24 February 2019

In an excellent edition of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, Leonora with Love Is Forever won with her quirky and fun song about love just ahead of Julie & Nina with League Of Light. They proved the clear best two entries on the night, and dominated the super final of 3 songs, the other being Say My Name by Sigmund. Leonora won with 42% from Julie & Nina on 35%, then Sigmund on 23%. Once Sigmund was eliminated, either of the other two would have been fine.

Leonora wins Dansk Melodi Grand Prix with Love Is Forever. Image: dr.dk

It’s rare that my favourite wins anything, and upon reviewing the entries the night before, it wasn’t difficult to spot the delightful Love Is Forever. Not just for its quirky and fun style, it was sprinkled with some French and Danish too. It was my immediate favourite, and that was confirmed after two more listens. It was only then a matter of presenting it right, and with the giant chair and a constant alluring stare to the camera, Leonora brought something interesting. Perhaps that’s a credit to her former life as figure skater, where she won championships at junior level and innovative choreography is often required.

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2019

01 Simone Emilie – Anywhere
02 Jasmin Gabay – Kiss Like This
03 Rasmus Faartoft – Hold My Breath
04 Marie Isabell – Dancing With You in My Heart
05 Sigmund – Say My Name
06 Humørekspressen – Dronning af baren
07 Julie & Nina – League Of Light
08 Teit Samsø – Step It Up
09 Leonora – Love Is Forever
10 Leeloo – That Vibe

The Fab Five

5 Jasmin Gabay – Kiss Like This

A bit of a salsa vibe to this, both in song and presentation. It was a song that really didn’t advertise itself as being really good, only a little bit different, and you need some of these in national finals to make things interesting.

4 Simone Emilie – Always

With its moody dance vibe, this was the third song I instantly liked when previewing the entries, and it held up well enough on stage. It just lacked a bit of that something special required to win these events.

3 Marie Isabell – Dancing With You In My Heart

This is another one of those stories, much like Kadiah in Estonia and Leea Nanos in Australia, of an amateur or aspirational artist getting a break on the big stage. It seems Instagram is her main avenue of performing to a large audience (if the Danish translation of the DMGP page is correct) and, as a home care worker, Marie Isabell performs for the elderly people she visits. How sweet! Anyway, this is one of those classic, fun pop songs that sadly is disappearing from the Eurovision stage as other styles take over. I was instantly attracted to it when previewing the songs, and Marie Isabell delivered a nice, accomplished performance. Thanks for the song, and I hope you enjoyed your big moment!

2 Julie & Nina – League Of Light

In any other year, Julia & Nina probably win with League Of Light. It was one that was a bit understated when previewing it before it burst into life on the DMGP stage. As good as it was, you can’t really send the same song to Eurovision two years in a row. It’s so much like last year’s DMGP winner, Higher Ground by Rasmussen, except this time it’s two women singing and half of Greenland in the audience. Indeed, Julia & Nina have ties to Greenland, and teamed up for DMGP to introduce a little Greenlandic language and magic to the world.

1 Leonora – Love Is Forever

Congratulations Denmark on a nicely concise show. This is the standard for single night national finals. In two hours we got 10 songs, the results, three reprise performances for the super final, the result, and then the winning performance. In the space of 30 minutes I saw Love Is Forever three times and loved each one. It’s one of those timeless, infectious songs with a universal message that can’t help be loved. Looking forward to seeing it again on the Eurovision stage in Tel Aviv.