Edition 11

The **​**​eleventh edition of **​The Global Music Festival**​ took place at the Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden (just outside Stockholm) - a venue previously used to host the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden.  It was the first time the contest took place in Sweden, following the country's victory in the tenth edition of the contest in Mexico with the song "Talking Body" performed by Tove Lo.  This edition consisted of three semi-finals which were all launched on the 25 June 2017 and a grand final which took place from the 29 June 2017.  All four of the shows in this edition were hosted by Petra Mede - beloved Swedish presenter and personality, who has presented the Eurovision Song Contest twice previously in 2013 and 2016.

Forty-six countries participated in this edition of the contest which broke the record for the most countries participating in one contest.  We saw ten withdrawals in the eleventh edition sadly, most significantly Croatia and South Korea who have both participated since the first edition of the Global Music Festival.  Also, the FYR Macedonia, Israel, Kosovo, New Zealand, Poland, Puerto Rico, Serbia and Switzerland all withdrew for a number of different reasons.  This edition of the contest also saw the return of four nations which was very exciting!  The most long-awaited return was Argentina, who had been absent for ten editions (having not participated since the first edition of the contest).  Cuba and Japan both returned to the contest after a three contest break and Lebanon also returned after being absent from the last edition of the contest.

The power six for this edition were Sweden, Mexico, Scotland, Jamaica, England and Nigeria - 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.

The Philippines won this edition with the song "Kilometro" performed by Sarah Geronimo.  This will be the second time a winning entry has been in a language other than English.  Also, the Philippines qualified for the first time this edition and managed to win the entire contest as well as scoring the highest score in the history of the contest with 187 points.  Also, Barbados and Moldova both achieved their best results in the history of the competition, coming third and sixth respectively.  Also, Iran and Malta achieved their best results placing fourteenth and nineteenth respectively.  Andorra managed to qualify after a streak of failing to qualify five times.  Sadly, England received their worst result with Karen Harding, coming twenty-fifth with 37 points; and, Lebanon also received their worst placement with Shakira and FreshlyGround, coming in twenty-forth with 37 points.  Unfortunately, Azerbaijan and Canada both failed to qualify for the first time since their debuts, and Russia received their worst placement to date (and failed to qualify for their second time ever).

 Slogan
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Participants
 Winner

## Participants

* Cuba
* Japan
* Lebanon
* FYR Macedonia
* Israel
* Kosovo
* New Zealand
* Poland
* Puerto Rico
* Serbia
* South Korea
* Switzerland

## ​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 26 June 2017, hosted by one of the admins via Live Stream on the Facebook group.  The forty 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 admins 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.  The head of delegation for Scotland is in charge of the first semi-final and was part of the power six this edition so they did not compete in the semi-finals.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (Sweden, Mexico, Scotland, Jamaica, England and Nigeria) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals.  Sweden and Mexico voted in the first semi-final, Jamaica and Nigeria voted in the second semi-final, and Scotland and England voted in the third semi-final.

## ​Odds

The odds for the semi finals were released on the 26 June 2017 by the admins in charge of their respective semi finals, below you can see the odds for the top ten in each semi final:

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

  Australia
  Moldova
  Barbados
  Ireland
  Spain
  France
  Iran
  Estonia
  Argentina

## Returning Artists

Nicki Minaj returned in this edition for her sixth participation for Trinidad & Tobago - this made her the most frequent participating artist in the history of the contest.  Bebe Rexha and David Guetta both returned for their fourth participations: Bebe Rexha participated for Trinidad & Tobago for the first time (alongside Nicki Minaj) with the song "No Broken Hearts" and David Guetta returned for Canada for the first time (alongside Justin Bieber) with the song "2U."  Alexandra Burke returned for Jamaica and for her third participation in the contest, she hoped to improve on her best result of thirteenth from edition three.  Also, Shakira returned for her third participation (this time for Lebanon), as did Little Mix (this time for Barbados), both hoped to improve on their best results - fourth and third respectively.

There were many artists who returned for their second shot at winning an edition of the Global Music Festival.  Liis Lemsalu returned for Estonia with the hope of qualifying for her second attempt.  Mahan Moin and DARA also returned for their second consecutive participations for Iran and Bulgaria (respectively) and they hoped to achieve higher than twenty-first and twenty-second in their second participation (respectively).  Andorra, Ghana and Italy all sent a previous participating artist to represent them in the eleventh edition: Terápia de Shock, Yemi Alade and Francesco Gabbani respectively.  Also, Sergey Lazarev returned for Russia, this time with his 2016 Eurovision Song Contest entry "You Are the Only One" which placed third in the Eurovision Song Contest - and he hoped to replicate the success of this song in the Global Music Festival.  Also, two previously successful artists returned for their respective countries: Eleni Foureira for Greece who previously participated in edition four and placed second with the song "Τι Κοιτάς" (with MIIKE); and Zara Larsson for Sweden who previously participated in edition six (with Clean Bandit) and placed third with the song "Symphony".

Also, some artists returned for a second participation in edition eleven, but for different countries than their previous participation.  Spanish girlband Sweet California retured to the contest for the first participation since their win for Finland (alongside Benjamin) in the fifth edition - hoping to do the same again.  Lana Del Rey returned to participate for Scotland, after previously participating for Italy in edition seven where she placed twenty-fourth with 46 points.  Bosnia & Herzegovina decided to send Jala Brat and Buba Corelli in edition eleven, after they previously participated for Serbia in edition eight where they placed eighteenth alongside Milan Stankovic.  Also, Dami Im returned for Australia and Justin Bieber returned for Canada, after previously participating for South Korea and Puerto Rico respectively, and placed fifth and thirteenth respectively.

## Semi Final One

 Sweden and  Mexico 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 wild card entry from this semi final to progress to the final -  Portugal were selected as the wildcard.

## Semi Final Two

 Jamaica and  Nigeria 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 head of delegation for Ireland is on the admin team, and is charge of the third semi-final.  After the results were announced the admin team discussed selecting a wild card entry from this semi final to progress to the final -  Andorra were selected as the wildcard.

## Semi Final Three

 Scotland and  England 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 head of delegation for Finland is on the admin team, and is charge of the second semi-final.  Unfortunately,  Germany were disqualified from the contest because they failed to vote before the deadline - Germany would have placed fifth with 117 points and would have qualified.  After the results were announced the admin team discussed selecting a wild card entry from this semi final to progress to the final -  Malta were selected as the wildcard.

## 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 forty-six 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 29 June 2017.