Edition 14

The **​**​fourteenth edition of **​The Global Music Festival**​ took place at the downtown Staples Centre in Los Angeles, California, the United States.  It was the first time the contest took place in the United States, following the country's victory in the thirteenth edition of the contest in Spain with the song "Praying" performed by Kesha - scoring 156 points.  This edition consisted of three semi-finals which were all launched on the 07 August 2017 and a grand final which took place from the 11 August 2017. All four of the shows in this edition were hosted by Mario Lopez - well-known actor and television host, who hosted three seasons of the American X Factor.  Dorothy Lucey, Los Angeles entertainment reporter, was the host for the green room and kept us all up to date with the gossip and reactions during all three shows.  Also, Kesha - our winner of edition thirteen - performed as the interval act with a compilation of her greatest hits; her performance included the performance of her two songs she has participated with at the Global Music Festival (Timber [with special guest - Pitbull] and Praying).

Forty-seven countries participated in this edition of the contest.  We saw the exciting debut of another Central American nation - Costa Rica.  We also saw the return of a number of countries: Armenia (who have been absent since the first edition - a very exciting return), Belgium (after a two contest break), Brazil (who have been absent since the edition seven), Cyprus (after being absent from four contests), Germany (after a two contest break), Indonesia (after a five edition break), Israel (after a three contest absence), New Zealand (who have been absent for one edition) and Wales (who have been absent since the eighth edition).  However, despite all these returning and debuting countries there were several withdrawals from countries: Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, India, Japan, Kenya, Kosovo and Liechtenstein all withdrew sadly.

The power six for this edition were United States, Scotland, Brazil, Greece, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Malta - these were the delegations that placed in the top six from the previous edition.  Cuba came third in the last edition, however, the head of delegation for Cuba in the last edition decided to change their country to Brazil for this edition.  Their placement in the power six means that they received an automatic place to perform in the final of this edition, while also being allowed to vote in one of the semi-finals in this edition.

Unfortunately, a number of countries received their worst placements in the history of the contest: England failed to qualify for the first time with Ed Sheeran and his song "Bibia Be Ye Ye" which placed eleventh in the third semi-final with 54 points; and the Philippines failed to qualify after a success streak that included a win and a third place entry - the country placed thirteenth in the second semi-final with 54 points with the artist Sam Concepcion.  Armenia returned for their first participation since the first edition and managed to come in twenty-ninth place.  Also, Chile, Barbados and New Zealand all received their worst placements to date, they came twenty-sixth, twenty-fourth and twenty-first respectively.

The winner of this edition was Canada with the song "Ugly Heart" performed by G.R.L.  They managed to score an impressive 177 points - the second highest score of all time in the Global Music Festival.  This was also Canada's best placement since their debut.  Also, a number of other countries received their best placements in this edition: Ireland came second, Ghana came third and Austria came fifth.  And, Brazil and Wales received their best positions in the history of the contest - after returning in this edition of the Global Music Festival.

 Slogan
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Participants
 Winner

## Participants

* Belgium
* Brazil
* Cyprus
* Germany
* File:Indonesian Flag.png Indonesia
* Israel
* New Zealand
* Wales
* Denmark
* Dominican Republic
* India
* Japan
* Kenya
* Kosovo
* Liechtenstein

## ​Pots for the Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on the 06 August 2017, the draw was not able to be done via live stream on the Facebook group - this was due to unforeseen technical difficulties.  However, the allocation draw was still done in the same way as previous editions.  The forty-one semi-finalists (excluding Finland and Ireland) were allocated to five pots, based on the previous results of each participating country, calculated by the averages of the past results.  Drawing from each pot helps to create an equal split of successful and not-so successful countries in each semi-final to give countries an equal chance of qualification.

Ireland and Finland were not included in the pots because the heads of delegation for the two countries are on the admin team and are in charge of the third and second semi-finals respectively.  Therefore, they were automatically placed into a semi-final that was not their own - Ireland into semi-final one and Finland into semi-final three.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (United States, Scotland, Brazil, Greece, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Malta) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals.  The United States and Scotland were drawn to vote in the first semi-final, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Malta were drawn to vote in the second semi-final, and Brazil and Greece were drawn to vote in the third semi-final.

## ​Odds

The odds for the semi finals were released on 08 August 2017 by the admins in charge of their respective semi finals, below you can see the odds for the top seven (the predicted qualifiers) in each semi final:

And, below are the odds for the favourites for the final of the fourteenth edition:

  Canada
  Ghana
  Austria
  Italy
  Sweden
  United States
  Mexico
  Finland
  Andorra

## Returning Artists

Little Mix returned for their fourth participation for Ghana this edition (alongside Stormzy); after previous representing the United Kingdom, Finland and Barbados.  Little Mix hoped to improve of their best position of third place.  Also, a number of artists returned for their third participations.  Two artists who came very close to winning returned to see if they could go one step further: Lena for Germany and Eleni Foureira for Greece.  Also, we saw the return of Ed Sheeran and Zara Larsson who were both hoping to achieve another top five finish.  Gery-Nikol retuned for a third consecutive and overall participation for Bulgaria, hoping to improve on her best result of twenty-ninth place.

Two artists returned this edition for a second participation for a different country: Bonnie Tyler returned for Wales, after previously representing Ireland in the third edition when she came third; and Madcon returned for Brazil after previously representing Norway in the second edition.  Una Healy returned for Ireland without the rest of The Saturdays to see if she could improve on their previous result of fourth place.  Augusto Schuster and Mónica Naranjo both returned for Chile and Andorra respectively - both of whom are responsible for their respective countries only top six finish to date - ergo, they were hoping to replicate or improve on their previous results.  Carla's Dream returned for Moldova, hoping to qualify in this edition and hopefully maintain Moldova's success streak.  Also, Ardian Bujupi, Gamaliel Audrey Cantika, Adelén and Lorde returned for Albania, Indonesia, Norway and New Zealand respectively, after previously placing twenty-fifth, twenty-third, sixteenth and fourteenth respectively.  Finally, Major Lazer returned for Jamaica after previously reaching the top ten, he hoped to reach the top ten once again with Anitta and Pablo Vittar this time.

## Semi Final One

The  United States and  Scotland from the power six voted in the semi final, following the allocation draw, as well as the countries participating in this semi final.   Ireland were automatically placed in this semi-final because the head of delegation for Ireland is in charge of the third semi-final - the country was randomly drawn to participate in semi-final one.  After the results were announced the admin team discussed selecting a wildcard entry from this semi final to progress to the final - the wildcard was given to  Estonia.

## Semi Final Two

 Bosnia & Herzegovina and  Malta from the power six voted in the semi final, following the allocation draw, as well as the countries participating in this semi final.  After the results were announced the admin team discussed selecting a wildcard entry from this semi final to progress to the final - the wildcard was given to  Armenia.

## Semi Final Three

 Brazil and  Greece from the power six voted in the semi final, following the allocation draw, as well as the countries participating in this semi final.   Finland were automatically placed in this semi-final because the head of delegation for Finland is in charge of the second semi-final - the country was randomly drawn to participate in semi-final three.   Cyprus were unfortunately disqualified due to failing to vote before the deadline, however, if they had voted they would have qualified and would have placed sixth with 99 points.  After the results were announced the admin team discussed selecting a wildcard entry from this semi final to progress to the final - the wildcard was given to  France.

## Final

Thirty countries participated in the final - the power six, the seven qualifiers from each semi-final and the three wildcards (one from each semi-final).  All forty-seven participating countries were eligible to vote in the final; however, only the thirty countries in the final had to vote.  The running order for the final was announced shortly after the results of the semi-finals on the 11 August 2017.