A bit unexpected perhaps, but after the Danes had voted Simon Mathew was the winner of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2008. Whether or not he brings Denmark to the final we don’t know, but one thing is for sure; it will be All Night Long in Belgrade.
In Denmark it is quite often the case that the first song to recieve 12 points is also going to be winner. That was once again the case, although it wasn’t exactly the normal situation where the population agrees on who should win. This time the five regions of Denmark could not agree on anything else than that Simon belonged somewhere among the best half, a situation he was clearly benefitting from.
The Faroese punk band, The Dreams, were every bookmaker’s favourite to win, but the angry teenagers who did not want to be a part of a society where you are ecpexted to live under certain rules and behave in certain ways failed completely and was only a succes in Copenhagen.
With a bit of luck the winner would have been Unite and their Tree Of Life which was song in a mix of English, Arabic and Phillipiniens. They came second, two points behind Simon Mathew and four points ahead of third place Sandee May who gave us a bit of Spanish Soul. Those three songs were the only ones still in for the ticket to Belgrade when the televoting ended with Copenhagen deciding – everyone else were far behind and struggeling to avoid the embarassing null points.
Simon Mathew is quite used to competions as a couple of years ago he won the song competition Scenen er din, then the dancing program Vild med dans – and now the 2008 Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. Time will tell if he can do it in Belgrade as well. He is certainly in good hands with one of the songwriters, Jacob Launbjerg, who had tried it all before. His song Tænder på dig won the Danish final in 2005. It was song by Jacob Sveistrup who delievered an outstanding performance in Kiev and made sure that Denmark was automatically qualified for the final the year after.
In many ways All night long will be compared to Tænder på dig/Talking To You. Not only are they both written by Jacob Launbjerg, they are both songs which can be described as easy listening with a relaxed lean-back performance, they might be simple in its musical structure, but they work in a Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. Simon Mathew might not be nearly as relaxed on stage as Jacob Sveistrup was three years ago, but as he showed in the reprise then he does have it in him. Time will tell if he can bring it out on stage in Belgrade and party there all night long.
In my view
Simon Mathew and his All Night Long is very much a match to those traditional Danish sound- songs which Denmark do pretty well with at the Eurovision Song Contest. In a 2008 selection where many were proud of being anything else than a Melodi Grand Prix song Simon never tried to deliver anything else than a simple catchy song anyone can sing a long to. In a time where the Eurovision Song Contest is also bringing many examples of songs which are far from the "typical Eurovision sound" this might just be what Europe is longing for.
The opinion expressed in "In my view" are those of the author and are not necessarily the one of EuroVisionary.com.
