Make Music Great Again

Logo of the National Final

**Make Music Great Again** (also known as **MMGA**) was a monthly to bi-monthly music competition organized by the United States national broadcaster, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which determines the country's representative for the PANAM Song Contest and has been staged every edition of the contest from the second to the tenth. It is to be replaced in the 11th edition by a new NF, Road to PANAM.

The festival has produced none PANAM winners and three top-five placings,.

 Editions

### 1st Edition

The first edition of Make Music Great Again took place between April and May of 2019, and determined the country's representative for the second edition of the Eurovision Americas Song Contest. A total of 11 songs participated in the festival.

Previously, the United States, in the first edition of the contest, obtained the overall second place with the song «*Juice*» by the singer Lizzo, song internally selected by ABC.

The Final Show took place on May 3rd and ended with the victory of Plastique Tiara and her song «*Irresistible*». She later represented the United States at the contest and obtained the overall ninth place at the second edition of PANAM with a total of 107 points.

### 2nd Edition

The second edition of Make Music Great Again took place between May and June of 2019, and determined the country's representative for the third edition of the PANAM Song Contest. This time, the total of participating songs was reduced to 9.

The Final took place on XXX and ended with the victory of previously participating singer Lizzo and her song «*Cuz I Love You*». She represented the United States at the contest but did not qualify from the Semi-Final.

### 3rd Edition

After Lizzo's shock non-qualification in the 3rd EASC, the United States delegation decided to internally select Normani as their representative for the 4th contest, but still opened up Make Music Great Again to select her song. Following a vote between 3 of her songs, «*Waves*» (Featuring 6LACK) won the national final. It turned around the fortunes of the United States, leading them to a 5th place finish and auto-qualifying the United States to the Grand Final of the 5th contest.

 **02** | **Waves (Featuring 6LACK)** | English

### 4th Edition

Before long, the United States were back to toying around with ideas for the next edition of the US national selection. After toying around with numerous ideas (Including a 4 heat, 40 song selection), the delegation settled on a 2 semifinal, 20 song selection, with 5 songs from each semi advanced to the Final, decided by a straw poll. From Semifinal 1, 30 Seconds To Mars, AJR featuring Rivers Cuomo, Toni Braxton, Marian Hill and Ailee advanced, and from Semifinal 2, Alec Benjamin feat. Alessia Cara, Skillet, B.E.R., Keke Palmer and Sofi Tukker advanced.

It would end up as a win for the last artist mentioned, with their song «*Swing*» winning a heated race between them and Toni Braxton's «*Long As I Live*» in the final, with a 50/50 split of votes between International and PANAM juries. The song, the first and so far only song that represented the United States to have lyrics other than English, got the United States a 4th place finish in the Grand Final, with 289 points, auto-qualifying them once more. The results of the Final are listed below.

### 5th Edition: Cleveland 2019

To coincide with the city's bid to serve as the headquarters of the PANAM Song Committee, the city of Cleveland, Ohio hosted the 5th edition of the United States national selection, at the Quicken Loans Arena. The event, hosted by Family Feud and talk show host Steve Harvey, introduced an open submission round, where songs can be submitted from users outside of the United States delegation, which made up half of the songs in the 12 song final.

On October 13th, 2019, German musician Kim Petras won the national selection with her song «*Heart To Break*», amassing 85 points from the 14 juries who voted in the selection. She would later go on to finish 6th in Carcacas, Venezuela with 258 points.

### 6th Edition: Nashville 2019

Due to the overwhelming success of the previous edition, the United States resumed Make Music Great Again, but with a few changes. The United States got to select 8 songs for the selection, with 3 coming from open submissions. This time, however, a pre-selection round, named *Make Music Great Again: Independence*, would select 1 independent artist to join the other 11 acts in Nashville, Tennesee at the Bridgestone Arena. This honor would go to Simsbury, Connecticut native Lisa Heller with the song «*Quicksand*», which got 10 points, ahead of the other 3 acts, being King Princess, Doublecamp and Terror Jr.

The 6th edition, hosted by former MMGA participant Keke Palmer and Disney star Dove Cameron, was held on December 15th, 2019. Wrabel ended up winning with his song «*The Village*» getting 100 points. The song would later get 2nd place in Hamilton, Bermuda with 341 points.

### 7th Edition: Oklahoma City 2020

On December 4th, 2019, it was announced that Make Music Great Again would return to act as the national selection for the United States at the VIII PANAM Song Contest. This edition is held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, and hosted by former MMGA participant St. Vincent. There was no change in format from the previous edition.

Stereo Jane were announced winners of Make Music Great Again: Independence on January 10th, 2020 with their song «*Real World*». All other artists were revealed on January 26th, with songs and running order revealed on February 16th.

The results were revealed on February 29th, 2020. FINNEAS won the edition with his song «*Shelter*» receiving 46 points, a record low for a winner in the US national selection. He would go on to finish 18th in the final in Buenos Aires with 139 points, the lowest ever position for a United States song in the Grand Final of the PANAM Song Contest.

### 8th Edition: Burbank 2020 I

Due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), MMGA moved from being hosted in arenas throughout the country to a perform-from-home format, with the hosts commentating from the ABC studios in Burbank, California, from this edition until the pandemic has stopped. The national selection still occurred, and no changes were made to the format except for the addition of a televote.

The winners of the pre-selection, now titled *One Out of Many*, were Brothers Page with their song «Don't Stop», beating out the likes of Relli, The 5:55 and Delta Spirit. 10 of the remaining artists were revealed on May 5th, with BETWEEN FRIENDS being revealed as the 12th artist on May 9th after Cady Groves, who was due to participate, passed away. The songs and running order were revealed on May 19th and the results were revealed on May 26th, with George Maple technically winning with her song *«Hero»*, but not after Amy Lee was disqualified for sending a cover, although she got the most points. The Australian would finish 13th in the Grand Final.

### 9th Edition: Burbank 2020 II

Due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continuing in the United States, the US national selection is once again doing a perform-from-home format, this time with Megan Thee Stallion hosting instead of St. Vincent, who did the honors in edition 8. Jenna Holiday ended up winning One Out of Many with her song «Egoist», beating out newcomer MyKey and Hawaiian group Crimson Apple. It was also revealed after the results on June 12th that Chloe x Halle would also go to MMGA with their song «Do It». The other 10 artists were revealed on July 8th, and included Zendaya, Neon Trees, Fitz and the Tantrums and returning artists Zayde Wolf and Sabrina Carpenter.

On July 14th, 2020, to coincide with a shift in the direction of the PANAM Song Contest, ABC announced that the 9th edition of the national final will be the final edition of Make Music Great Again. From the 11th edition of PANAM onwards, it is to be replaced by Road to PANAM, which ABC said will allow the viewers to be more in touch with the selection of the song for the United States. The final winner of Make Music Great Again, announced on August 11th, was Ally Brook with the song «No Good».