Denmark’s ‘Eurovision Song Contest’ entrant Rasmussen believes he can be the surprise package to win with his Viking inspired song ‘Higher Ground’.
The 32-year-old singer – real name Jonas Flodager Rasmussen – has made it through the second semi-final on Thursday (10.05.18) and his ‘Game of Thrones’-esque performance earned him rave reviews.
Although Cyprus hopeful Eleni Foureira is the favourite to win with her Latin pop banger ‘Fuego’, Rasmussen is confident his rock anthem – which is about the legend of late Viking chieftain Magnus Erlendsson and contains a message of peace – can cause an upset in the Grand Final in Lisbon this weekend.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he said: "I’ve achieved my main goal and got to the final, and now I hope we can win it.
"It’s about bringing Vikings and ‘Game of Thrones’ to Lisbon. I wanted to bring this modern fashion and raw style to the song and we ended up with this look inspired by Vikings and people seem to love it."
Denmark was among 10 nations to make it through the last semi-final to the main event this Saturday (12.05.18) with the others being Norway, Serbia, Moldova, The Netherlands, Australia, Hungary, Sweden, Slovenia and Ukraine.
The shock exits came from Russia’s act Julia Samoylova – who was meant to compete in 2017 but couldn’t after the country boycotted the competition due to it being held in Ukraine – and Poland, even though their song ‘Light Me Up’ being well-received in Lisbon’s Altice Arena.
Rasmussen admits meeting and competing against the other singers has been one of the highlights of his time in Lisbon, Portugal.
He said: "It’s been so cool meeting all the other artists, everyone is so supportive. Lisbon is beautiful."
Ukraine entrant Melovin also believes he can cause a shock with his track ‘Under The Ladder’ and says he’s been waiting for this moment all his life.
He said: "I love everything here, I love the people, the other artists, and everything that’s around me. I live for the music and I live to be at ‘Eurovision’. It’s like, I don’t remember other people’s concerts, I like to perform myself, I can remember when I was younger watching someone else perform and I just wanted to jump through the TV screen and get on the stage."
In total, 26 countries will compete to be the winner of the ‘Eurovision Song Contest 2018’, including host nation Portugal and the five automatically qualifying countries – Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the UK, which is represented by SuRie singing ‘Storm’.
It airs on BBC One from 8pm.
Rasmussen believes he can be Eurovision surprise winner
