Edition 27

The twenty-seventh edition of the **Global Music Festival**​ took place at the PalaLottomatica in Rome, Italy. It was the first time the country hosted the contest after Italy's first victory in the twenty-sixth edition with Lodovica Comello and her song "Non cadiamo mai" - which scored an impressive 295 points. This edition consisted of three semi-finals which were all launched on the 12 February 2018 and a grand final which took place from the 18 February 2018. All four of the shows in this edition were hosted by previous Italian participants - Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble (Il Volo).

Sixty countries participated in this edition of the contest! We saw the debut of three more countries: the South American nation of Guyana, the Caribbean nation of Haiti and the European, micro-nation of Luxembourg. Also, Belarus, Israel, Liechtenstein, Puerto Rico, Serbia and Zimbabwe all returned to the contest after varying breaks. However, sadly we saw numerous withdrawals this edition: Åland Islands, Armenia, FYR Macedonia, Iceland, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Norway, Panama, Sweden and Trinidad & Tobago.

The power six for this edition were Italy, Albania, Mexico, South Africa, Malaysia and Wales - 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

## Participants

* Haiti
* Luxembourg
* Israel
* Liechtenstein
* Puerto Rico
* Serbia
* Zimbabwe
* Armenia
* FYR Macedonia
* Iceland
* Kazakhstan
* Netherlands
* Nigeria
* Northern Ireland
* Norway
* Panama
* Sweden
* Trinidad & Tobago

## 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 12 February 2018. The fifty-one 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.

Malta, Finland and Ireland were not included in the pots because the head of delegations for these countries are on the admin team and are in charge of the first, second and third semi-finals respectively; as a result, the countries were automatically assigned to another semi-final: Ireland were assigned to semi-final one, Malta were assigned to semi-final two, and Finland were assigned to semi-final three.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (Italy, Albania, Mexico, South Africa, Malaysia and Wales) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals. Italy and Wales were assigned to vote in the first semi-final, South Africa and Malaysia were assigned to vote in the second semi-final, and Albania and Mexico were assigned to vote in the third semi-final.

## ​Semi Final One

 Italy and  Wales 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 (as always) because the head of delegation for Ireland is on the admin team and is the organiser for the third semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result. After the results were announced, there were discussions about selecting one of the non-qualifiers to progress to the final as a wildcard entry -  New Zealand were selected as the wildcard entry.

## ​Semi Final Two

 South Africa and  Malaysia 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.  Malta were automatically assigned to this semi-final (as always) because the head of delegation for Malta is on the admin team and is the organiser for the first semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result. After the results were announced, there were discussions about selecting one of the non-qualifiers to progress to the final as a wildcard entry -  Germany were selected as the wildcard.

## ​Semi Final Three

 Albania and  Mexico 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.  Finland were automatically assigned to this semi-final (as always) 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. After the results were announced, there were discussions about selecting one of the non-qualifiers to progress to the final as a wildcard entry -  Guyana were selected as the wildcard entry.

## ​Grand Final

Thirty countries participated in the final of this edition of the **Global Music Festival**​ - the power six, the seven qualifiers from the three semi-finals and the three wildcard entries (one from each semi-final). All sixty participating countries were eligible to vote in the final; however, only the thirty finalists were obligated to vote! The running order for the final was announced shortly after the semi final results on the 18 February 2018. The results for the final were released on the 23 February 2018.