Edition 65

The sixty-fifth edition of the **Global Music Festival** took place at Palexpo in Geneva, Switzerland. It was the third time the country hosted the contest, after Switzerland's third victory in the sixty-fourth edition with the song "Keep Your Love on Me" performed by Freedo feat. Gabriella Vixen - which scored 270 points. This was Switzerland's second victory consecutively - the second country in the history of the contest to win two editions consecutively (the first being Mexico). This edition consisted of two semi-finals which were all launched on 27 March 2020 and a grand final which took place from 6 April 2020. All three of the shows in this edition were hosted by Michelle Hunziker.

This edition was another thematic edition for the contest - returning to the random three theme. Each participant was randomly assigned three countries to choose between for this edition via a live stream on the Facebook group. The participants were given countries organised into three groups based on the total points in the history of the contest: the first were the highest scoring countries, the second were the middle-to-low scoring countries, and the third were the countries that had never qualified/participated.

Fifty-seven countries participated in this edition of the contest. Due to the theme of this edition we saw a large number of withdrawals, returns and debuts. We saw the exciting debut of eight new countries: Abkhazia, Aruba, The Bahamas, Belize, Botswana, Burundi, El Salvador and Turkmenistan. The countries withdrawing from this edition are: Åland Islands, Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, England, Germany, Iceland, India, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Moldova, Monaco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Scotland, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Svalbard, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Wales. Then, the countries returning this edition are: Angola, Argentina, Belarus, Cambodia, Chile, Cyprus, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Malaysia, Mali, Nigeria, the Philippines, Russia, San Marino, the Solomon Islands, Taiwan, Turkey, United States Virgin Islands and Venezuela.

The power six for this edition were Armenia, Italy, Guyana, Kazakhstan, Belize and Argentina - 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

## Other Participants

* Albania
* Andorra
* Australia
* Austria
* Belgium
* Bosnia & Herzegovina
* Colombia
* Denmark
* Egypt
* England
* Germany
* Iceland
* India
* Ireland
* Japan
* Lithuania
* Moldova
* Monaco
* The Netherlands
* New Zealand
* North Macedonia
* Poland
* Puerto Rico
* Romania
* Scotland
* Singapore
* Slovenia
* South Africa
* Svalbard
* Switzerland
* Ukraine
* United Arab Emirates
* Wales

## Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on the 27 March 2020. 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. The Solomon Islands and Abkhazia were not included in the pots because the head of delegation for these countries are on the admin team and are in charge of the second and first semi-final respectively; as a result, The Solomon Islands were automatically assigned to semi-final one and Abkhazia was automatically assigned to semi-final two.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (Armenia, Italy, Guyana, Kazakhstan, Belize and Argentina) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals. Italy, Guyana and Belize were assigned to vote in the first semi-final and Armenia, Kazakhstan and Argentina were assigned to vote in the second semi-final.

## Semi Final One

 Italy,  Guyana and  Belize 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.  The Solomon Islands were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Finland 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.

## Semi Final Two

 Armenia,  Kazakhstan and  Argentina 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.  Abkhazia 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 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.