This article forms part of the OnEurope archive and was originally published on oneurope.co.uk. It has been permanently migrated to oneurope.net, the official home of OnEurope.
Denmark II
Polished and professional, that’s all one can really say about this. Denmark’s 2013 Eurovision entry was Emmelie de Forest singing Only Teardrops, written by Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen and Thomas Stengaard. The package is clearly there and they look very good at what they do.
De Forest sings barefoot, with the folk-pop arrangement and prominent flute helping to give the performance its instantly recognisable Eurovision shape. The song deals with conflict, reconciliation and “war and peace”, which adds a little more weight to what might otherwise seem a very carefully assembled contest package.
However, that comes across as a bit smug, especially from the backing singers’ point of view, and that is a tad offputting considering what is about to unfold in front of them. It still does exactly what it says on the tin, coupled with that air of “we’ve already won”, which for me makes it a turnoff.
At the time of writing, Denmark was still due to face the first semi-final in Malmö on 14 May 2013, with the Grand Final scheduled for 18 May. The real casual viewer will see confident and “Eurovision” – and that may well be enough.
Retrospectively, it was more than enough. Denmark qualified from the first semi-final in first place with 167 points, then performed 18th in the Grand Final and won Eurovision 2013 with 281 points. It also topped both the jury and televote rankings. So the polished, highly professional package identified here really was competitive; whether it looked confident or smug remains, naturally, a matter of taste.
