Een verhelderend interview met de (licht pedante) chef ESF-zaken van de Deense omroep. We schrijven Denemarken vast met potlood op als non-qualifier volgend jaar.
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DR chief on the Danish Eurovision fiasco: 'No, we have not lost our grip'
The viewers slaughtered Danish Reiley in the semi-final, but DR's Grand Prix manager is satisfied with the Danish performance.
- Extremely annoying.
This is how DR's Grand Prix manager, Erik Struve Hansen, describes the defeat that Denmark experienced on the Eurovision stage on Thursday evening.
Here, the Faroese Reiley failed to sing his way through the evening's semi-final, and thus Denmark is out of this year's Eurovision Song Contest.
It is the third time in a row that Denmark has missed out on a place in the finals at the world's biggest music competition, and the result upsets Struve, who is in charge of Melodi Grand Prix in DR.
- I think we came up with one of the biggest and most modern pop songs in the evening's field. That the countries that could vote tonight did not vote for us, there is not much to be done about that. It's a shame, but that's how it is in Eurovision, says Erik Struve Hansen about the Danish Eurovision fiasco.
However, the flop did not come as a big surprise, if the bookmakers are to be believed.
In the hours leading up to the semi-finals, Reiley was not tipped for a finals spot. And after the Faroese singer had been on stage, the bookmakers' confidence in a Danish ticket to the final plunged further.
However, Erik Struve Hansen is more than satisfied with the performance Reiley delivered on Thursday evening.
-I think Reiley gave his best performance yet. He was present on stage and his vocals were right in the closet. And that is precisely why we all hoped that we would go ahead, says Erik Struve Hansen and continues:
- But from the bottom of my heart I can say that I can stand on target for this number and Reiley as an artist. I think he's really cool and I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of him.
However, it will not be in Saturday's Eurovision final that the viewers get a reunion with Reiley.
Instead, the songs from countries such as Armenia, Cyprus, Poland, Slovenia and Albania advanced to the final.
And according to Erik Struve Hansen, the composition of the countries in Thursday's semi-final may very well have had an influence on the Danish result.
-We were in a semi-final, where there were quite a few countries from different latitudes than ours. Countries where the modern pop sound that Reiley brings may not have its main audience, he says, and continues:
- It's hard to know what people in Albania and Greece, for example, have thought about our song, but if I'm honest, I think that could be one of the reasons.
At the same time, however, Erik Struve Hansen states that, in his eyes, Eurovision is not something for which there is a recipe for success in advance.
-I have worked with music throughout my career and I have gradually established that Eurovision is the most unpredictable phenomenon in the world. It's not something you can "calculate", he says and continues:
- But I think we came up with a really well-written pop song and an artist with a really unique image. Perhaps it was a little too advanced for the general population of Europe?
Denmark out for the third time in a row
It is the third time in a row that Denmark has been excluded from the big Eurovision final.
In 2021, the hitmakers Fyr og Flamme narrowly missed out on a place in the final, and last year the group Reddi also failed to sing Denmark further in the competition.
Subsequently, DR was subjected to harsh criticism from fans and experts who believed that the channel had lost its grip on the Grand Prix, and the Danish final flop was even called "decidedly embarrassing".
However, Erik Struve Hansen denies that Denmark - which has previously won the competition three times - has lost its grip on Eurovision.
- No, we haven't lost our grip. It is clear that we really want to break this unfortunate shoal that has hit Denmark in the last few years. But I personally also think that Dansk Melodi Grand Prix has recently taken some steps in some directions, which I myself find exciting, and that we have raised the musical level especially this year, he says and continues:
- The fact that it doesn't bear fruit in tonight's semi-final is just extremely annoying, and that is also something we will take with us in the work with next year's Dansk Melodi Grand Prix.
Will not scrap Dansk Melodi Grand Prix
Because something like this will still happen next year, the Grand Prix boss asserts.
Because where other countries have previously been successful in scrapping the national final in favor of an internal selection of the country's Eurovision entry – often with good results as a result – this is not a model we will see in Denmark.
- No, I can't imagine that. There are so many traditions around Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, and it is one of the most watched programs of its kind in Denmark over the course of an entire year, he says and continues:
- It has been a tradition that we have gathered around for decades, and I think it can do a lot of things in its own right as a large, unifying event around which we meet and have opinions about. It would be a shame to tinker, says Erik Struve Hansen, but states that DR is already looking at how to optimize next year's Dansk Melodi Grand Prix.
- We are already in the process of looking at what strategy we will have for next year's Grand Prix musically. That work already started before Eurovision, and we will continue with it - of course with the experiences we take with us from tonight's semi-final.
As mentioned, Saturday's final will be without Denmark. Our Nordic neighbors Sweden, Finland and Norway, on the other hand, are there and are all among the absolute winning favourites. The final can be seen on Saturday at 9pm on DRTV and on DR1.
Bron: dr.dk