Denmark was represented by rapper

Kølig Kaj Kølig Kaj, born Thomas Lægaard Sørensen (born 15 August 1971, Pindstrup, Denmark) is a Danish rapper who gained national fame in 1997 by winning Dansk Melodi Grand Prix with his song "'' Stemmen i mit liv''".''Ikke under jorden. Portræt: Køl ...

, with the song "Stemmen i mit liv", at the

1997 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ) and present ...

, which took place on 3 May in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. "Stemmen i mit liv" was chosen as the Danish entry at the

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix Dansk Melodi Grand Prix (), also known as Melodi Grand Prix or simply DMGP, is an annual music competition organised by the Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) since 1957, which determines the for the Eurovision Song Contest. The f ...

on 1 March.

Before Eurovision

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 1997

The final was held at the DR TV studios in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

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

. 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 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Love City Groove Love City Groove were a musical group who represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995, with their self-titled song after being the runaway winner in a public vote. The song finished tenth with 76 points; and peaked at No ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

), 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.

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 Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

and preceding

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. 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.

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1997

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pri ...