Denmark DENMARK 2017 - Anja Nissen - Where I Am

[DanielLuis]

I am surprised at how low the number of views on youtube yesterday's performance has. It's so low compared to most of the other qualifiers, and about the same as the non-qualifiers

 

[Milos-BC]

This is one of the best looking acts on TV. Not a huge fan of the song but she nailed it and deserved to qualify.

 

[alca]

She didn't deserve to be that low.

 

[ChrisOL]

Australia saved her with 8 televoting points

 

[henhu]

5 televoting points in semi. It's more ridiculous than Israel last year...

 

[JonnyWest]

I always thought this was overrated as hell

 

[cassio]

Im a bit disappointed, of course I expected top 15 and hoped for top 10. Nether than less: What a chocking fact the we only qualified with a few points. how dare you semi 2 voters oOX Anja deserved more !!

With a good producer and some fav. co song writhers it will not be the last performance Anja had in Europe. Her voice and live performance is top class uniq !!!!

 

[RainyWoods]

I voted for Denmark

Anja's vocals were such high levels of slay and the song has just such an enjoyable vibe to it. I was shocked to see the public not care about this song at all. I guess that's the curse of me finally loving a Danish entry At least we could enjoy it in the final though. It would have been very sad if this missed.

 

[Brandt]

So is it safe to say that if Russia was not disqualified, Denmark was not going to be the qualifier

 

[Phoenix]

This was 3 minutes of shouting over a bland instrumental, not surprised at the result. Denmark has been serving dull MOR pop realness for most of the decade, I hope this makes them finally switch up a bit.

 

[Alaska49]

i actually thought this was going to be a televote killer and then suffer with the juries because it's a bit dated and over the top. you know, like colour of your life. it's bizarre to me that this suffered so much on the televote even in semifinal.

 

[Realest]

Thank God that Russia withdraw their entry. But what the h went wrong with the icelandish Televoter? I think it was the first time since long time they did this.

 

[Ezio]

So is it safe to say that if Russia was not disqualified, Denmark was not going to be the qualifier

I'd rather say, that Belarus would not have qualified. They got a lot of votes that would have otherwise been attributed to Russia.

 

[Pawhlen]

I calculated the results in the semi-finals with both the old systems and wouldn´t have qualified in any of them sadly. would have done that with 2009-2012 system and would have done that with 2013-2015 system


Ezio: Probably together with

 

[blue00eyes]

I secretly *no more* love this song, I like it more than "Only teardrops"

 

[tuorem]

My review of "Where I Am":

-So Denmark, which I like to call "Safeland" when it comes to Eurovision, is a nation that never impressed me in the contest. I closely follow the shows since 2009 and I must say the only song from them I can stand is "Only Teardrops", and even that song isn't groundbreaking by any means: 2013 is definitely the weakest year of the decade so far imo, yet I still wonder how that song could win. Anyway, after two (deserved and refreshing) failures, Danes changed their formats by finally abandoning their cravings for boy bands. While I applauded that move, I didn't exactly hold my breath for their next entry and, in hindsight, I'm glad I didn't because it's once again a "NO" from me. If you're a fan of the song and you're reading this, then you can stop here because you will find no mercy in this post "Where I Am" is a power ballad, the standard Hot 100 X-factor winner debut song kind, which is in my book peremptory. It starts with two gospel-like sentences sung by backing vocalists, then a chill beat, quiet synths and some more backing voices interventions make up most of the instrumentation. Actually, I do like the 90's R&B-ish vibe I get from the song, the melody is quite easy-listening and lovely for what it is at the beginning. Once the chorus arrives, a heavier beat pattern takes the lead, the main melodic lines are relatively catchy too, even though quite scream-inducing. And... that's it! The arrangements are pretty much linear here, there is no musical twist or pause: the only slight variations one can hear are ad-libs and minor vocal modulations here and there. Come to think of it, this is not a bad song - far from it in fact - it just doesn't have any kind of personality or originality (especially for a song contest). It's a shame because 90's R&B music was great and I would have loved to hear an upgraded version of that song going frankly in that direction: there is the vibe, but that's not enough. As it is, it's more like: quickly heard, quickly forgotten. I don't skip it when it plays (unlike pretty much all the previous Danish entries), yet it's not an entry I would listen to intentionally. Pros: the 90's R&B-ish vibe. Cons: unoriginal overall and too linear arrangement-wise.

My personal highlight of the song would actually be the beginning (intro + first verse), which I enjoy to some extent. Too bad the rest doesn't live up to my expectations, I wish it were crazier and more ambitious (more gospel or R&B maybe).

-Vocally, Anja is faultless: she hits the notes every single time and sings like in the studio version. HOWEVER, to me she's the main reason why any kind of potential the song might have had was definitely ruined. Let me explain: to me a good singer isn't merely someone who's able to sing in tune, that person also has to know how to convey emotions and master his/her instrument enough to use it astutely... which imo Anja doesn't. Firstly, her vocal tone is very banal, so it doesn't help: yet she could have worked on a more subtle interpretation of the song in order to create a nice build-up while giving justice to the lyrics. I get it: she's young and she won x-factor, but what works in talent shows doesn't necessarily work in musical contests. All she did was showcasing her voice at full power since the very first chorus, which prevented any opportunity to create a climax later on, and as a result, after the two first minutes, it sounded like a succession of impactless wails. To sum up, what I'm trying to say is that: Anja succeeded in making the song sound even more basic and x-factor-ish than it is, she sang it in a crude fashion which imo was absolutely not the way to go, and she didn't convey any kind of emotion to me. To be frank, I think either Anja needed a song that suited her voice more, or "Where I Am" needed another singer: ideally, I would have liked a black singer to sing this. I'm sure it would have sounded less plain.

-Visually, it was the bare minimum: I get it they might have considered it secondary, still I doubt it did them any favour. The background screen was basically filled with curves and moving light points (like bubbles in water). At the beginning, it was blue/purple, then it turned orange-ish during the chorus. I liked how they used the white/orange spotlights though, maybe that's an idea they could have built on. Camera-wise, it's clear they wanted the focus to be Anja, but for this to work, she would have needed to work on her gestures and facial expressions: as it was, she was simply walking on stage and singing like she was in her living-room: despite the constant closeups, I didn't feel any kind of particular connection. The best part was the bridge when the camera filmed her standing in front of the crowd. Then things escalated quickly when she knelt down and the pyro curtain appeared: I feel like the curtain is the ultimate element to use when one doesn't know how to give a presentation a visual boost in a creative way. Here, I don't see the point of using it, it was anti-climatic and borderline cheesy tbh. Fashion-wise, Anja wore a long red dress she apparently wore a lot during the Eurovision season... Well, the colour is nice but I don't think the shape of it was that flattering on her, her hairstyle was also not the best given the shape of her face. I liked the earrings though. Overall, I think they should have worked more on the presentation, it was a tricky song to stage, yet what they did was so basic and eneventful only a singer that oozes charisma would have saved this. Danes should change their team, their last efforts have also sucked monkey balls visually-speaking.

-Results-wise, I wasn't surprised to see Denmark qualify even though I wished they wouldn't. They clearly tried to follow the steps of Australia 2016, which was as basic and unsubtle. However their final placing (20th) gave me comfort, I'm glad people didn't buy this and, honestly, Anja was already booked for flop after they revealed she would perform between Francesco and Salvador, no way she could have fared decently with such a bad starting position. I found it sad that juries (again) saved this along with Austria in the second semi (come on, there were better songs than this), I would have loved Serbia to be the borderline qualifier instead. The 8 points in televoting from Australia (what a coincidence!) were cute, I'm sure people voted based on the song Anyway, Danes need to wake up one day. I resign myself to actually like a Danish entry, since what they send is not my cup of tea at all musically. And on top of that, they are equally boring visually, at least they don't try to sell me trash in a pretty box Sweden-style, I'll give 'em that. See you next year guys!

I'll resume my reviews next weekend as I'll be away for a few days

 

[Realest]

I still think that Anja wouldnt have been saved by the Juries if she wasnt half-australian.

 

[esc87fan]

As a Eurovision fan, I'm disgusted by this: someone calling herself Porche Adams stole Anja's song and released it as her own under the title "Armour". What's worse is that she stole the photos she uses from another account

The link is here for those who can see it, apparently she's blocked those who have exposed her including myself
https://www.instagram.com/p/BU2qTBwgZET/?taken-by=porcheadams

This is directly from Anja's account:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbmZdgVAxqb/?taken-by=anjanissen

Porche has also stolen songs from Sanna Nielsen (Sweden 2014) and Molly Sanden (Melfest participant)

 

[Mainshow]

1 point. I completely agree with the televoters. Should have never qualified. The intro is already gettin' on my nerves. A song which doesn't got anywhere.

 

[pastablanche]

hi I made this video, enjoy