Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Country	Denmark
National selection
Selection process	Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2009
Selection date(s)	31 January 2009
Selected entrant	Brinck
Selected song	"Believe Again"
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (8th, 69 points)
Final result	13th, 74 points

Denmark participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 held in Moscow on 16 May 2009. Denmark was represented by Brinck with the song "Believe Again".^[1][2] Two other Danish-born contestants also participated at the 2009 Eurovision contest: Susanne Georgi represented Andorra and Yohanna represented Iceland.

Background

As in previous years, Danmarks Radio (DR) selected its entry through the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix (DMGP) contest. On 25 August 2008 (DR) announced that Denmark would compete in the 2009 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest and set a date of 31 January 2009 for the 2009 Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, the Danish national final. Unlike the 2007 and 2008 MGPs, there were no semifinals prior to the grand final, which was held on 31 January 2009.^[3]

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2009

The winner of the Danish MGP 2009: Brinck

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2009 was held on 31 January at the MCH Messecenter Herning in Herning, Denmark.^[3] The show was hosted by previous Danish entrant Birthe Kjær, and TV and radio presenter Felix Smith,.^[4][5][3]

Ten songs took part in the 2009 edition of DMGP, six of which were selected through an open call for entries, while the remaining four songs were by performers invited to take part by DR.^[3][6] The competing songs were revealed on 9 January 2009, after DR had narrowed down the best songs from the pool of submitted entries.^[7][8] A total of 684 songs were submitted to DR for 2009, an increase from the 443 songs that were submitted in the previous year.^[6][9]

During the DMGP, the ten selected songs competed in the first round of the contest where four songs selected by a 50/50 mix of jury and SMS voting progressed to a "knock-out" round in which the songs competed in pairs. A second round of SMS voting decided the two winning songs from each pair which went on to the final voting round where SMS voting selected the overall winner of the contest.^[3]

Controversy rose when the official album for the contest was released prematurely, due to a technical error. Set to be released the day before the contest, the album was released as a digital download due to a technical error made by the record label. 17 legal downloads were made before the album was taken off. One of the legal downloads, however, was uploaded onto YouTube as well as published as an illegal sharing file on the internet. My Way Music, the record company responsible for album, will take legal action against the person who illegally uploaded the songs onto the internet.^[10]

First Round

The first round consisted of all ten songs performing. Four acts were chosen to compete in the knock-out rounds. They were Sukkerchok, Hera Björk, Brinck and Johnny Deluxe.^[11]

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix - 31 January 2009

Draw	Artist	Song	Lyrics (l) / Music (m)	Result
1	Trine Jepsen	"I'll Never Fall In Love Again"	Claes Andreasson (m & l), Torbjörn Wassenius (m & l), Johan Sahlén (m & l), Niels Kvistborg (l)	Out
2	Jeppe	"Lucky Boy"	Jeppe Breum Laurssen (m & l)	Wildcard Out
3	Marie Carmen Koppel	"Crying Out Your Name"	Marie Carmen Koppel (m & l), Dan Hemmer (m)	Wildcard Out
4	Sukkerchok	"Det' det"	Lasse Lindorff (m & l), Mogens Binderup (m & l), Lise Cabble (m & l)	Super-final
5	Jimmy Jørgensen	"Alice in the Wonderland"	Mikael Erlandsson (m & l), Torbjørn Wassenius (m & l), Claes Andreasson (m & l), Birgitte Rye (m)	Wildcard Out
6	Hera Björk	"Someday"	Christina Schilling (m), Jonas Gladnikoff (m), Henrik Szabo (l), Daniel Nilsson (l)	Super-final
7	Claus Christensen	"Big Bang Baby"	Troels Holdt (m & l), Lars Malm (m & l), Lise Cabble (m & l)	Out
8	Johnny Deluxe	"Sindssyg"	Noam Halby (m & l), Jakob Glæsner (m & l), Peter Kvint (m & l)	Wildcard Super-final
9	Christina Undhjem	"Underneath My Skin"	Mads Haugaard (m & l), Brian Risberg Clausen (l)	Out
10	Brinck	"Believe Again"	Lars Halvor Jensen (m & l), Martin Michael Larsson (m & l), Ronan Keating (m & l)	Super-final

Knock-out rounds

In the second round of voting, the four qualifiers competed against each other in pairs, with only two progressing to the final round. Hera Björk and Brinck passed to the Super Final, beating Sukkerchok and Johnny Deluxe respectively.^[11] In the Super Final, Hera Björk and Brinck sang their songs again, with SMS voting once deciding the overall winner. Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2009 was won by Brinck and the song "Believe Again"^[1][2][11]

	Semifinal Round				Super Final
	Sukkerchok - "Det' det"
	Hera Björk - "Someday"
					Hera Björk - "Someday"
					Brinck - "Believe Again"
	Brinck - "Believe Again"
	Johnny Deluxe - "Sindssyg"

At Eurovision

Since Denmark was not one of the "Big Four" nor the host of the 2009 contest, it had to compete in the second semi-final of the contest on 14 May. Brinck performed ninth in the running order of the semi-final, following Slovakia and preceding Slovenia, where he qualified Denmark to final of the contest, placing 8th. In the final, Denmark finished in 13th place with 74 points.

See also

• Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Eurovision Song Contest 2009

References

1. ^ ^{a b} van Tongeren, Mario (2009-01-31). "Denmark: Brinck to Moscow!". Oikotimes. http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=4978. Retrieved 2009-01-31. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Klier, Marcus (2009-01-31). "Denmark: Eurovision entrant chosen". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/13109. Retrieved 2009-01-31. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} Hondal, Víctor (2008-08-25). "Denmark: One-day Melodi Grand Prix in 2009". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12225. Retrieved 2008-08-25. 
4. ^ Viniker, Barry (2009-01-06). "Denmark: Birthe Kjær returns to Melodi Grand Prix". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12840. Retrieved 2009-01-06. 
5. ^ Fisher, Luke (2009-01-06). "Birthe Kjær and Felix Smith to front Melodi Grand Prix". Oikotimes. http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=4731. Retrieved 2009-01-06. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Klier, Marcus (2008-10-08). "Denmark: 684 songs submitted for national final". ESCToday. http://esctoday.com/news/read/12354. Retrieved 2008-10-09. 
7. ^ Floras, Stella (2009-01-09). "Denmark: DR reveals Melodi Grand Prix finalists". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12861. Retrieved 2009-01-09. 
8. ^ Fotis, Konstantopoulos (2009-01-09). "Denmark: all the national finalists". Oikotimes. http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=4753. Retrieved 2009-01-09. 
9. ^ van Tongeren, Mario (2008-10-08). "684 songs for Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2009". Oikotimes. http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=4156. Retrieved 2008-10-08. 
10. ^ Viniker, Barry (2009-01-23). "Legal hunt over Dansk Melodi Grand Prix song leak". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/13010. Retrieved 2009-01-23. 
11. ^ ^{a b c} Laufer, Gil (2009-01-31). "Denmark - National final". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/13089. Retrieved 2009-01-31.