry will be chosen over two rounds of voting, from a selection of nine competing songs. Danish broadcaster DR was one of the first to confirm that it would be competing in Baku and they received a total of 678 potential songs, when their closed their open call for entries in September. On 5th January the ten finalists, but within a couple off days the field was reduced to just nine songs, when it was discovered that one of the entries had been made public in July, a breach of Eurovision rules. The Danish national final will be staged at the Gigantium in Aalborg and hosted by Louise Wolff and Emil Thorup. The winner will be chosen over two rounds of voting, the first to select the Top 3 and the second to select the winner. In the first round televoting and a jury. In the second round the winner will be chosen by televoting (50% weighting), a jury (10%) and four international juries (each with 10%). Below you can find our review of the nine entries and links to the songs on YouTube and the audio files on the DR website.
	1. "Take Our Hearts" - Jesper Nohrstedt 17 year old Jesper is known to Danes as he came third in the 2010 version of "X Factor". The songwriters behind "Take Our Hearts" were chosen as wildcards by DR and this song is second favourite with the bookmakers. This is very similar to "Believe Again", the Danish entry in Moscow and is certainly a serious contender for Baku, but it's more than a little generic and may find it difficult to stand out.


	2. Aya - "Best Thing I Got" Aya, or Yanne Friis to her friends and family comes from the city of Odense and her song "Best Thing I Got" came from the open selection. There's a familiar songwriting team behind this as John Gordon and Julie Frost wrote "Satellite", Germany Eurovision winner in 2010 and it's fourth in the betting. This is a similar chirpy radio friendly pop song and its chances will depend of the charisma of the singer. If it's performed well, I can see this making the Top 3 and doing well with the ijnternational juries.


	3. Kenneth Potempa - "Reach For The Stars" Singer Kenneth Poempa is better known as the lead singer of Neeva, a popular band from from Aarhus. The songwriting team can from the same city and they believe their song which came through the open selection has the potential to be a global hit. I'm not so sure and neither are the bookers who rate this as only seventh. Again it suffers from being rather bland and I can't se it making the Top 3.


	4. Ditte Marie "Overflow" (With Every Illusion) Ditte Marie competed in last year's Danish selection as part of the group Le Freak, but she now goes solo with a entry written by an international songwriting team. this is fifth with the bookmakers at 9/1, but seems to be getting a better reaction from fans, possibly because it sounds like something from the Swedish selection or a Kylie Minogue album track. This kind of over-produced synth pop is doing well right now, but I doubt if this song is strong enough to be a contender.


	5. Philip Halloun and Emilia - "Baby Love Me" Danish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Philip Halloun has drafted in Finnish singer Emilia for his sweet ballad "Baby Love Me". The victory of Ell & Nikki last year means that we are likely to get many of these kind of duets in the 2012 national finals and this has certainly got a certain simplistic charm and pleasant melody, but with bookmakers seeing it as the outsider, its another entry that is unlikely to make the Top 3.


	6. Suriya - "Forever I B Young" The second wildcard, the dreadfully titled "Forever I B Young" was written by Suriya, who came to fame in Denmark as half of the group SOAP and her former husband Thomas Hoffman. This is a electro-pulse meets R&B lite hybrid with no discernable melody and is (I hope) one of the worst songs I will come across in the 2012 selections. Bookmakers have this is 8th place and it's another also-ran.


	7. Karen Viuff - "Universe" The third wildcard, come from a veryy experienced team of songwriters which includes Lise Cabble who wrote the Danish entry in 1995; "Fra Mols til Skagen" which came 5th in Eurovision in Dublin. The singer is 17 year old newcomer Karen Viuff, who was discovered after putting videos on YouTube. "Universe" is a pleasant anthemic song with a strong chorus and big production. Bookmakers have it at 9/1, but with a good performance this might just squeeze into the Top 3.


	8. Soluna Samay - "Should've Known Better" Another wildcard, "Should've Known Better" is written by two former members of the group Outlandish who were very popular in Denmark in the noughties. Singer Soluna Samay has Swiss and German parents but was brought up in Guatemala. She was discovered busking and after being signed up by a local music company, she released her first album in 2010. The song has a rather American sound to it and while it starts well it runs out of steam in the last minute. Nevertheles bookmakers have this third and it could well figure in the shake-up.


	9. Christian Brøns and Patrik Isaksson - "Venter" (Waiting) After eight songs in English we find the only song in Danish, but "Venter" is actually bi-lingual as Dane Christian Brøns is joined by Swedish veteran Patrik Isaksson, who has previously made two unsuccessful attempts to represent his country at Eurovision. Christian came to fame in Denmark, singing Patrik's songs and the two combined to write their entry. There's a lovely blend of voices on this well crafted and instantly catchy song. It's hard to see this being beaten The bookmakers also have it as favourite and even at 6/4, it might be worth a bet.