Last year, Denmark won the Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Only Teardrops’ by Emmelie De Forest. This year, they once again belong to the favourite entries of the bookmakers. Singer Basim will represent them by performing his song ‘Cliche Love Song’ in front of his own audience in Copenhagen. I talked to him about the chances of Denmark winning again, the strengths of his song and the comparisons to Bruno Mars.

Obviously, Denmark won the Eurovision Song Contest last year. Do you think it is possible to win again?
Everything is possible. For me it is actually a gift that I am able to sing my song in Copenhagen and not in any other country. I know that the crowd will have my back and that is a great feeling. I am just going to give my best and I hope that people will love my song.

And why do you think your song ‘Cliche Love Song’, is good enough to win the contest?
I think it is good enough to win, because it has really good energy. It makes people smile, it makes people happy and it makes people dance and come together!

And have you heard the other songs in the competition yet? Who could stop you from winning?
I haven’t heard all the other songs yet, but I did listen to some. What I did not yet hear is a danceable happy song, because there are a lot of ballads. I think that could work as an advantage for me.

“I haven’t heard a lot of happy and danceable songs in this year’s competition and that could work as an advantage for me.”

You get compared to Bruno Mars a lot. How do you feel about that?
Yeah, I definitely get that a lot. I honestly don’t really hear it as I think my voice is not that similar to how he sounds. Maybe my energy on stage is kind of similar to what he does. Of course it is an honour for me to be compared to him. He is great!

Did you get any advise from Emmelie De Forest on how to handle participating in Eurovision?
Not really. You know, I already released my first album when I was 16, before Emmelie actually started to make music, but of course she could teach me a lot about Eurovision. I have not really talked to her about this during the national final in Denmark, but I am sure we will meet up before the big final in May.

If you had to cover a song from the history of Eurovision, which one would you choose?
Hard question! Can I say ‘Money, Money, Money’ by ABBA, although that is not really a Eurovision song?

I have to be strict on this one!
Well, let me think. I would go with ‘Fly On The Wings Of Love’ by the Olsen Brothers, who won Eurovision for Denmark in 2000.