Only Teardrops

Album: Only Teardrops (2013)
Charted: 15
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Songfacts®:

  • This flute-fueled ballad was Denmark's winning song to the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 held in Malmö, Sweden. 20-year-old Emmelie de Forest competed in the final against 25 other songs, and finished in first place with 281 points. Denmark's last victory at Eurovision was in 2000.

    Upon winning Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2013, the song immediately debuted on the Danish top 40 chart, Tracklisten, at #2.
  • Emmelie began singing at the age of nine and sang with her mother in a gospel choir for several years. She started touring all over Denmark with the Scottish musician Fraser Neill at the age of 14, performing both her own songs and folk/blues-versions of well-known hits. An important part of Emmelie's stage performance has always been her lack of footwear, following in the barefoot steps of the 1967 Eurovision winner Sandie Shaw, who also liked to perform without shoes.
  • Emmelie said that as soon as she heard the song, she fell in love with it. "It has a melancholic feeling to it," she said, "and it is about war and peace, both in a relationship and in the world as a whole. I believe these are issues that people all over the world can relate to."
  • This was co-written by Lise Cabble, former vocalist for the girl band Miss B. Haven. It was not Cabble's first contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest as she previously wrote with the drummer of Miss B. Haven, Mette Mathiesen, the 1995 Danish entry, "Fra Mols til Skagen." Performed in Danish by Aud Wilken, it received 92 points, placing fifth in a field of 23.

    Sixteen years later, Cabble co-penned with Jakob Glæsner "New Tomorrow" an English language song by Danish pop/rock band A Friend in London for the 2011 contest. Again it finished fifth overall, this time with 134 points.

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