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.
Before Eurovision
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2009
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2009 was the 39th edition of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, the music competition that selects Denmark's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The event was held on 31 January 2009 at the MCH Messecenter Herning in Herning, hosted by Danish Eurovision Song Contest 1989 representative Birthe Kjær and Felix Smith.[3][4][5] The show was televised on DR1 as well as streamed online at the official DR website.
Format
Ten songs competed in one show where the winner was determined over three rounds of voting. In the first round, the top four songs based on the combination of votes from a public vote and a seven-member jury panel qualified to a second round of voting. In the second round, the four songs competed against each other in two duels and the winner of each duel determined exclusively by a public vote qualified to the final round of voting. In the final round, the winner was determined exclusively by the public vote. Viewers were able to vote via SMS.[6]
Kalle Meyer Vestergaard – winner of the DR P4 radio program Danmarksmester
Competing entries
DR opened a submission period between 25 August 2008 and 8 October 2008 for artists and composers to submit their entries.[7] The broadcaster received 684 entries during the submission period.[8][9] A selection committee selected six songs from the entries submitted to the broadcaster. Four of the participants: Jeppe, Marie Carmen Koppel, Jimmy Jørgensen and Johnny Deluxe were invited to compete based on editorial considerations. The competing artists and songs were officially presented during a press conference at the DR Byen in Copenhagen on 9 January 2009.[10][11]
The songs were to be officially released on 30 January 2009, however, the entries were leaked prematurely due to an early release of the official album by record company My Way Music. 17 legal downloads were made before the album was taken off and one of them was uploaded online via YouTube and published as an illegal sharing file on the internet. My Way Music subsequently took legal action against the person who illegally published the sharing file.[12]
Claes Andreasson, Torbjörn Wassenius, Johan Sahlén, Niels Kvistborg
Final
The final took place on 31 January 2009. In the first round of voting the top four advanced to the second round based on the votes of a six-member jury (50%) and a public vote (50%). The four entries were "Det' det" performed by Sukkerchok, "Someday" performed by Hera Björk, "Sindssyg" performed by Johnny Deluxe and "Believe Again" performed by Brinck. In the second round, "Someday" performed by Hera Björk and "Believe Again" performed by Brinck were selected solely by a public vote as the winners of the duels and advanced to the final round. In the final round, the winner, "Believe Again" performed by Brinck, was selected solely by the public vote.[13]
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.
Split Results
In the Final Denmark came 13th with 74 points: the public awarded Denmark 19th place with 40 points and the jury awarded 6th place with 120 points.