Dreamvision 7

Estonia

 Malta

 Norway

 Thailand

 Cuba

 Luxembourg

 Taiwan

The seventh edition of Dreamvision took place in London, United Kingdom following the country's victory at the sixth edition with the song 'Heal me' peformed by Grace Carter. This was the first time for the to host a dreamvision event. The contest was held in The O2 arena in London and conducted 2 semi-finals, taking place on 1 and 8 December and a grand final, taking place on 15 December. All three shows were hosted by Cheryl and Lucie Jones. The event was organized by the Dreamvision Broadcasting Union and hosted by BBC. The winner was France with the song 'Là Haut' sang by Chimène Badi. It was the second time France won the contest.

Forty-eight countries participated in the seventh edition. Jamaica made their first appearance while Azerbaijan, Canada, Estonia, Malta, Norway and Thailand returned to the contest. Sadly, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Cuba, Luxembourg and Taiwan withdrew. It was the highest number of participants in the contest so far.

## Location

### **Venue**

The contest took place at London's 20.000 seated O2 arena. The arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena, usually used for concerts or sportevents. The arena is located in the Southeast London and was built between 2003 and 2007 being the second largest music venue in the country after the Manchester Arena.

### **Bidding phase**

Before the grand final of the sixth edition Turkey and Ukraine both stated that they would like to host the contest. If Turkey would host, broadcaster TRT announced that the contest would take place in the Sinar Erdem Dome in Istanbul. The Ukrainian broadcaster announced that the venue would be chosen via a selection. On 21 October 2019 the DBU announced that the contest would be held in the winning country of the sixth edition.

On 31 October 2019 it was officialy confirmed that the seventh edition would take place in the United Kingdom.

In the evening of 5 November it was announced that 5 countries had confirmed their bidbook. The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, the Echo arena in Liverpool, the Earls court exhibition centre in London, the O2 arena in London and the Manchester arena in Manchester were on the final list.

The shortlisted venues were revealed on Monday via instagram stories. Those were the SSE Hydro arena in Glasgow and the O2 arena in London.

On 15 November 2019 it was announced via the official instagram account that the O2 arena in London would host the shows.

**Key**:  Host venue  Shortlisted

 Liverpool
 London
 London
 Manchester

## Format

### **Visual design**

The slogan for the contest was 'Discover your path'. The logo shows a compass which should help you discover your own path to luck, freedom or any other dream of yours. The official artwork was revealed on 10 November 2019.

### **Presenters**

On 24 November the official instagram account of Dreamvision announced that Cheryl, who had represented the United Kingdom in the fifth edition of the contest, and Lucie Jones, who represented the United Kingdom in the 2017 Eurovision song contest, would host all three shows.

### **Semi-final allocation draw**

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on 26 November 2019 at 14:00 CET in the British Museum in London. The 42 semi-finalists had been allocated into six pots, based on historical voting patterns and the location of the country. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined the semi-final that each of the six automatic finalist countries (Host country United Kingdom and Big Five countries Cyprus, Kosovo, Poland, Sweden and Turkey) would broadcast and vote in. The ceremony was hosted by Holly Brewer who represented the country in the fourth edition.

* Barbados
* Belize
* Canada
* Colombia
* Jamaica
* United States
* Belgium
* France
* Morocco
* Netherlands
* Spain
* Switzerland
* Finland
* Germany
* Iceland
* Isle of Man
* Latvia
 Pot 4
 * Hungary
* Italy
* Liechtenstein
* Malta
* San Marino
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Greece
* Israel
* North Macedonia
* Serbia
* Romania
* Ukraine
* Australia
* Azerbaijan
* Kazakhstan
* Russia
* South Korea
* Thailand

### **Voting**

50% jury and 50% televoting. In the semi-finals the participating countries and automatic qualifiers voted. In the grand final all the participants voted, including the non-qualifiers by the jury voting.

### **Opening acts and interval acts**

The idea behind the opening acts was the same as in the sixth edition, showing the host country's history in the contest. The opening act of the first semi-final was Grace Carter with her song 'Heal me' which placed first in both semi-final and grand final in the sixth edition. The second semi-final was opened by Cheryl with her song 'Let you' which placed fifth in the semi-final and twenty-first in the grand final of the fifth edition. The grand final was opened by Holly with her song 'I wished I love you more' which represented the country in the fourth edition. The big five and host country acts served as interval acts.

## Provisional list of participants

Forty-eight countries took part. Jamaica made their first appearance while Azerbaijan, Canada, Estonia, Malta, Norway and Thailand returned to the contest. Sadly, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Cuba, Luxembourg and Taiwan withdrew. It was the highest number of participants in the contest so far.

### **Returning artists**

Rihanna returned for Barbados after representing the country in the sixth edition with the song 'This is what you came for' placing 19th with 168 points in the grand final. Shawn Mendes returned for Canada after representing the country in the fourth edition with the song 'Stitches' placing 14th in the semi-final. Lena returned for Germany after representing the country in the second edition with the song 'Beat to my melody' placing third in the grand final. Tamara Todevska returned after representing  Macedonia North Macedonia in the sixth edition with the song 'Doviduvanje tago' placing fifteenth in the semi-final. G(I)-DLE returned for Thailand after representing the country in the third edition with the song 'Senorita' placing fifteenth in the semi-final. Dua Lipa returned for Kosovo after representing Kosovo in the sixth edition with the song 'Be the one' placing fifth with 255 points. Grace Carter returned to represent the after winning the sixth edition with the song 'Heal me'.

### **Grand final**

The grand final took place on 15 December. The winner was France.

## Other countries

* Austria The Austrian broadcaster announced they would not debute in the seventh edition.
* Bosnia and Herzegovina The country had to withdraw due financial difficulties but stated that they would like to return in the future.
* China Mango TV stated that China would not participate in the contest without any furthur explanations.
* Cuba On 31 October it was announced that Cuba would withdraw due low viewing rates and financial issues
* Czech Republic Broadcaster CT announced they would not return to the contest due lack of viewers and financial difficulties.
* Ireland The country was not on the full list of participants. On 4 November 2019 the broadcaster gave a statament: 'On the moment we do not have the time and money to participate in this amazing event, but we will do our best to make our return soon. However, this could be either in the eight edition or about a year. We do not know that since our return is in an early development.'
* Lebanon Broadcaster LBCI made a statement about the situation of Lebanon in the competition since their withdrawal in the third edition: 'Lebanon enjoyed the participation in Dreamvision for once, but no plans for a return have being made. We do not have a HoD and a small audience who follows dreamvision, therefore participation is difficult. Our situation with Israel also plays part of our withdrawal.'
* Luxembourg The head of delegation announced that she was moving to another project and that there was not found a successor: 'We are searching but a withdrawal seems the most likely at the moment´. On 1 November 2019 Luxembourg was not on the full list of participants.
* Portugal RTP announced the Portugese delegation had plans to return in the future but not in the seventh edition to schedule difficulties.
* Taiwan On 1 November 2019 Taiwan was not on the full list of participants. The country did not give any explanation for their withdrawal.