Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Eurovision Song Contest 2004
Country	Denmark
National selection
Selection process	Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2004
Selection date(s)	7 February 2004
Selected entrant	Tomas Thordarson
Selected song	"Shame on You"
Selected songwriter(s)	Ivar Lind Greiner Iben Plesner
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Failed to qualify (13th)
Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2002 • 2004 • 2005►

Denmark participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "Shame on You" written by Ivar Lind Greiner and Iben Plesner. The song was performed by Tomas Thordarson. The Danish broadcaster DR returned to the Eurovision Song Contest after a one-year absence following their relegation from 2003 as one of the bottom five countries in the 2002 contest. DR organised the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2004 in order to select the Danish entry for the 2004 contest in Istanbul, Turkey. Ten songs competed in a televised show where "Sig det' løgn" performed by Tomas Thordarson was the winner as decided upon through two rounds of public voting. The song was later translated from Danish to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Shame on You".

Denmark competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2004. Performing during the show in position 19, "Shame on You" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Denmark placed thirteenth out of the 22 participating countries in the semi-final with 56 points.

Background

Main article: Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2004 contest, Denmark had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-two times since its first entry in 1957. ^[1] Denmark had won the contest, to this point, on two occasions: in 1963 with the song "Dansevise" performed by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann, and in 2000 with the song "Fly on the Wings of Love" performed by Olsen Brothers. In the 2002 contest, the nation finished in twenty-fourth (last) place with the song "Tell Me Who You Are" performed by Malene Mortensen.

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 2004 Eurovision Song Contest on 27 August 2003. ^[2] 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 2004 would be organised in order to select Denmark's entry for the 2004 contest. ^[2]

Before Eurovision

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2004

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2004 was the 34th 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 2004 at the Atletion in Aarhus, hosted by Natasja Crone and Peter Mygind and televised on DR1. ^[3] The national final was watched by 1.779 million viewers in Denmark. ^[4]

Competing entries

DR opened a submission period between 1 October 2003 and 3 November 2003 for composers to submit their entries. All composers and lyricists were required to be Danish citizens or have Danish residency, while all songs were required to be performed in Danish. ^[5] The broadcaster received 315 entries during the submission period. ^[6] A seven-member selection committee selected ten songs from the entries submitted to the broadcaster, while the artists of the selected entries were chosen by DR in consultation with their composers. ^[7] The competing songs were announced on 22 December 2003 with their artists being announced on 8 January 2004. ^{[8] [9]} Among the artists was Helge Engelbrecht (member of Neighbours) who represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987 as part of Bandjo. ^[10]

Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)
Claes Wegener	"For jeg kan li' dig"	Misha Popovic, Nanna Kalinka Bjerke
Ditlev Ulriksen	"Hvor end du går hen"	Søren Poppe
Jan Klausen	"Stjerner blinker i dit navn"	Jan Klausen
Kaare Thøgersen	"Lykkelig i nat"	Mette Mathiesen
Mathias Kryger	"Lonnie, kom nu hjem"	Henrik Askou, Regin Fuhlendorf
Nanna Larsen	"Kys mig en gang til"	Nanna Larsen
Neighbours	"Solens sang"	Helge Engelbrecht
Petsi Tvørfoss	"Mest når det er regn"	Niels Drevsholt
Tomas Thordarson	"Sig det' løgn"	Ivar Lind Greiner
Zididada	"Prinsesse"	Jimmy Colding, Danny Linde

Final

The final took place on 7 February 2004 where the winner was determined over two rounds of public voting. In the first round of voting the top five advanced to the superfinal. In the superfinal, the winner, "Sig det' løgn" performed by Tomas Thordarson, was selected. ^{[11] [12]} Viewers were able to vote via telephone or SMS and the telephone voting results of each of Denmark's four regions as well as the SMS voting results in the superfinal were converted to points which were each distributed as follows: 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points. ^[13]

Final – 7 February 2004

Draw	Artist	Song	Result
1	Kaare Thøgersen	"Lykkelig i nat"	Eliminated
2	Neighbours	"Solens sang"	Advanced
3	Petsi Tvørfoss	"Mest når det er regn"	Advanced
4	Mathias Kryger	"Lonnie, kom nu hjem"	Eliminated
5	Claes Wegener	"For jeg kan li' dig"	Eliminated
6	Jan Klausen	"Stjerner blinker i dit navn"	Eliminated
7	Zididada	"Prinsesse"	Advanced
8	Nanna Larsen	"Kys mig en gang til"	Eliminated
9	Ditlev Ulriksen	"Hvor end du går hen"	Advanced
10	Tomas Thordarson	"Sig det' løgn"	Advanced

Superfinal – 7 February 2004

Draw	Artist	Song	Televoting Regions				SMS	Total	Place
			Jutland	Funen	Zealand and Islands	Capital Region
1	Neighbours	"Solens sang"	10	8	6	8	8	40	3
2	Petsi Tvørfoss	"Mest når det er regn"	4	4	10	4	4	26	5
3	Zididada	"Prinsesse"	8	10	8	10	10	46	2
4	Ditlev Ulriksen	"Hvor end du går hen"	6	6	4	6	6	28	4
5	Tomas Thordarson	"Sig det' løgn"	12	12	12	12	12	60	1

At Eurovision

It was announced that the competition's format would be expanded to include a semi-final in 2004. According to the rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final on 12 May 2004 in order to compete for the final on 15 May 2004; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. On 23 March 2004, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Denmark was set to perform in position 19, following the entry from Croatia and before the entry from Serbia and Montenegro. ^[14] Tomas Thordarson performed the English version of "Sig det' løgn" at the contest, titled "Shame on You". ^[15] At the end of the semi-final, Denmark was not announced among the top 10 entries and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Denmark placed thirteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 56 points. ^[16]

The semi-final and final were broadcast on DR1 with commentary by Jørgen de Mylius. The Danish spokesperson, who announced the Danish votes during the final, was Camilla Ottesen.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Denmark and awarded by Denmark in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the semi-final and to Sweden in the final of the contest.

Points awarded to Denmark

Points awarded to Denmark (Semi-final) ^[17]

Score	Country
12 points	Iceland
10 points	Monaco
8 points
7 points
6 points	Norway
5 points	Israel   Sweden
4 points	Finland
3 points	Bosnia and Herzegovina   Cyprus   Estonia
2 points	Malta   Romania
1 point	Turkey

Points awarded by Denmark

Points awarded by Denmark (Semi-final) [17] Score Country 12 points   Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 points   Serbia and Montenegro 8 points   Netherlands 7 points   Albania 6 points   Ukraine 5 points   Cyprus 4 points   Malta 3 points   Greece 2 points   Israel 1 point   Macedonia

Points awarded by Denmark (Final) [18] Score Country 12 points   Sweden 10 points   Turkey 8 points   Bosnia and Herzegovina 7 points   Serbia and Montenegro 6 points   Cyprus 5 points   Ukraine 4 points   Albania 3 points   Greece 2 points   Iceland 1 point   Malta

References

1. "Denmark Country Profile". EBU . Retrieved 17 August 2014.
2. Ringby, Daniel (27 August 2003). "Denmark: one final for 2004". Esctoday. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
3. "Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2004". dr.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 16 November 2022.
4. Christensen, Kasper Madsbøll (10 March 2014). "1,8 millioner fulgte med da Basim vandt Melodi Grand Prix". dr.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 16 November 2022.
5. "Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2004". dr.dk (in Danish). 1 October 2003. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
6. "315 bidrag til Dansk Melodi Grand Prix". politiken.dk (in Danish). 3 November 2003. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
7. Nielsen, Stig Hartvig (3 November 2003). "315 bidrag til Melodi Grand Prix 2004". danskradio.dk (in Danish).
8. Bakker, Sietse (22 December 2003). "Denmark: 10 songs for Melodi Grand Prix 2004". Esctoday. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
9. Bakker, Sietse (8 January 2004). "Names of participants Denmark released". Esctoday. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
10. "DANISH NATIONAL FINAL 2004".
11. "DANISH NATIONAL FINAL 2004".
12. Due, Carina (8 February 2004). "Tomas Thordarson vandt Melodi Grand Prix". gaffa.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 16 November 2022.
13. "Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2004". 4lyrics. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
14. Bakker, Sietse (23 March 2004). "Eurovision 2004: this is the running order!". Esctoday. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
15. Phillips, Roel (5 March 2004). "Danish song entitled Shame on you". Esctoday. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
16. "Semi-Final of Istanbul 2004". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
17. "Results of the Semi-Final of Istanbul 2004". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
18. "Results of the Grand Final of Istanbul 2004". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.