8 February 2015

Denmark send Anti Social Media to Vienna

The short answer is No. At the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2015, the people made the right choice. Their favourite was Anne Gadegaard with “Suitcase”. It’s an adorable song, with that intangible little extra that separates good songs from the rest, and Anne performed it so well. It’s quite reminiscent of Joan Franka’s excellent “You And Me” for the Netherlands in 2012 and surely would have been a great fit on the Eurovision stage. Joan was let down by wearing an Indian headdress, which confused the audience and distracted from the song. Anne showed wisdom beyond her years with her decision to dress normally.

The jury’s choice was Anti Social Media with “The Way You Are”. It’s a catchy, fluffy and harmless piece, so why the hell did the jury – typically made up of music snobs – select it? Four of the five jury regions gave it full marks of 12, with the remaining jury giving it 8 points. Anne Gadegaard tied for second on jury 16 points behind, meaning the 10 point gap she had on the televote left her 6 points adrift overall. At least I won’t need to check the spelling of “Gadegaard” anymore, of which I’ve done three times already.

It’s the great paradox of this year’s DMGP that the juries and televote went against the typecast. It could be explained by a “Freak Friday” body switch… if the event were held on a Friday. Schizophrenic Saturday? Lock in that as a movie title. Conchita Wurst could play both lead roles. I’m loath to ever criticise juries because their broader good – especially that they attract a far greater variety of songs and artists to Eurovision than the pervasive silliness that televote-only era did – far out-weighs any criticisms of usurping the democratic process. Remember, juries are people too! So we will allow this one anomaly by them – just.

DMGP had such a strong selection this year that many of the songs would not have been shock winners. Mind you, Anti Social Media never resonated with me when I previewed all the songs last night. Not that the song was bad; I just preferred others. If there was a surprise, it’s that Tina and Rene’s “Mi Amore” only finished seventh of the 10 entries. So much reminiscent of 2010’s Danish entrant “In A Moment Like This” by Chanee and N’evergreen and, as a Thomas G:son song, so formulaic that it could border on nauseating, that probably cost it more attention. Julie Bjerre in third place was a really cute song and probably something more suited to Junior Eurovision these days. Cecilie Alexandra’s funky and engaging “Hotel A” rounded out the top four. To all the other competitors, go pack your bags.

Results

Artist  – Song – Jury – Televote – Total

01 Anti Social Media – The Way You Are – 56 – 48 – 104
02 Anne Gadegaard – Suitcase – 40 – 58 – 98
03 Julie Bjerre – Tæt å mine drømme – 34 – 38 – 72
04 Cecilie Alexandra – Hotel A – 40 – 18 – 58
05 Babou – Manjana – 22 – 35 – 57
06 World Of Girls – Summer Without You – 23 – 34 – 57
07 Tina & Rene – Mi Amore – 24 – 30 – 44
08 Marcel & Soulman Group – Når veje krdses – 26 – 18 – 44
09 Andy Roda – Love Is Love – 17 – 8 – 25
10 Sara Sukurani – Love Me Love Me – 8 – 13 – 21

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All other DMGP performances can be found here