Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997
# Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997

Denmark was represented by rapper Kølig Kaj, with the song "Stemmen i mit liv", at the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 3 May in Dublin. "Stemmen i mit liv" was chosen as the Danish entry at the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix on 1 March.

## Before Eurovision

### Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 1997

The final was held at the DR TV studios in Copenhagen on 1 March 1997 and hosted by Hans Otto Bisgård. Ten songs competed in the contest and the winner was selected solely by a public televote, which led to the victory of "Stemmen i mit liv" performed by Kølig Kaj. The song won by a relatively narrow margin over "Utopia" performed Jette Torp, and was regarded as something of a risky choice as rap had only been tried once before at Eurovision (by the United Kingdom's Love City Groove in 1995), without a great deal of success. The show was watched by 1.1 million viewers in Denmark, making it the most popular show of the evening and third most popular show of the week.

Final – 1 March 1997 :

| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Televote | Place |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Lars Nielsen | "Du er den eneste" | Peter Michael | 535 | 8 |
| 2 | Gry Harrit | "Mon du tænker en smule på mig" | Erik Nielsen, Søren Kollerup | 185 | 10 |
| 3 | Gorm Bull Sarning | "Si' mig li' Mari" | Ebbe Ravn, Gorm Bull Sarning | 1,642 | 3 |
| 4 | Maria Abel | "Hyldest til livet" | Maria Abel, Michael Ronson | 1,275 | 5 |
| 5 | Stay Tuned | "Hvor går man hen med kærlighed" | Jacob Launbjerg | 452 | 9 |
| 6 | Dennis Ademsen Jensen | "Livet er en ubåd" | Knud Andersen, Michael Neergaard | 642 | 7 |
| 7 | Kølig Kaj | "Stemmen i mit liv" | Thomas Lægård, Lars Pedersen | 5,695 | 1 |
| 8 | Jette Torp | "Utopia" | Iben Plesner, Ivar Lind Greiner | 5,331 | 2 |
| 9 | Hans Olsen | "Et skyggespil" | Cathrine Borg, Hans Olsen | 916 | 6 |
| 10 | Lei Moe | "Vejen til paradis" | Kirsten Østrup, Tom Østrup | 1,432 | 4 |

## At Eurovision

Heading into the final of the contest, RTÉ reported that bookmakers ranked the entry 19th out of the 25 entries. On the night of the final Kølig Kaj performed 21st in the running order, following Russia and preceding France. At the close of voting "Stemmen i mit liv" had received 25 points, placing Denmark 16th of the 25 entries. The Danish jury awarded its 12 points to contest winners the United Kingdom. The contest was watched by a total of 1 million viewers in Denmark.

