Why does this blog exist?

Greetings,

I'm Avery Cross.

If you've found yourself on this blog, you most likely have at least an idea of what Eurovision is. For the unlikely few who somehow ended up on this page without any idea what I just said (Eurovision? Is that some kind of VR app?), here's the gist of it: Eurovision is an annual song contest simulcasted worldwide, where European countries (hence the Euro, unless you're Australia, that is) send their best musical artists to compete on the global stage.

This blog is, obviously, dedicated to discussing Denmark's involvement in the Eurovision Song Contest.

I'll be posting essays to this blog at least three more times in the coming months.

Stay tuned!

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An analysis of the Danish national identity

The term “national identity” can be defined as the sense of cohesion created by, among other things, a nation’s shared languages, traditions and customs, and political views. This can also sometimes, but not always, include racial homogeny. Raider. Unifier. Denmark’s identity is intrinsically intertwined with those of its fellow Nordic countries; once a conqueror, it was eventually forced to conform itself to powerful outside forces. A Northern Germanic Tribe, the Danes first arrived in what would become Denmark from the east Danish islands and Scania during the Roman Iron Age, which spanned the years 1 and 400 CE (Busck, Poulsen, & Paludan, 2002). Between the 8th and 10th centuries CE, Denmark and the wider Scandinavian region (Sweden and Norway) was home to the Vikings (Lund, n.d.). During this period, Denmark as we now know it was largely consolidated by the late 8th century CE. The current line of Danish monarchy began with Gorm the Old in the early 10th century CE (Stone,...

Danish nation branding in the Eurovision Song Contest

Nation branding, as defined by the book Diplomacy in a Globalizing World: Theories and Practices , is “the application of corporate marketing concepts and techniques to countries, in the interests of enhancing their reputation in international relations” (Kerr & Wiseman, 2018). In essence, this concept encapsulates the idea is that a country will attempt to “market” itself to the international community in a way that will emphasize certain elements of itself to create a positive image, while at the same time attempting to minimize or completely ignore its negative attributes. A form of propaganda, nation branding is highly prevalent at the annual Eurovision Song Contest, where it is encouraged for artists to perform in the native tongues of the countries they represent and essentialize their culture into a stereotype. While political pieces are strictly discouraged, many nations, or even just the artists themselves, may still use the event as a pulpit from which to preach their po...

An analysis of Danish diversity in Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song contest televised worldwide on an annual basis. Since its inception in 1956, Eurovision has had fifty-two participating countries, most of which are members of the European Broadcasting Union. Denmark has participated in the contest since the following year, 1957, and has won the event in 1963, 2000, and 2013. In this blog post, I will be evaluating their winning 2013 entry, as well as those of the years that bookend it, as well as judge Denmark’s attitude on diversity and what these performances suggest about the country itself. Denmark’s 2012 Eurovision entry, “Should’ve Known Better,” was performed by Soluna Samay, a Guatemalan singer who moved to Denmark at the age of ten (Soluna Samay, n.d.). The song itself is seemingly about losing faith in God, though the only real hint towards this in the inclusion of “inshallah,” Arabic for “if Allah wills it,” in the brid...

Eurovision: Denmark

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