The Danish act and song was chosen on February 17th through their long-running national final "Dansk Melodi Grand Prix". Two rounds of 50/50 voting were used to find a winner. Televoting was open from 10-16 February and during the show itself while the jury consisted of 10 Danish and 10 international professionals. In the first round, televoting decided on a top 3 then the same combination of votes selected the winner. Going to Malmö is Saba performing the song "Sand".
Saba's full name is Anna Saba Lykke Oehlenschlæge and she has a twin sister called Andrea. They were both adopted from Ethiopia as babies and were raised in the Danish town of Ringkøbing. In 2018 she was featured in a documentary on DR which focused on her battle with self-harm and depression. After a spell in hospital, being diagnosed as bipolar and subsequently dropping out of school, Saba moved with her sister to Copenhagen, with Saba started a new career in modelling, acting and musical theatre. In fact Saba's big break came when she replaced her sibling in the musical "Hair" when her sister had to leave the role due to her pregnancy.
This entry has a rather unusual arrangement. The intro almost signposts you to something up-tempo and relentless but the when the vocal comes we discover it is much more considered and placed. As the beat fades out, she starts on the first verse with a small echoing part at the end, which turns out to be the same as the chorus but with different words. The prechorus is where Saba's voice is at full strength and creates some tension before the beat comes back in for the chorus proper. We then start again with verse two followed by the prechorus but this time the chorus is repeated twice. On the second time the words are amended with the word 'sand' repeated instead of the ooh ooh earworm. after a short interlude there is another repeat of the amended chorus before the song seems to suddenly stop.
The staging of Sand is very simple. Saba is on her own throughout and stood on a small plinth to lift her above the dry ice and smoke effects. There are some simple uses of lasers and beams of light to create movement and energy. I really like the use of the back wall to create silhouettes as this really ensures you are listening to the words rather than relying on visual cues. She is wearing a shiny white top and similarly made pair of trousers. This is used later on the song when a beating heart is transposed onto her chest. The song is slightly on the safe side, although Saba's measured and almost flawless vocal gives it s sprinkle of uniqueness. Saba's voice is very expressive and she is able to really eek out every note with the right amount of power, subtlety and emotion. I just fear that in the semi-final, televoters will be sucked in by the more controversial acts and perfectly good songs and singers like this may be left on the shelf. She is also in the top half of semi 2 which is awash with solo female performers which might make that section rather awkward. While I feel that juries would absolutely suck this all in, getting out of the semi final on a 100% televote ticket may well prove to bit a bit trickier.
ARTIST - Saba
SONG - Sand
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Melanie Gabriella Hayrapetian, Pil Kalinka, Nygaard Jeppesen, Jonas Thander
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