Edition 80

The eightieth edition of the **Global Music Festival** took place in Tampere, Finland, following Robin Packalen and Alex Mattson's victory at the seventy-ninth edition in Herning, Denmark with the song "Hard To Love". It was the fourth win for Finland and the first time that Tampere hosted the competition. Organised by the head of delegation and host broadcaster, the contest was held at the Uros Live Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals which were both launched on the 04 June 2021 and a grand final which took place from the 22 June 2021. The three shows were hosted by: singer Krista Siegfrids, F1 driver Kimi Räikkönen and lead vocalist of Cyan Kicks, Susanna Aleksandra.

Sixty countries participated in this edition of the contest. This edition was the random three thematic edition and therefore we saw a large number of withdrawals due to the nature of the theme. More significantly, we did see three countries debut in this edition of the contest: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras and Nepal.

The power six for this edition were United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, South Korea, The Netherlands and Malta - 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 in this edition.

 Slogan
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Participants
 Winner

## Other Participants

* Barbados
* Belarus
* Canada
* China
* Colombia
* Cyprus
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Egypt
* France
* Germany
* Guam
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Ireland
* Israel
* Italy
* Japan
* Kenya
* Luxembourg
* Mexico
* New Zealand
* Pakistan
* Poland
* Republic of the Congo
* Singapore
* Slovenia
* South Africa
* Spain
* Switzerland
* Tunisia
* United States Virgin Islands
* Uruguay
* Wales

## Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on the 01 June 2021. The fifty-four semi-finalists 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. Romania were not included in the pots because the head of delegation is on the admin team and is in charge of the first semi-final. As a result, Romania were automatically assigned to semi-final two.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, South Korea, The Netherlands and Malta were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals. United Arab Emirates, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Malta were assigned to vote in the first semi-final and Kazakhstan, South Korea and The Netherlands were assigned to vote in the second semi-final.

## Semi Final One

 United Arab Emirates,  Bosnia & Herzegovina and  Malta from the power six were randomly allocated to vote in this semi-final, as well as, the countries who participated in this semi-final - as always countries not in this semi-final had the choice whether they wanted to vote in this semi-final or not.

## Semi Final Two

 Kazakhstan,  South Korea and  The Netherlands from the power six were randomly allocated to vote in this semi-final, as well as, the countries who participated in this semi-final - as always countries not in this semi-final had the choice whether they wanted to vote in this semi-final or not.  Romania were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Romania is on the admin team and is the organiser for the second semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result.

## Grand Final

Thirty countries participated in the final of this edition of the **Global Music Festival** - the power six and the twenty-four qualifiers from the two semi-finals. All participating countries were eligible to vote in the final; however, only the thirty finalists were obligated to vote! The votes of the non-qualifiers and non-participants were all combined in to the televote. However, only thirty non-qualifiers and non-participants could vote.