Copenhagen, 11 February 2021
This post was written by our Danish correspondent, Christian Kaad, and edited by Boris Meersman.
Yesterday, DR announced the eight songs and artists that will compete to become “our song” on March 6 at the Danish Melody Grand Prix – Denmark’s largest music festival. The winning song is chosen entirely by the Danish public based on the eight songs DR’s jury has selected. “Our song” 2021 will represent Denmark for the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam.
The eight songs and artists, to give the Danes a musical celebration evening at this year’s Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2021 has now been published.
The eight songs and artists are:
- – ’Hvileløse hjerter’ – Nanna Olivia
- – ’Øve os på hinanden’ – Fyr & Flamme
- – ’Højt over skyerne’ – Chief 1 & Thomas Buttenschøn
- – ’Everything is alright’ – Mike Tramp
- – ‘Abracadabra’ – Claudia Campagnol
- – ‘Silver bullet’ – The Cosmic Twins
- – ‘Står lige her’ – Emma Nicoline
- – ’Beautiful’ – Jean Michel
All songs and artists are carefully selected by DR’s music expert panel, which has chosen a varied field of songs that reflect a musical variation and diversity. It is our ambition to strengthen cooperation with the Danish music scene, hence Dansk Melodi Grand Prix again this year have songs that appeal broadly across the Danish music scene, which only comes from Danish songwriters and composers.
This year the viewers will make a televote top 3 and then there will be another televote until we have found the winning entry.
Leading editor of the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix , Gustav Lützhøft has been looking forward to finally unveiling the eight songs and artists :
” It was our endeavour to present a varied and diverse field of songs, and I think we have succeeded. As it should be in the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, the musical level this year is very high.
The eight songs have been selected based on the potential and quality of the songs. In the end, of course, they were also chosen in terms of how they are delivered and performed. Sure, there must be someone who thinks that a particular song falls more in their taste than the others, but that is exactly what we’ve wanted. We wished to create a varied field of songs where most people can find just their favorite and have a talk about taste, and finally agree on which song we jointly believe should be ‘Our Song’ in 2021, “
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix will be held this year in studio 5 at DR Byen, where all artists are backed by DR’s Grand Prix Orchestra under the direction of conductor Peter Düring. Together with the hosts Tina Müller (mostly known as tv sport presenter) and Martin Brygmann (multi talent and a singer-songwriter himself) who co-wrote the 2005 entry for Sweethearts (“I must be crazy”).
They will launch this year’s biggest tribute to the Danish music – even though due to COVID-19 the audience will not be present in the studio.
Where can you hear the eight songs?
You can already listen to all the songs on dr.dk/grandprix and on the Grand Prix app . All the songs are available on all streaming services .
Do you want to join Denmark’s largest music festival in the front row?
Since there will be no audience at Danish Melodi Grand Prix 2021, there will be a digital audience wall filled with viewers who love a good music festival. Get a unique experience and join a festive and musical evening at home from the living room via Zoom, where we will together choose what will be ‘Our Song’ in 2021.
Here you can read more about what you need to do to join: dr.dk/musikfest
The Dansk Melodi Grand Prix will be broadcast on Saturday 6 March at 20.00 on DR1 and DRTV. Join us when P3 Buffeten , Formiddag på 4’eren and Aftenshowet jointly warm up for this year’s music festival on radio and TV from 1 March.
FACTS ABOUT THE EIGHT ARTISTS AND THEIR SONGS
Song#1: Hvileløse Hjerter (‘Restless hearts’)
Artist: Nanna Olivia
Lyrics and music: Anna David, Nicolai Levring & Casper Sørensen
For 22-year-old Nanna Olivia, singing and music have always been a part of her life, and she started singing at 3 years old . In addition to her passion for singing, Nanna Olivia also unfolds her creativity by writing songs herself, and when she isn’t found behind a microphone, she studies Entrepreneurship and Sesign at KEA. ‘Restless hearts‘ was written and composed by Anna David, Nicolai Levring and Casper Sørensen. Anna David made her name for herself as an artist since in 2005 and she has now 15 years of experience as an artist and performer under her belt.
Fans may remember Anna David from her 2014 participation in Dansk Melodi Grand Prix with the song “It Hurts”.
Nanna Olivia always goes for the win, which is also her goal for the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2021 :
“I am really looking forward to participating in Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. It will be the wildest experience! “Restless hearts” is a powerful song. A song I can relate a lot to. It speaks to the feeling after a breakup with a boyfriend, where you try to move on and be upstairs, but deep down, you know that it’s not just straight-forward, and that he still has your heart. I see the song as a pep talk to myself and everyone else who has been in that situation. ”
Song#2: Øve Os På Hinanden (‘Practice on each other’)
Artist: Fyr og Flamme
Lyrics and music: Laurits Emanuel
“Teenage idols your parents can understand“. This is how the duo Fyr & Flamme describe themselves. The band is reminiscent of an ancient time where the hair was long and tall, and the every day teemed with glitter.
With the song Menneskeforbruger (“Human consumer / Maneater”) they really broke through, and shortly after came the single Kamelæon (“Chameleon”), which proved that Fyr & Flamme are here to stay. The duo emerged from a budding friendship between musician Laurits Emanuel, who is used to being on stage as one of the two lead singers in the band The Grenadines, and actor Jesper Groth, whom we know from the tv shows Sygeplejeskolen (“Nursing school”) and Stormester (“Grandmaster”).
“Our song is inspired by slightly older Grand Prix virtues and is based on the European late seventies disco . “The song is set on the dance floor, where a woman and a man try their hand at it. The meaning can be interpreted as ‘how to behave when flirting with each other and how you become a better person along the way’. Can you practice it all at home in front of the mirror, or must you be at the place where you can actually learn it? We have to practice on each other!”
“We bumped into each other due to the fact that the acting school and the music conservatory are situated right next to each other, and have been working together on-and-off for the past four years. When we made our first release some thought we did not mean it. Let us make it very clear that we totally mean it and we know he use humor and irony but we are working very seriously when it comes to our music.”
Song#3: Højt over skyerne (‘High above the clouds’)
Artist: Chief 1 and Thomas Buttenschøn
Lyrics and music: Chief 1, Thomas Buttenschøn and Nermin Harambasic
It has turned out that good things come out of the collaboration between the renowned multi-talented Chief 1 (Lars Pedersen) and the popular singer-songwriter Thomas Buttenschøn. Individually, they have created hits at home and abroad. They debuted in the summer of 2019 as a duo with the hit single Alt er godt (“Everything Is Good”), which was named the summer hit of the year 2019 by P4’s listeners. In December 2020, they released the heartwarming Christmas anthem Sol I December (“Sun in December”). For the two gentlemen, the motivation for making music together is that it should be fun, because life is short, and rules are something you break.
“We have a good and real energy when we are together, and we want to send it out to the the entire families in Denmark. Nothing is planned or calculated, we just like to send smiles and love out through the music we create together. ”
Chief 1 is no stranger to Dansk Melodi Grand Prix because this is actually his 7th participating song at Dansk Melodi Grand Prix and he had 2 songs at the Danish Junior Eurovision too. So far he had 3 national winning songs Kølig Kaj 1997, Soluna Samay 2012 and Anti Social Media in 2015. But 2021 sees his debut as the performer, as well as the writer and it feels differently. In 1988 his pioneer groundbreaking danish front runner rap group had their debut release Opråb til det danske folk (“Uproar to the danish people”). Since then, he has written and produced for many Danish and international names. He released his debut solo album out “Slip” in 2017.
Thomas Buttenschøn has 6 albums in Danish and English since 2006. He revealed to us that he first thought Lars was pulling his leg when called him and said that he “had a song the two of us will sing at Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2021”. However, after they met and discussed the song together, Thomas was absolutely hooked and is now thrilled to be a part of it.
Nermin Harambasic is no stranger to Dansk Melodi Grand Prix either, as this is his 3rd co-written entry after 2017’s Jeanette Bonde “Hurricane” and 2018’s Sandra – “Angels to my battlefield” but it is his first entry to be fully performed in Danish.
Song#4: ‘Everything Is Alright’
Artist: Mike Tramp
Lyrics and music: Mike Tramp
Mike Tramp has tried most things in music – he has sung in children’s choirs, been a teenage star and even a rock star on a scale that very few other Danes can match. With a career of over 40 years and with fans all over the world, Mike Tramp has marked himself as a Danish rock legend who, among other things. has toured internationally with bands such as Freak of Nature and the multi-platinum selling band White Lion. He released 12 solo albums.
In 2020, he celebrated the 25th anniversary of his solo career with the collection ” Trampthology ” and with the new track star he is back on the stage in the contest in which kick-started his career in 1978 when he won the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix with the group Mabel and Grand Prix the classic ‘Boom Boom ‘.
“After all the years and a lifetime of experiences, it feels right to be on stage for the Danish Melodi Grand Prix and to be able to bring the rock sound into Denmark’s biggest music festival.” Everything Is Alright” is an honest number, written directly from the heart – without ulterior motives or daring twists. I can be 100% true to myself and do not have to put on any mask or grimace – I am who I am.
As Mike told us just remember how the world looked in 1978: Denmark had one tv channel that only aired for a few hours and everybody was watching the same programmes. The world was very different then and Mabel had just finished recording our second album that did not include “Boom boom”.
“Our label manager Johnny Reimar suddenly told us that we were to participate in Dansk Melodi Grand Prix in 1978. That was a year where the tv show returned to Denmark after a 12 year hiatus because DR did not think that a pop tv show had any relevance on a Danish tv channel.”
Mike did not feel any pressure on filling out these shoes and since they already had a fan base all the attenders at the tv show were Mabel fans. They won and it went to so wild that even the danish newspapers Børsen “Financial times” and Kristeligt Dagblad, the Christian religious newspaper, wanted interviews with them on the following day. As Mike dryly said
“We went back to the contest in 1979 but actually nobody remembers that.”
He is happy to perform “Boom Boom” today and at the age of 60 he has never sung “Boom Boom” any better than today. He is ready to show us all what he is made of and give us all some rock´n roll and has received very positive reviews so far.
Song#5: ‘Abracadabra’
Artist: Claudia Campagnol
Lyrics and music: Melanie Wehbe , Emil Adler Lei and Louis Jarto
The daughter of two professional musicians, Claudia Campagnol was brought up with music alongside her. She claims to have sung before she could walk, and began playing the piano at four years old.
As a child, Claudia discovered her father’s Herbie Hancock records, which opened her eyes to fusion jazz and instrumental music. As a 12-year-old, she composed her first song and has since, among other things. performed in a gospel choir for a Stevie Wonder concert, achieved second place in JazzDanmark’s competition Young Jazz and released the debut album ” I’m Strong “, which triggered a double nomination for the Danish Music Awards 2019.
Songwriters for ‘Abracadabra’ include Emil Lei, who was behind last year’s winning song ‘ Yes ‘ with Ben & Tan, and Melanie Wehbe , who was behind last year’s Swedish winning song. It is Melanie’s 5th song across Dansk Melodi Grand Prix and Sweden’s selection show, Melodifestivalen. She and Claudia have previously worked together, as they were also behind the 2019 Danish laureate, ‘Love is forever ‘ by Leonora.
” Abracadabra” is a simple but at the same time magnificent song that takes you to a dreamy universe where you can be yourself and not be afraid to feel anything. A universe where you are enchanted by the music and follow an above-earth waltz carried by a warm and golden voice, all the way to goosebumps and reminiscent of eternal love. ”
Song#6: ‘Silver Bullet’
Artist: The Cosmic Twins
Lyrics and music: Lise Cabble , Gisli Gislason, Rasmus Duelund and August Emil
As 12-year-olds, the twins Chris and Alec fired it off for Guitar Hero, where they dreamt of standing on the big stages. It was there that their shared passion for music awoke.
This was a dream they decided to live out, and in 2018 they formed the pop duo The Cosmic Twins – named after a painting their American father made for them after they were born. The twins have since performed throughout Denmark with almost 100 shows, participated in the DR program LIVE and released an EP, a music video and a handful of singles. ‘ Silver Bullet ‘ is written by Dansk Melodi Grand Prix ‘ uncrowned queen Lise Cabble , who has written four winning songs for Dansk Melodi Grand Prix – most recently in 2019 with Leonora and the song “Love Is Forever”. “Silver Bullet” marks Lise´s 15th song at Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. Gisli Gislason also co-wrote last years Benjamin Kissi “Faith” making “Sliver bullet” his 2nd song at Dansk Melodi Grand Prix.
“The fact that we are to take part in the Danish Melody Grand Prix is like a life-long dream come true for us. The annual MGP in high school was the highlight for us and we loved every second of it. Now we look forward to participating in the real melody grand prix with “Silver Bullet “, which is about having a party, while having girlfriend worries. It should probably get the audience up and running with lots of energy.”
Song#7: Står lige her (‘Standing Right Here’)
Artist: Emma Nicoline
Lyrics and music: Jeppe Pilgaard, Jacob Jørgensen, Emma Nicoline Winther Nielsen, Adam Kalwa and Patricia Namakula Mbabazi
Emma Nicoline‘s childhood was filled with music, particularly 80s classics. At two years old, she was already dancing to names such as Prince and Anne, Sanne and Lis. Nowadays, music has founds its way to here. In recent years she has collaborated with producer Jeppe Pilgaard on a Danish-language, catchy and honest pop project with melodic references to the greatest singing icons from the 80s and 90s. Her songs are all derived from personal experiences, and her song for the Danish Melodi Grand Prix is no exception:
“Står lige her” is written for a close friend who needed help but was not ready to receive it. The song is for all of us who have tried to do everything for a close friend who is going through a difficult time. Maybe those with this 80s-inspired song can understand the helping hand – just in a different form. I’m standing right here. ”
Jeppe Pilgaard has formerly co-written Jeanette Bonde´s “Hurricane” at Dansk Melodi Grand Prix in 2017.
Patricia Namakula Mbabazi has her debut at Dansk Melodi Grand Prix but she participated in the second series of X-Factor (aired at DR in 2009) as a member of the group Alien Beat Club, who placed second.
Song#8: ‘ Beautiful ‘
Artist: Jean Michel
Lyrics and music: Clara Sofie Fabricius, Johannes Nymark , Jesper Hjersing Sidelmann and Andreas Jensen
Ever since he was a little boy, Jean Michel has always used music as a form of expression and as a sanctuary where he can put his feelings into a song. He experienced rave reviews in 2012, when he, participated in Danish X-Factor, in duo with Nicoline Simone before deciding to leave the competition.
Jean Michel has combined his passion for music with dance before, as he has appeared in Wallman shows at Cirkusbygningen for four years, while also appearing in musicals such as “Hair” and “Hairspray”.
Beautiful ‘ was written by singer-songwriter Clara Sofie Fabricius, who got her breakthrough with the hit Når tiden går baglæns ‘(When time flies in reverse’). ‘Beautiful” marks her 3rd entry at Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. In 2018 she co-wrote Rikke Ganer-Topsøe “Holder fast I ingenting” and in 2019 Jasmin Gabay “Kiss like this”.
Johannes Nymark is known for Dansk Melodi Grand Prix fans , who in 2016 won the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix with the group Lighthouse X and the song ‘Soldiers and Love’ . To round it up he made a hattrick hosting in 2017/2018/2018 but 2021 marks his debut as a songwriter at Dansk Melodi Grand Prix.
I even know the feeling of being “different” and a minority due to my sexuality and ethnicity. But even if you belong to a minority group, it is not necessarily negative – on the contrary. We have to pay tribute to diversity, and that is why the song “Beautiful ” is so relevant even today. If I can help just one person with my song, then I’m happy.”
Who are #YOU rooting for in Dansk Melodi Grand Prix this year? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, in the comments below, or on our forum page!
