| "Ven a bailar conmigo" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Eurovision Song Contest 2007 entry | |
| Country | |
| Artist | |
| Languages | |
| Composer | |
| Lyricist | Thomas G:son |
| Finals performance | |
| Semi-final result | 18th |
| Semi-final points | 48 |
| Final result | DNQ |
| Final points | DNQ |
| Entry chronology | |
| ◄ "Alvedansen" (2006) | |
| "Hold On Be Strong" (2008) ► | |
"Ven a bailar conmigo" (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈbenaβajˈlaɾkomˈmiɣo]; English: "Come dance with me";Norwegian:"Kom og dans med meg"[ˈkɔmːɔˈdɑnsmɛˌmæɪ]) was theNorwegian entry in theEurovision Song Contest 2007, performed inEnglish andSpanish byGuri Schanke.
The song is aLatin-inspired number. Schanke sings about how much she loves to dance and urges her unnamed listener (in Spanish) to "come dance with [her]".BBC commentary during the contest explained that Schanke had participated in a reality-television show with a dancing theme, thus explaining the lyrics.
The song was written and composed byThomas G:son, who also contributed theSpanish entry in the same contest, "I Love You Mi Vida". This represents one of a very small number of contests where the same writer has represented two countries at once.
Schanke won the Norwegian semi-final ofMelodi Grand Prix 2007 (the Norwegian national selection) on 27 January, and "Ven a bailar conmigo" soon became a hit ingay bars inOslo,[1] to which her response was "Fantastic! I love it!".[2] Schanke performed the song in the Norwegian national final (on 10 February 2007), in the English language; however, the title of the song is in Spanish and means 'come dance with me'. It scored shared second place by the judges, but was a runaway winner for viewers, receiving almost 95,000 televotes.
The Norwegian entry's stage performance bore several similarities to that of "Tango! Tango!", anotherLatino song by Thomas G:son, performed byPetra Nielsen at the SwedishMelodifestivalen 2004:
As Norway had not finished theprevious contest in the top ten, the song was performed in the semi-final. Here, it was performed nineteenth, followingMacedonia'sKarolina with "Mojot svet" and precedingMalta'sOlivia Lewis with "Vertigo". At the close of voting, it had received 48 points, placing 18th in a field of 28 and failing to qualify Norway for the final.
Schanke has not yet[as of?] released a single, but the song entered as number 1 on the Norwegian radio programNorsktoppen (on air since 1973), a weekly ranking of national pop songs based on a jury and the listener's suggestions.
A music critic in the Swedish tabloid newspaperExpressen wrote that Schanke's performance "glow[ed] like a black hole", and that Norway's entry to Eurovision 2007 was among the worst contributions in that year's upcoming contest. He gave his only top score of that year's contestants to the SwedishThe Ark with "The Worrying Kind".[6]
A new[when?]electronic press kit from NRK contains fourremixes. The main remix is made by Hallgeir Rustan (from the originalStargate production team), with extra guitar play by Jarl Ivar Andresen. Another mix is the "DeepFrost Mix" by the NorwegianDeepFrost team (Thomas J. Heyerdahl, Vegard Strand, Jan "Janski" Lindvaag and Rune Helmersen). A third mix, the "East Remix", is made by Andreas Rickstrand (G:son's co-composer "I Love You Mi Vida"). The press kit also contains the karaoke version.[7]
In late February 2007, it became known that "Ven a bailar conmigo" was to be recorded by Swedish artistAnna Book, for her albumSamba Sambero, which was released on 14 March 2007.[8] This was two months before Schanke was to perform the song at the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki. Anna Book was one of the contestants inMelodifestivalen 2007 with the song "Samba Sambero", also written by Thomas G:son. Schanke said, in a webchat with the Norwegian newspaperVG before it was known, that the song was specially written for her, and that it was written per request from NRK to Thomas G:son. Schanke's manager, Viggo Lund, said he was surprised to hear about the album release. NRK owns the rights for the songs that are part of Melodi Grand Prix, and the first right to use them.[9] TheEBU and NRK started investigations on the case.[10]The Melodi Grand Prix project leader for NRK said in a statement toVG: "We have to look at this positively, and hope the song becomes popular in Sweden."[11]
Finnish singer Kari Hirvonen released a Finnish version titled "Tuu kanssain tanssimaan" on 1 February 2022.[12]
| Preceded by | Melodi Grand Prix winners 2007 | Succeeded by |