After winning the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö in May, Denmark's ambitions remain sky high. Not only does broadcaster DR want to produce a world class show next year, it also wants to make sure its own entry does well on home turf or even wins for the second year in a row!
Today, DR opened for entries to be submitted for its much revered national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. Last year, the show was held at the Boxen Arena in Herning (which incidentally is a candidate to host next year's Eurovision Song Contest), where Emmelie de Forest won the right to represent her country with the song Only Teardrops. She then went on to win the competition in Malmö just a few months later.
When discussing next year's national final, DR's Entertainment Editor, Rasmus Ladefoged said:
"The last time Denmark hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, we came second with Rollo & King. If we can do a little better next year, I'll be happy".
He went on to say:
"We want to win again. We are looking for modern, catchy pop songs with a strong chorus. We want both massive hits and songs that break with tradition and help to develop Dansk Melodi Grand Prix".
Another record breaking year predicted
This year, a record breaking 692 songs were sent in to DR and for 2014 they want to improve on this even further. Rasmus Ladefoged believes that this should be easy to achieve in the wake of Denmark's victory in Sweden:
"Emmelie de Forest has shown that Denmark belongs at the top of international pop music and we can already sense a huge interest in next year's Dansk Melodi Grand Prix".
As in previous years, the national final will be made up of between 9 and 10 entries, 6 of which will be chosen from a so-called open competition whilst the other 3 to 4 will be provided by composers invited especially by DR.
As the host country next year, Denmark is automatically qualified to the Grand Final of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, which will take place on the 10th of May. The Semi-Finals will take place on the 6th and 8th of May. So far no host city has been chosen but the candidates are Copenhagen, Herning and Horsens.
