Edition 19

The nineteenth edition of the **Global Music Festival**​ took place at the Murrayfield in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the third time the country hosted the contest; the contest was hosted in Scotland following the country's second victory in the eighteenth edition with the song "Chewing Gum" performed by Nina Nesbitt - which scored an impressive score of 185 points, the joint second highest scoring entry to-date.  This edition consisted of three semi-finals which were all launched on the 16 October 2017 and a grand final which took place from the 20 October 2017. All four of the shows in this edition were hosted by Karen Gillian - Scottish actress who has been in *Doctor Who*.

Fifty countries participated in this edition of the contest.  We saw the exciting debut of two new Asian countries - China and Malaysia - as well as the return of Argentina, Japan, Latvia and Wales.  However, we did sadly say goodbye to four countries: Ghana, Iceland, Russia and Trinidad & Tobago.

The power six for this edition were Scotland, Spain, Ireland, the Philippines, Finland and France - 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.

A number of countries received their best placements to date: Barbados won this edition with the song "Impossible" performed by Shontelle which scored an impressive 180 points.  Argentina came second with TINI and The Netherlands came third with Yellow Claw and Rochelle.  And, Slovakia and Latvia both achieved their best places in the history of the contest with Kristína and Aminata respectively.  Unfortunately, New Zealand did achieve their worst position in the history of the contest - placing twenty-seventh with Brooke Fraser and her song "Kings & Queens."

This edition was actually won by Mexico - which would have been their fourth win overall - with the song "Amnesia" performed by Anahí.  However, the head of delegation for Mexico thought they would forfeit their win to give Barbados their first win in the history of the contest.  This decision was very generous of the Mexican delegation and they make history in the Global Music Festival for being the first country ever to forfeit their win.  However, Mexico will still be an automatic qualifier in the next edition despite forfeiting their win.

 Slogan
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Participants
 Winner

## Participants

* Malaysia
* Japan
* Latvia
* Wales
* Iceland
* Russia
* Trinidad & Tobago

## ​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 16 October 2017 - via a live stream on the Facebook group.  The forty-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.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (Scotland, Spain, Ireland, the Philippines, Finland and France) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals.  Australia and Italy were assigned to the first semi-final; Mexico and India were assigned to the second semi-final; and Ireland and Finland were assigned to the third semi-final.

## ​Odds

The odds for the semi finals were released on the 19 October 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 nineteenth edition:

  Mexico
  Armenia
  Argentina
  The Netherlands
  Portugal
  Moldova
  Greece
  Austria
  Scotland

## Returning Artists

Sia returned for her sixth participation, as well as Helena Paparizou, both hoping to get a win for their respective countries (Australia and Greece).  DARA returned for Bulgaria for her fourth participation, hoping to get Bulgaria through to the final and achieve higher than her twenty-second placement.  Also, Sweet California returned for Spain and Adelén returned for Norway for their third participations - they hoped to achieve great results for their respective nations.

Alice Phoebe Lou returned for South Africa, Pavell & Venci Venc' returned for Bulgaria, and Halsey returned for the United States - they all returned for their second participations, hoping to qualify for their first times.  Shontelle returned for her second participation for Barbados hoping to get the best Bajan result in the history of the Global Music Festival.  Tini Stoessel returned, this time for Argentina, where she hoped to go one better than last edition where she placed second - she is hoping to get Argentina its best result ever!  Stromae returned for his second participation (this time for Belgium) and FreeStay returned for their second participation (this time for Moldova).  Finally, Annalisa and Yellow Claw both returned for Italy and The Netherlands respectively - after both narrowly missing a top six finish (and placement in the power six for the following edition) they are back to get an even better result for their respective nations.

## Semi Final One

 Scotland and  the Philippines 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 -  Bosnia & Herzegovina were chosen as the wildcard entry.

## Semi Final Two

 Finland and  France 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 -  Malaysia were selected as the wildcard entry.

## Semi Final Three

 Spain and  Ireland 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 -  San Marino were chosen 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 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 20 October 2017.