Denmark

[A little programming note.  This post was originally supposed to auto-publish on Sunday, but apparently doesn't happen when the blogger accidentally picks a date two weeks from what was intended...Major ooopsy!]

Like most other Western European countries, Denmark has a mixed-bag history at the Eurovision Song Contest.  The country started participating in 1957 and the debut song placed a respectable third in that year's Contest.  Denmark's next six entries all placed in the Top Ten, and in 1963, Denmark was able to take the trophy home in London with husband and wife team Grethe and Jorgen Ingmann's Dansevise.

Then came Denmark's less-than-diserable fourteenth place finish (out of 17 participants) in Luxembourg in 1966 (it was their worst finish until that point).  After the London performance, Denmark left the Contest for more than a decade, returning 1978 to the contest being hosted in Paris.  Since then and until their next win in 2000 (coincidentally hosted by Stockholm), Denmark has floated up and down the final score charts (eleven Top Ten finishes are not something to be scoffed at, especially when they include two consecutive 3rd place finishes in 1988 and 1989).  After unexpectedly the Contest in 2000 with the Olsen Brothers' Fly on the Wings of Love, Denmark almost pulled off the elusive win on home turf with Rollo & King's performance of Never Ever Let You Go in 2001 (which eventually came in second).

In the 2000s (and after the introduction of a massive number of new countries), Denmark continued its Eurovision roller-coaster ride(s), with an eclectic brew of Danish rap, drag queen disco, traditional Eurovision pop, and hippie folk/pop songs (the latter was delivered in Baku last year by Soluna Samay with Should've Known Better, which earned Denmark its second-worst result).

This year, Denmark will be represented in Malmo by Emmelie de Forest and her song Only Teardrops, a mixture of folksy elements and feisty vocals.  The song is heavily favored to win this year's contest, since virtually all betting sites have Emmelie winning her Semi-Final and neck and neck with Norway and the Netherlands for the win during the Final on May 18 (remember, these are the same folks who predicted Loreen's sweep during last year's competition).  If these numbers are right, the Danes may have good reason to be excited (and  maybe foaming at the mouth) about the possibility of hosting next year in Copenhagen.  [For the record, Copenhagen is just  a drive across across the Oresund Bridge from Malmo, so this would be the shortest trip the trophy would make to get to its new home.]  That said, do I like this song on its own, or because it and its performance remind me of Shakira?