Edition 53

The fifty-third edition of the **Global Music Festival** took place at the Mestalla Stadium in Valencia, Spain. It was the third time the country hosted the contest, after Spain's third victory in the fifty-second edition with the song Bórrame El Recuerdo. performed by Lorena Gómez - which scored 267 points. This edition consisted of two semi-finals which were all launched on the 10 June 2019 and a grand final which took place from the 17 June 2019. All three of the shows in this edition were hosted by Spanish televison presnter, Roberto Leal. Leal currently is the host of *Operación Triunfo* and *Gala Eurovisión*, the latter is the current format for the Spanish selection for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Fifty-five countries participated in this edition of the contest. Saudi Arabia made their long awaited return to the contest after their last appearance in the thirty-fourth edition. Another seven countries made their return to the contest and the were; Bosnia & Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Malta, Norway, Puerto Rico, San Marino and the United Arab Emirates, the latter of whom lats participated in the thirty-eighth edition. Sadly, the US Virgin Islands withdrew after making their debut in the previous edition. Three other countries also decided to the withdraw from the contest and they were; Russia, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

The fifty-third edition also saw a change in the voting process in the semi finals. The televote was removed from both semi finals for the indefinite future. One of the reasons that they were taken away was due to the fact that they did not any major impact on the final qualifying countries. In the previous edition, the all the qualifying countries finished in the top twelve in the jury with the televote not making ant difference to them. Removing the televote also decreased the chances of people getting 'friendly votes'. Friendly votes are points countries get from those who they are friends with. The friendly votes caused many issues as countries were not taking in to account of the songs but of who their friends were. After the semi-finals were completed, the removal of the televote was shown to be a success and will be continued in the next edition. The televote still remains in the grand final as it still has a major impact and adds to the excitement to the results.

The power six for this edition were Spain, United States, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Finland and Latvia - 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

## New Logo

On 14 November 2018, it was announced that there was plans for a new logo and intro to be created for the contest. The admins made the decision as the current logo was outdated dated and needed to be refined. Also, other music contests were in the process of revamping their visuals and the GMF needed to keep up with them so that they didn't fall behind and lose their members. The new logo was due to be released sometime in February or March 2019. However, to due circumstances outside of the contest, the due date was pushed back further with no certainty when the logo would be released. On 01 June 2019, a big announcement from the admin team was made to the GMF group. The post does not mention anything about the new logo but it does say that the admin team were *"in the process of finalising"* their project.

 Two days later on 03 June 2019, the admins announced the news of the new logo. The post apologised for the late release date which the participants were grateful for. The new logo, also came with a new intro for the recaps. The new intro features new intro music which has a positive, upbeat dance vibe. The reception of the new logo, and intro, was met by a lot of praise fro the participants as the GMF takes a step forward in to the next chapter of its life.

## Other Participants

* US Virgin Islands
* Vietnam
* Zimbabwe

## Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on the 08 June 2019. The forty-nine 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.
Ireland was not included in the pots because the head of delegation for this country is on the admin team and are in charge of the first semi-final; as a result, Ireland was automatically assigned to another semi-final: Ireland was assigned to semi-final two.
Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (Spain, United States, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Finland and Latvia) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals. Spain, New Zealand and Latvia were assigned to vote in the first semi-final and United States, The Netherlands and Finland were assigned to vote in the second semi-final.

## Semi Final One

 Spain, New Zealand and  Latvia 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

 United States,  The Netherlands and  Finland 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.  Ireland were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Ireland 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 fifty-five 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. The running order for the final was announced shortly after the semi final results on the 16 June 2019. The results for the final were released on the 23 June 2019.