It’s the Eurovision down season, and don’t you for a second think we’re going to stop speculating, arguing, and pushing our heated opinions. Our latest series will look at the national finals of Eurovision, and discussing how we would reform the national finals of Eurovision. Today we’re having a look at DMGP.
In part 20 of this series Ben, Daniel, and Angus discuss what changes they’d make to Denmark’s NF.
What is DMGP?
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix is the oldest national final in the Eurovision sphere. The national final has been going since Denmark’s debut in the contest back in 1957. There are often around 8 acts who take part in this often singular night event. The voting process has changed over the years but currently the winner is determined by 50% jury voting and 50% televoting. Denmark is one of a few countries to introduce a super-final round which narrows the artists down to three before deciding the final result.
Do we like what the NF does so far, and do we think there’s a chance of it producing a winner?
Daniel
I could count on one hand the amount of DMGP songs I actually like. I think that DMGP has been consistently one of if not the worst national final in each of the past few years. 2023 especially was absolutely atrocious. There’s a very obvious reason that they have the longest NQ streak out of the active participants. At the current rate they’d be lucky to produce a finalist in the next few editions let alone a winner.
Angus
DMGP commits the one crime that is arguably worse than being bad: it is boring. I can’t even engage with it on negative terms, anytime I try to watch it or listen to the songs I zone out astoundingly quickly. Everything about it, from most of the songs to the format to the show itself, tend to feel offensively low-risk, low-reward, and worst of all low-effort. I need Denmark to improve because I cannot believe we are just a few years away from seeing a run of results and entries that is worse than the legendary Dutch NQ streak.
Ben
Denmark, I love you. I love København, I love kanelsnegl, and i love the Øresund. What I don’t love is DMGP. It is, every year, a hot mess. I can’t remember the last time DMGP produced a song I thought would get left-side of the scoreborard much less win. The show is stuck trying to repeat 2013 with no success.
What changes would we make to the National Final?
Daniel
Kill it. Burn it to the ground and start again. Go internal for a year or two if you must, the format just isn’t working at all. There’s absolutely no reason that Denmark shouldn’t be going head to head with their northern neighbours in Norway and Sweden when it comes to national final calibre. Yeet the Melfest songwriters into the sun and directly approach Danish artists and labels from all genres with an entirely new look show. The voting system here is terrible as well but I’ve talked at length about bad voting systems in shows that actually have other merits to speak of.
Angus
Just repeat everything Daniel has said, to be honest. Despite what DR and DMGP try to make us believe, there are good writers and performers from and/or active in Denmark. Also, change the name. It should be a source of national shame that Denmark’s contest needs to be called DMGP to avoid confusion with Norway’s MGP. As it is too late to truly popularize calling that NMGP or NRKMGP, just give the new national final format a new name. And yes, we do need something completely, utterly, entirely different. I personally would like to see battle of the bands-esque preliminaries in a small venue followed by a big, regular NF final. But if DR wants to get consistent good results, do what Daniel says. Approach artists and songwriters directly, take a FdC-style approach to things.
Ben
Like Daniel said, just put the show out of its misery already. The budged very visibly is shrinking year over year, the songs get worse year over year, and the Danish public gets worse year over year. At the rate things decline, I would vote for Emmelie de Forest sitting on stage and eating kanelsnegl (preferably from Lagkaghuset) for 3 minutes over the songs they have been sending. The two exceptions have been Fyr øg Flamme and Saba. Even then, they were the only quality songs in their respective years. They need to open up their minds to more diverse songs, go with an internal selection, and get the confidence of Danish musicians back. It is quite obvious that they aren’t showing good songs because barely anyone wants to compete. Going internal for a bit could save DR some ̀Krone that they can then flow into their main Eurovision act.
Do we think any reforms are likely to happen to this NF?
Daniel
Even the most basic problems are yet to be addressed, so if they were going to fix the bigger problems the show have, they would’ve done it by now, so I’m not holding out any hope for them to see sense.
Angus
I don’t think DR actually cares anymore, so no. Maybe if we all follow suit and actively stop caring too, we might get some improvements, but I won’t be holding my breath.
Ben
I think there is more of a chance for it to rain kanelsnegl than for DR to actually make change. No matter how much the budget gets cut, they will find a way to drag the rotting corpse of DMGP along for another year.
Denmark’s Eurovision Journey
Denmark first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1957 and notched up their first win in 1963 with Grethe and Jørgan Ingmann’s “Dansevise”. Denmark later earned two third-place finishes in 1988 and 1989 but was then relegated three times in 1994, 1996, and 1998. They finally achieved their second victory in 2000 with the Olsen Brothers’ “Fly on the Wings of Love”, and have missed the Grand Final eight times since the introduction of the semi-finals. A six-year qualification streak from 2008 culminated in its third win in 2013 with Emmelie de Forrest’s “Only Teardrops”.
Most recently, Saba represented Denmark after winning their national selection with her song “Sand”. She placed twelfth in the second semifinal, scoring 36 points.
What do you think about our reforms? As always, let us know what you think by commenting down below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky for all the latest Eurovision news!
News Source: That Eurovision Site
Photo Credit: DR
Tim J