Denmark participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "The Way You Are", written by Remee and Chief 1. The song was performed by the band Anti Social Media. The Danish broadcaster DR organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2015 in order to select the Danish entry for the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria. Ten songs competed in a televised show where "The Way You Are" performed by Anti Social Media was the winner as decided upon through the combination of jury voting and public voting.
Denmark was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 19 May 2015. Performing during the show in position 13, "The Way You Are" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Denmark placed thirteenth out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 33 points.
The Danish national broadcaster, DR, broadcasts the event within Denmark and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. DR confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest on 22 May 2014. Denmark has selected all of their Eurovision entries through the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster announced that Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2015 would be organised in order to select Denmark's entry for the 2015 contest.[2]
Before Eurovision
Melodi Grand Prix 2015
Melodi Grand Prix 2015 was the 45th edition of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, the music competition that selects Denmark's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The event was held on 7 February 2015 at the Gigantium in Aalborg, hosted by Esben Bjerre Hansen and Jacob Riising and was televised on DR1 as well as streamed online at the official DR website.[3][4] The slogan for the 2015 edition of the competition was Drømmen lever (The Dream Lives), while the three star logo that had been in use since the 2009 edition was replaced with a new logo that featured a round organism from which sound waves emanate.[5][6]
Competing entries
DR opened a submission period between 4 July 2014 and 8 September 2014 for artists and composers to submit their entries. The entertainment director for DR, Jan Lagermand Lundme, stated that the competition would seek out "real songs that have a story to tell", mentioning the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 winning entry "Rise Like a Phoenix" and the second-placed entry "Calm After the Storm" as examples of such.[3] The broadcaster received 687 entries during the submission period.[7] A selection committee selected seven songs from the entries submitted to the broadcaster, while three of the participants were invited to compete based on editorial considerations.[8]
The competing artists and songs were to be officially presented on 26 January 2015, however, the entries were leaked on 24 January 2015 due to an early delivery of pre-ordered CDs.[9] DR subsequently confirmed the list of participants and held a press meet and greet on 26 January. Following the presentation, the entries were released on YouTube and the official album was made available on Danish streaming services.[10][11] Among the competing artists was Anne Gadegaard who represented Denmark in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003.[12]
Daniel Calvin Østergaard, Rune Braager, Martin Fliegenschmidt
Invited by DR
Final
The final took place on 7 February 2015. The winner, "The Way You Are" performed by Anti Social Media, was selected based on the combination of votes from a public vote (50%) and five regional juries (50%).[13] The viewers and the juries each had a total of 290 points to award. Each jury group, composed of three members and headed by a former Danish Eurovision Song Contest entrant, distributed their points as follows: 1-8, 10 and 12 points.[14][15] The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through SMS voting. For example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 290 points rounded to the nearest integer: 29 points.[16] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Danish Eurovision 2014 entrantBasim performed as the interval act.[17]
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation.[18] The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into five different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[19] On 26 January 2015, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Denmark was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 19 May 2015, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[20]
Once all the competing songs for the 2015 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Denmark was set to perform in position 13, following the entry from Russia and before the entry from Albania.[21]
Anti Social Media during a rehearsal before the first semi-final
Anti Social Media took part in technical rehearsals on 12 and 15 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 18 and 19 May. This included the jury show on 18 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[25]
The Danish performance featured the members of Anti Social Media dressed in retro outfits and performing in a band set-up with two backing vocalists in red dresses. The stage colours were black and white and the LED screens displayed white moving vertical line patterns with added bursts of colours.[26][27] The two backing vocalists that joined Anti Social Media were: Nellie Ettison and Johanna Beijbom.[28]
At the end of the show, Denmark was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.[29] It was later revealed that Denmark placed thirteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 33 points.[30]
Voting
Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.[31]
Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Denmark had placed fourteenth with the public televote and twelfth with the jury vote in the first semi-final. In the public vote, Denmark scored 23 points, while with the jury vote, Denmark scored 51 points.[32]
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Denmark and awarded by Denmark in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:
