Edition 16

The **​**​sixteenth edition of **​The Global Music Festival**​ took place at the Caledonian Stadium in Inverness, Scotland.  It was the second time the contest took place in Scotland; the first time Scotland hosted was in the first edition in Glasgow when they were still participating as part of the United Kingdom.  The contest was hosted in Scotland following Scotland's first win as an independent nation with the song "Unsinkable" performed by Lucy Spraggan - which scored an impressive score of 160 points.  This edition consisted of three semi-finals which were all launched on the 03 September 2017, and a grand final which took place from the 07 September 2017.  All four shows were hosted by Scottish actress - Karen Gillan - who has appeared in *Doctor Who* and *Guardians of the Galaxy*; as well as television presenter Carol Smiley.

This edition was one of the special thematic editions of the competition and this meant that the participants chose a theme via poll to compete with in this edition.  The theme selected was 'Collaborations' - this meant that each country had to send at least two different artists performing a single song (but only one of the artists needed to be from the participating country).

Fifty-five countries participated in this edition of the contest - this broke the record for the largest number of participating countries: very exciting!  We saw the debut of two more countries: Åland Islands and Paraguay; as well as the return of India, Russia, San Marino, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago and Turkey.  Sadly, we did have to say goodbye to eleven countries as well: Denmark, Indonesia, Northern Ireland, Singapore and Uzbekistan.

The power six for this edition were Scotland, Andorra, Slovenia, Romania, Malta and Chile - these were the delegations that placed in the top six from the previous 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 of this edition.

 Slogan
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Participants
 Theme
 Winner

## Participants

* Paraguay
* Russia
* San Marino
* Switzerland
* Trinidad & Tobago
* Turkey
* File:Indonesian Flag.png Indonesia
* Northern Ireland
* Singapore
* Uzbekistan

## 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 03 September 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-nine 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.

Finland and Ireland were not included in the pots because the heads of delegation for both countries are on the admin team and they are in charge of the second and third semi-finals respectively.  Therefore, they were automatically placed into one of the other semi-finals.  Finland were placed in the third semi-final and Ireland were placed into the second semi-final.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (Scotland, Andorra, Slovenia, Romania, Malta and Chile) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals.  Slovenia and Chile were drawn to vote in the first semi-final, Scotland and Malta were drawn to vote in the second semi-final, and Andorra and Romania were drawn to vote in the third semi-final.

## ​Odds

The odds for the semi finals were released on Tuesday 05 September 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 sixteenth edition:

  Spain
  Australia
  Finland
  Belgium
  Scotland
  United States
  Italy
  Barbados
  Azerbaijan

## Returning Artists

There were a number of several-time returning artists for the sixteenth edition: Demi Lovato, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj all returned for their seventh participation for Mexico, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago respectively.  Demi returned hoping to get a second win for her country, whilst Rihanna and Nicki hoped to achieve a better placement than their previous personal bests: sixth and ninth respectively.  David Guetta returned for his fifth participation whilst also being his first participation for Belgium.  Also, a further six artists returned for their fourth participations: Camila Cabello (as part of Fifth Harmony) for Cuba, Zara Larsson for Sweden, Lady GaGa for Italy, Sia for Australia, Sean Paul for Jamaica and Beyoncé for Italy.

Ireland sent Una Healy for her third participation (second as a solo singer) hoping to go one further and get the first Irish win in the contest.  Katy Perry had her third participation in the contest, and her first participation for the returning nation of Trinidad & Tobago.  Also, some more artists returned for their third participations, including: Calvin Harris for Scotland who previously came fourth in the final; Kristian Kostov for Bulgaria who previously came fifth for Bulgaria in the final; Shyli for Malta, Major Lazer for Jamaica and Justin Bieber for Canada.

Finally, a number of nations decided to send artists who have previously represented their nations in the Global Music Festival.  Alvaro Soler returned for Spain hoping to gain a second Spanish success.  Also, Fifth Harmony returned for Cuba, Massari returned for Lebanon, Astrid S returned for Norway, Duffy for Wales and Taio Cruz for Nigeria.  Then two artists returned to the contest, but they represented a different country than their first participation: Amir returned for the microstate of Monaco, after representing France previously and P!nk returned for Australia, after previously representing Albania in a previous special edition.

## Semi Final One

 Slovenia and  Chile 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 -  Monaco received the wildcard.

## Semi Final Two

 Scotland 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.   Ireland were automatically drawn into this semi final because the admin in charge of the third semi final is the head of delegation for Ireland.  Unfortunately,  Turkey were disqualified because they failed to vote before the deadline - they would have placed tenth with 114 points.  After the results were announced the admin team discussed selecting a wildcard entry from this semi final to progress to the final -  The Netherlands were selected as the wildcard.

## Semi Final Three

 Andorra and  Romania 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 drawn into this semi final because the admin in charge of the second semi final is the head of delegation for Finland.  After the results were announced the admin team discussed selecting a wildcard entry from this semi final to progress to the final -  Norway were selected as the wildcard entry.

## 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 fifty-five 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 07 September 2017.  Unfortunately, Lebanon were disqualified because they failed to vote before the deadline - they would have placed twenty-third with 60 points.