Edition 10

The **​**​tenth edition of **​The Global Music Festival**​ took place at Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo in Cancún, Mexico.  It was the second time the contest took place in Mexico, following the country's second consecutive victory at the ninth edition of the contest in Mexico with the song "No Promises" performed by Cheat Codes feat. Demi Lovato.  This edition consisted of three semi-finals (the first edition to feature three semi-finals) which were all launched on the 11 June 2017 and a grand final which took place from the 15 June 2017.  All four of the shows in this edition were hosted by Becky G - winner of the eighth edition of the Global Music Festival for Mexico.

Fifty-two countries participated in this edition of the contest which broke the record for the most countries participating in one contest.  This edition saw the exciting debut of five more countries, Azerbaijan, Iran, Israel, Moldova and Nigeria.  Sadly, we did see the withdrawal of four countries as well though: Cyprus, Latvia and Lebanon.  Also, this edition saw the return of a number of countries, New Zealand were the most long-awaited having been absent for five editions of the contest.  We also saw the return of Denmark and Malta, who had been absent since the sixth and fifth editions respectively; and both the FYR Macedonia and Ukraine returned after being absent for three editions.  Belgium and Serbia, also, both returned following a one contest break.  And finally, Portugal also returned and were automatically qualified for the grand final (following a delegation change from the ninth edition) following their absence since the eighth edition.

The power six for this edition were Mexico, South Africa, Russia, Finland, Portugal and Ireland - these were the delegations that placed in the top six from the previous edition.  Portugal were included in the power six for this edition because the head of delegation for Bulgaria changed to Portugal for this 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.

Sweden won for the first time in edition ten with Swedish singer-songwriter Tove Lo (Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson) with her song "Talking Body" which won with an impressive 145 points.  Nigeria in their debut managed to reach the top six, which landed them a place in the power six for the next edition.  England and Serbia both received their first top ten placements in the contest, they placed fifth with 98 points and ninth with 83 points.  The Netherlands, also, received their highest placement to-date, placing eleventh with 79 points with a Hardwell and Sephyx remix.  Unfortunately, in this edition Kosovo failed to maintain their qualification streak after five editions, and failed to qualify for the first time in those five editions - and with a big pop name - Dua Lipa.  Also, Italy received their lowest placement in the history of the contest and failed to qualify for the final for the first time as well; Italy were represented by popular Italian artist, Marco Mengoni, with his song "L'Essenziale."  Similarly, Malta received their worst placement and failed to qualify for the first time with well known Maltese pop star, Ira Losco, and her song "We Are the Soldiers."

 Slogan
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Participants
 Winner

## Participants

* Iran
* Israel
* Moldova
* Nigeria
* Denmark
* FYR Macedonia
* Malta
* New Zealand
* Portugal
* Serbia
* Ukraine
* Latvia
* Lebanon

## ​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 11 June 2017, hosted by one of the admins via Live Stream on the Facebook group.  The forty-six semi-finalists (excluding Scotland) 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.

Scotland were not included in the pots because the head of delegation for Scotland is one of the admins and they are in charge of the first semi-final.  Therefore, they were automatically placed into one of the other semi-finals (semi-final two was randomly selected).  The head of delegation for Finland and Ireland are in charge of the second and third semi-finals respectively and were 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 (Mexico, South Africa, Russia, Finland, Portugal and Ireland) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals.  Russia and Portugal both voted in the first semi-final, Mexico and South Africa voted in the second semi-final and Finland and Ireland voted in the third semi-final.  The power six all received the places they would perform in the grand final as well.

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## Odds

The odds for the semi finals were released on the 12 June 2017 by the admins in charge of their respective semi finals, below you can see the odds for the top seven for each semi-final (the predicted qualifiers):

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

  Mexico
  Sweden
  Jamaica
  Nigeria
  FYR Macedonia
  Serbia
  South Korea
  France
  Finland

## Returning Artists

In edition ten, we saw a return from four world-wide artists for a third participation, for four different nations: Bebe Rexha for FYR Macedonia (previously representing Albania), Dua Lipa for Kosovo (previously representing Jamaica and Kosovo), Selena Gomez for Mexico and Bastille for South Africa - all of which have previously featured in finals with varying success.  Also, Neha Kakker who represented India in edition eight and nine (and acheived India's best result in the history of the contest) returned for her third consecutive participation and she hoped to achieve another impressive position for the Asian nation.  Dutch DJ, Hardwell, also returned for his third participation for The Netherlands and hoped to improve on his best result - twenty-sixth in the fourth edition final with 43 points - Hardwell returned with a remix of the song "Don't Let Me Down" in this edition as opposed to his previous original songs.

Two artists who previously failed to qualify for their respective countries also returned in the tenth edition and hoped to improve on their previous position and hopefully get through to the final; Ronela Hajati returned for Albania after last participating in the fourth edition and Nadine Coyle returned for Ireland after last participating in the sixth edition.  ZOË returned for her second consecutive participation for Austria with her song "Dangerous Affair" and she hoped to improve on the result achieved by her Eurovision entry "Loin d'ici" - which achieved eighteenth place in the final of the ninth edition.  Neda Parmac returned to the contest again for Bosnia & Herzegovina, however, this time she returned to participate as part of Feminnem.  Also, Daddy Yankee, Lanberry and Lidija Bačić all returned for a second participation for Puerto Rico, Poland and Croatia respectively.  Finally, the Dutch DJ, Martin Garrix, returned for the second time with another collaboration with an amazing female singer; Martin Garrix previously participated in the eighth edition for Kosovo with the song "Scared to Be Lonely" (with Dua Lipa) which placed seventh in the final with a total of 93 points, and this edition Martin Garrix returned with Bebe Rexha to participate for the FYR Macedonia and perform the song "In the Name of Love."

## Semi Final One

 Russia and  Portugal 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; after deliberation  Serbia were selected as the wildcard.

## Semi Final Two

 Mexico and  South Africa 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; after deliberation  Australia were selected as the wildcard.

## Semi Final Three

 Finland 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.  Unfortunately, New Zealand failed to vote before the deadline and as a result were disqualified - if they had voted then New Zealand would have qualified (pacing fourth with a total of 100 points).  After the results were announced the admin team discussed selecting a wild card entry from this semi final to progress to the final; after deliberation  France were selected as the wildcard.

## Grand 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-two 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 15 June 2017.  The results for the grand final were announced on the 22 June 2017.