Edition 12

The **​**​twelfth edition of **​The Global Music Festival**​ took place at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, the Philippines.  It was the first time the contest took place in the Philippines, following the country's victory in the eleventh edition of the contest in Sweden with the song "Kilometro" performed by Sarah Geronimo - which scored a record breaking 187 points.  This edition consisted of two semi-finals which were all launched on the 11 July 2017 and a grand final which took place from the 14 July 2017.  All three of the shows in this edition were hosted by Filipina actress and television host, Bianca Gonzalez, and Charice - Filipina pop star.

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 'Native Songs' or songs which are performed in one of the participating countries' national language.

Forty-three countries participated in this edition of the contest.  We saw the debut of three more countries: Chile, Liechtenstein and San Marino; as well as the return of three countries after a one-contest break Kosovo, New Zealand and South Korea.  Also, in edition twelve we saw the long-awaited retuning country who have been absent from the contest since the first edition - Slovenia.  Sadly, we did have to say goodbye to eleven countries as well: Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Iran, Lebanon, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey and Ukraine.

The power six for this edition were the Philippines, Australia, Barbados, Ireland, France and Moldova - 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.

Spain received their first win in this edition as well as their best position to date, also Romania received their highest result - coming twelfth with 73 points.  Also, Chile and Liechtenstein both debuted in this edition and both managed to reach the top ten in their debut - which is pretty impressive!  Unfortunately, six countries did receive their worst positions in the history of the contest: Scotland came ninth with 87 points, Barbados came twenty-fourth with 51 points, Cuba and The Netherlands both came last in their semi-finals with 27 points and 6 points respectively, Slovenia placed fourteenth in the first semi-final with 49 points and Estonia placed fifteenth in the second semi-final with 46 points.

 Slogan
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Participants
 Theme
 Winner

## Participants

* Liechtenstein
* San Marino
* New Zealand
* Slovenia
* South Korea
* Azerbaijan
* Belgium
* Denmark
* Germany
* Iran
* Lebanon
* Trinidad & Tobago
* Turkey
* Ukraine

## ​Theme Poll

 Eurovision Songs (*​Jamaica*​)
 Songs Released in 2012 (*​Mexico*​)
 Male Singers/Bands (*Mexico*​)
 Songs from Japan, China or South Korea (*​Sweden*​)

## 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 9 July 2017, hosted by one of the admins via Live Stream on the Facebook group.  The 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.

Finland and Scotland 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 first semi-finals respectively.  Therefore, they were automatically placed into the other semi-final.  Also, New Zealand were not included in the pots by mathematical error and were randomly assigned to the second semi-final and still received a random place.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (The Philippines, Australia, Barbados, Ireland, France and Moldova) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals.  The Philippines, Australia and Barbados were all drawn to vote in the first semi-final and Ireland, France and Moldova were all drawn to vote in the second semi-final.

## ​Odds

The odds for the semi finals were released on Tuesday 11 July 2017 by the admins in charge of their respective semi finals, below you can see the odds for the top eleven (the predicted qualifiers) in each semi final:

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

  South Africa
  Mexico
  Andorra
  Philippines
  South Korea
  Australia
  Finland
  Scotland
  Chile

## Returning Artists

This edition saw many new artists participating for their respective countries - very exciting! But, there are still some returning artists for some of the countries participating in the twelfth edition.  Firstly, Helena Paparizou returned for her fourth participation for Greece hoping to achieve another top ten finish with her song "Όταν άγγελοι κλαίνε."  Maya Berović returned for Bosnia & Herzegovina for her second consecutive participation, and TAL returned for a second participation for France (alongside Génération Goldman and MPokora).  Bulgaria decided to send KRISKO again, this was his second participation in the contest after last participating in the fourth edition (Bulgaria's debut) and placed fifteenth - KRISKO hoped to improve on his previous position.  Also, The Veronicas returned for Australia for the second time, and J Balvin returned for Colombia, after previous representing Cuba in the fourth edition.

## Semi Final One

 The Philippines,  Australia and  Barbados from the power six voted in the semi final, following the allocation draw, as well as the countries participating in this semi final.   Finland was automatically drawn into this semi final because the admin in charge of the second semi final is the head of delegation for Finland.   San Marino were unfortunately disqualified and would have placed twelfth with 64 points (San Marino would not have affected the qualifiers in any way).  After the results were announced the admin team discussed selecting a wildcard entry from this semi final to progress to the final -  Canada were selected as the wildcard.

## Semi Final Two

 Ireland,  France and  Moldova from the power six voted in the semi final, following the allocation draw, as well as the countries participating in this semi final.   New Zealand were disqualified unfortunately and would have placed fourteenth with 49 points (New Zealand would have made no change to the qualifiers).  After the results were announced the admin team discussed selecting a wildcard entry from this semi final to progress to the final -  Sweden were selected as the wildcard.

## Final

Thirty countries participated in the final - the power six, the eleven qualifiers from each semi-final and the two wildcards (one from each semi-final).  All forty-three 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 14 July 2017.