On Saturday, January 21, the first of the Nordic National Finals will be held in Aalborg, Denmark, and Eurovision 2012 will have its third official song (after Switzerland’s “Unbreakable” and Albania’s “Suus”).  The Gigantium Arena will play host to the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, which has been the selection process for Denmark’s song since their ESC debut in 1957.  Denmark has fared well recently at Eurovision, scoring two Top Five places in the past two years.  Will one of these songs continue the trend, or even bring the competition to Copenhagen in 2013?

• Jesper Nohrstedt – “Take Our Hearts“
• Aya – “Best Thing I Got“
• Kenneth Potempa – “Reach for the Sky“
• Ditte Marie – “Overflow“
• Philip Halloun & Emilia – “Baby Love Me“
• Suriya – “Forever I B Young“
• Karen Viuff – “Universe“
• Soluna Samay – “Should’ve Known Better“
• Christian Brøns & Patrik Isaksson – “Venter“

While none of these names have performed on the ESC stage before, a quick look behind the scenes reveals a few veterans.  One of the authors of “Best Thing I Got” is Julie Frost, co-writer of Lena’s “Satellite” (and newly-minted Golden Globe award winner for Best Original Song, as she co-wrote “Masterpiece” with Madonna for the movie “W/E”.)  Furthermore, Karen Viuff’s “Universe” was co-written by Lise Cabble, who co-wrote the 1995 DMGP winner “Fra Mols til Skagen“.

The winner will be decided through two rounds of voting.  The first round (split between a public televote and a Danish jury) will determine which three acts will move on to the Superfinal.  The winner will be determined by a vote split between the Danish public (50%) and a series of juries from Denmark, Azerbaijan, Germany, Norway, and Russia.  The juries will include such names as Ell and Nikki, Alexander Rybak, Alexey Vorobyov, AySel, and Roger Cicero, among others.