On Thursday, the BBC opened its submission period for its 2017 national selection, and already it has attracted the attention of one previous Eurovision winner — though this time as a songwriter. Danish artist Emmelie de Forest, who won Eurovision 2013 with “Only Teardrops” — revealed on social media that she has been attending a songwriting camp focused on writing for the British national selection.

Busy in the studio
Busy in the studio

Denmark’s third Eurovision winner posted a series of videos and photos to her Snapchat account (emmydeforest) which showed her hard at work at Medley Studios in Copenhagen.

The caption on the photos described Emmelie as being at the “Writing Camp for Eurovision songs for the UK Eurovision #medleystudio #copenhagen”

It’s not known if the songs created at the Danish songwriting camp will be entered along with the public submissions, or whether they will be considered as part of the BBC’s direct liaising with industry experts.

In the BBC’s earlier press release, music industry consultant Hugh Goldsmith said the British team were looking for a song that “will need to combine emotive lyrics and memorable melodies with a brilliant production.”

While Emmelie de Forest did not write her 2013 Eurovision winning song “Only Teardrops”, she is an experienced songwriter. Emmelie co-wrote most of the songs on her debut album Only Teardrops, and the later singles “Drunk Tonight” and “Hopscotch”.

She is also known for co-writing the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2016 entry “Never Alone”. The song had originally been intended for Emmelie herself, but she passed it on to the Danish-Australian singer Anja Nissen.

The song was plagued with controversy, when it was discovered that Emmelie had performed “Never Alone” at a live gig before the 1 September deadline. However, the EBU eventually gave the go-ahead and “Never Alone” became one of the frontrunners to win DGMP 2016. The song made it to the superfinal, where ageing boyband Lighthouse X eventually won with their song “Soldiers of Love”.

While Denmark has not qualified for the Eurovision final in the past two years, they have placed in the top 10 four times in the past decade — something the UK last achieved in 2009. Perhaps a little Danish songwriting talent is what Britain needs to get its groove back.

What do you think? Can Emmelie de Forest help give the UK a good Eurovision result? Share your thoughts below.

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Pollaski
Pollaski
7 years ago

That is honest to god the worst camp I’ve ever seen. No tents, no canoes. No fire pits. Nobody eating s’mores.

DR
DR
7 years ago

I think Europe may have got so fed up with our lack of trying they want to just do it themselves. Well if the British won’t try we might as well let nations that give a sh*t do it for us. Haha

Calum Macleod
Calum Macleod
7 years ago

Cannot believe that one of our best Eurovision winners is writing potential British NF material! I hope for great things from her!

mad-professor
mad-professor
7 years ago

@Ben Cook
I’d imagine there are British songwriters involved, just so it isn’t a case of outsourcing like Azerbaijan is so fond of.

Ern
Ern
7 years ago

I don’t know. “Only Teardrops” surprised me when it won.

NOT that I didn’t like the song, but she looked awful on that stage.

DJ Tiggeh
DJ Tiggeh
7 years ago

Surely her tweet was meant to say Writing Camp eurovision songs for UK Eurovision.

random.sage2.5
7 years ago

lol Goldsmith knows Scandinavian songwriters is where it’s at. Look what it did for Adele and One Direction.

Ben Cook
Ben Cook
7 years ago

Hugh Goldsmith mentioned in his ESC Insight interview earlier in the year that he was intending to run some songwriting camps, so I suspect this is one that’s been organised by him. Whether they’re all Danish or he’s flown over some British songwriters to join them (perhaps as a sweetener to get them involved!) who knows

Chicken Kyiv?
Chicken Kyiv?
7 years ago

I’m so confused is this something the BBC or another British body has set up to get song writing talent from abroad or is it a Danish initiative to teach people how to write songs, in which case why out of 40+ countries including Denmark to choose from why is it focused on the UK NF?