Danish sandcastles!
SENSATIONAL SABA SELECTED TO REPRESENT THE DANES IN MALMӦ!
By Chris Zeiher (twitter @chriszeiher, Instagram @chriszeihertravel)
On the evening of February 17, 2024, Copenhagen’s DR Koncerthuset hosted the 54 th (what now?)
staging of the Danish international selection competition Dansk Melodi Grand Prix to determine its
participant for the Eurovision Song Contest. Let’s be frank, there’s been very little to get excited
about in the Danish selection in the last half decade and their results at Eurovision have been woeful.
Where other Nordic nations internal selection processes have become much improved (see Finland
and Norway) the Danes have been left wanting.
Could this year see a reversal of fortune? Would any of the eight acts competing in this year’s
internal competition break the run of successive non-quals? And, with Malmӧ hosting the glittery
grand event again, could one of these ditties even go on and win the entire competition (hold on…let’s
not get ahead of ourselves!).
So, who was in the running?
1. Saba – “Sand” – rousing pop anthem with nods to Loreen
2. Stella – “Sign Here” – radio-friendly power girl rock
3. CHU CHU – “The Chase (Zoom Zoom)” – alt dance (is that a thing?) which was weirdly
familiar (*cough - Triana Park *cough - Line)
4. Basim – “Johnny” – dance-pop about aged care and assisted living (um, yep)
5. RoseeLu – “Real Love” – pure power pop
6. UBLU – “Planetary Hearts” – alt pop/rock verging on “novelty act”
7. Janus Wiberg – “I Need Your Love” – the obvious gravelly man-ballad that the Danes
inexplicably love.
8. Aura Dione – “Mirrorball of Hope” – folk pop from an award-winning and much-loved artist
The Danish public were granted early access to voting and had all week to cast their votes via the DR
Grand Prix app. These votes, along with those captured by SMS and App voting on the night of the
show, were collated to reveal the Top 3 artist moving into the superfinal.
Prior to the competition Aura Dione, the most well-regarded artist in the lineup, and model-actor-
singer Saba, who’s struggles with mental health had been subject of a documentary in Denmark,
looked to be the two to beat.
The show opened strongly with Saba’s “Sand” setting the tone for the event as the deserved favourite
delivered a delicious performance executing her vocals brilliantly. Denmark’s 2014 representative
Basim proved the perfect showman for his high energy pop-track whose subject matter does not quite
match the styling or delivery. RoseeLu’s dancers wore near floor-length UNIQLO padded jackets
ultimately distracting from a half-decent pop song. And Aura Dione sat atop a massive Mirrorball
dressed as a mermaid (thank you Ms Dione).