The Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals – is continuing its journey around Denmark. Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2016 is tomorrow and we’re here to review the ten finalists. Earlier, we examined Simone’s “Heart Shaped Hole”. We were impressed. Can Anja Nissen’s “Never Alone” top it? Read on to find out…
Anja Nissen “Never Alone”
Reviews: Anja Nissen with “Never Alone”
Edd: Now this is how you write a song. Catchy melodies throughout, and just when you think you’ve heard a big chorus, that epic post-chorus jumps in and smacks you in the face. It’s one giant explosion of fun, colour and (hopefully) confetti – things which seem to be slowly disappearing from Eurovision. You can feel Emmelie De Forest’s influence in the song – although I would love a hint of flute or something just to give it a memorable edge.
Score: 9/10
Anthony: With 2013 winner Emmelie de Forest as one of the co-writers, it’s no surprise that “Never Alone” is heavily influenced by “Only Teardrops”. But in a good way! A well produced pop song, it’s a fantastic attempt from Emmelie as a songwriter and Anja’s clearly got the vocal talent to pull this off. I can see eyebrows being raised Down Under should Anja win this year.
Score: 8/10
DMGP 2016: Our top three
Deban: Despite being hugely talented, Anja Nissen has been plagued with bad fortune since winning Australia’s third series of The Voice. Perhaps Dansk Melodi Grand Prix could turn things around? I doubt it. “Never Alone” sounds like your typical Nordic national selection cannon fodder. Anja Nissen is famous for turning down the Delta Goodrem penned track, “My Girls“. She should’ve done the same with this. It is clearly not written for her.
Score: 6/10
Josh:Â The Voice of Australia takes on DMGP and with a huge bang! After winning The Voice, she didn’t have a huge amount of success on the charts but “Never Alone” is boppy, catchy and enjoyable and could dominate the charts in Australia as well as across Europe. Having the backing of Emmelie De Forest helps enormously. An absolute highlight in the Danish selection this year. Go Anja!
Score: 10/10
DMGP 2016: Our first reactions
Sopon:Â “Never Alone” has overhyped written all over. The studio recording gives me no thought other than that it is a strong attempt to mimic Emmelie de Forest’s bland-yet-victorious entry from 2013. Denmark has a niche for blandness and that seems to work well, but it would be great to see something other than this typical Danish Eurovision entry get the ticket.
Score: 4.5/10
Kristin: I’m ok with this. It has a strong chorus, and Anja’s voice fits it perfectly. I hope her luck in the charts turns around with her participation in DMGP, because the girl has some serious vocal range y’all! “Never Alone” is a song that could dominate the dancefloors all over, and I’m not gonna shy away from shaking my butt to this at Euroclub, should it make it Stockholm. Yup, I think I like.
Score: 8.5/10
Mike: I am done. This is it. If Denmark wants to win for the third time in Sweden they have to send Anja to Stockholm. I am in love with Anja and “Never Alone” is our love child. The chorus is amazing, and when you think it’s over it only goes and gets even better. I think Anja could show the Aussies they made the wrong choice by sending Guy Sebastian to Vienna instead of her.
Score: 10/10
Robyn: This is a massive pop track and Anja is the right artist to deliver it. I’m excited that it’s co-written by MoZella, who gave us Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” and much of Madonna’s latest album, among other pop gems. The verses feel a little mechanical, but all is forgiven when that epic pop chorus hits. What a treat.
Score: 9/10
DMGP 2016: Interviews
Padraig: In a way it’s unfortunate that Emmelie De Forest is one of the songwriters, because it just nurtures the “copycat” claims. Personally, I think they’re unjustified. “Never Alone” stands strong on its own merits. It’s an anthemic belter that sends me on an adrenalin rush. And Anja’s vocals just blow me away. This has both the instant impact of Veronicas Illusion and the credibility of Simone, which could prove to be a DMGP-winning combination.
Score: 8/10
William:  Instantly warm and inviting, “Never Alone” is carefully and thoughtfully constructed, with the beats dropping and the instrumentation changing at precisely the right moments. The opening bars lead to charming verses which in turn take us to a fabulous Amazonian chorus. It’s tribal yet poppy, upbeat yet somehow soulful. Anja’s smouldering vocals give it just the right amount of sex appeal and power. When she brings it home in the final bars I can already see the confetti falling.
Score: 9/10
Our jury consists of 22 people, but we only have room for 10 written reviews. Here are the remaining 12 scores.
Antranig: 10/10
Bernardo:Â 8.5/10
Bogdan:Â 7/10
Cristian: 7/10
Dayana: 8/10
Denise:Â 10/10
Gökhan: 8/10
Liam:Â 7/10
Luis:Â 8/10
Mikhail: 8.5/10
Ramadan:Â 2/10
Sami: 7/10
WIWI JURY AVERAGE: 8.05/10
To reduce potential bias, we drop the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. We removed a low of 2 and a high of 10.
SEE OUR CURRENTÂ DANSK MELODI GRAND PRIX 2016 REVIEWS AND RANKINGS.
Photos: DR
I love Anja’s voice & this song but I prefer Heart Shaped Hole by Simone
What a meh song
So I don’t like this type of music anyway but this is just so generic and like almost every other song in this genre.
I guess I’m just not keen on the song
4/10
:/
I’ll go for BLUE HORIZON (Sophie Nohr).
Just simply the best and the tone and rhythm is amazing.
This song is like a mixture of Slovenia and Denmark 2013. Very bad.
This song is old and outdated.
Is not a bad song, but is outdated.
While Simone’s tries to draw inspiration from the amazing Chandelier by Sia but failing at delivering the same emotional thrill …this one tries too hard to bring the Only Teardrops formula but does not impress me as the Emmelie’s song did 3 years ago. The “wow oh oh” annoys me even if her voice is stellar … I just feel this does not showcase who Anja is as a performer so both voice and song don’t go hand in hand. But clearly I agree … the DMGP this year will be between these 2 blondes.
Tbh I didn’t love this at first, but it grew on me.
Strong entry, although a typical Nordic one and indeed (too?) similar to Emmelie.
After all I wouldn’t mind this winning DMGP.
I honestly don’t get this song. It’s not that it’s bad, and it’s not that Anja’s bad, it’s just that like Xuso’s ‘Victorious’ the combination of song and singer falls flat and there’s no personality. DMGP has a really high standard this year, and so for me this falls towards the bottom of the list.
It’s *definitely* better than Victorious, or Chameleon, or the rest of the boring plastic pop but it isn’t a winner – in Denmark or at the Globen. 5.5/10
This one is so overrated here!
This or Simone 🙂
This should be the winner! The song really goes to the next level and I think it’s just going to storm to victory tomorrow