Denmark participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Should've Known Better" written by Chief 1, Remee and Isam B. The song was performed by Soluna Samay. The Danish broadcaster DR organised the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2012 in order to select the Danish entry for the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan. Ten songs competed in a televised show where "Should've Known Better" performed by Soluna Samay was the winner as decided upon through the combination of jury voting and public voting over two rounds.
Denmark was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 22 May 2012. Performing during the show in position 13, "Should've Known Better" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 26 May. It was later revealed that Denmark placed ninth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 63 points. In the final, Denmark performed in position 15 and placed twenty-third out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 21 points.
Background
Prior to the 2012 contest, Denmark had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty times since its first entry in 1957. Denmark had won the contest, to this point, on two occasions: in with the song "Dansevise" performed by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann, and in with the song "Fly on the Wings of Love" performed by Olsen Brothers. In the 2011 contest, "New Tomorrow" performed by A Friend in London qualified Denmark to the final placing fifth.
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 2012 Eurovision Song Contest on 15 May 2011. Denmark has selected all of their Eurovision entries through the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. On 15 August 2011, the broadcaster announced that Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2012 would be organised in order to select Denmark's entry for the 2012 contest.
Before Eurovision
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2012
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2012 was the 42nd edition of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, the music competition that selects Denmark's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The event was held on 21 January 2012 at the Gigantium in Aalborg, hosted by Louise Wolff and Emil Thorup and was televised on DR1 with commentary by Ole Tøpholm as well as streamed online at the official DR website. The national final was watched by 1.506 million viewers in Denmark.
Format
Ten songs competed in one show where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top three songs based on the combination of votes from a public vote and a five-member Danish jury panel qualified to the superfinal. In the superfinal, the winner was determined by again the votes of the jury and public. The jury vote in the superfinal included the Danish jury along with four international juries from the past four Eurovision Song Contest winning countries: Russia, Norway, Germany and Azerbaijan. Each international jury group was composed of five members. Viewers were able to vote via SMS.
The Danish jury was composed of:
Kenneth Bager (President) – DJ and producer
Laust Sonne – musician
Søs Fenger – singer-songwriter
Freja Loeb – musician and songwriter
Lars Trillingsgaard – music director of DR
Competing entries
DR opened a submission period between 15 August 2011 and 26 September 2011 for artists and composers to submit their entries. The broadcaster received 678 entries during the submission period. A selection committee selected six songs from the entries submitted to the broadcaster, while four of the participants were invited to compete based on editorial considerations: Christian Brøns and Patrik Isaksson, Jesper Nohrstedt, Soluna Samay and Suriya. DR held a press meet and greet at the DR Byen in Copenhagen on 5 January 2012 where the competing artists and songs were announced and officially presented. On 9 January 2012, "Nowhere" performed by Valentine was disqualified from the competition as the song was released before 1 September 2011, the date allowed by the European Broadcasting Union.