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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.
The final was held at the DR TV studios in Copenhagen, 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.[1]
On the night of the final Kølig Kaj performed 21st in the running order, following Russia and preceding France. Both song and performance were the target of a great deal of mockery from contest commentators – the BBC's famously derisive Terry Wogan remarked "This is about an eejit who falls in love with directory inquiries" and later "I'd like to meet the man who introduced rap to Denmark, and give him a piece of my mind". Although widely considered as a likely candidate for the infamous nul-points, at the close of voting "Stemmen i mit liv" had received 25 points, placing Denmark 16th of the 25 entries.[2] The Danish jury awarded its 12 points to contest winners the United Kingdom.[3]
Denmark
