Edition 15

The **​**​fifteenth edition of **​The Global Music Festival**​ took place at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada.  It was the first time the contest took place in Canada, following the country's victory in the fourteenth edition of the contest in the United States with the song "Ugly Heart" performed by G.R.L. - scoring 177 points.  This edition consisted of three semi-finals which were all launched on the 21 August 2017 and a grand final which took place from the 25 August 2017. All four of the shows in this edition were hosted by Céline Dion - winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 and Canadian global superstar.

Fifty-two countries participated in this edition of the contest.  Edition 15 saw three countries make their debut; Monaco, Singapore and Uzbekistan.  We also saw the return of seven countries; Cuba, Denmark, Japan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Northern Ireland and the long awaited return of Iceland, who last took part in Edition Two. However, we did see the withdrawal of five countries; Costa Rica, Cyprus, Germany, Israel and New Zealand.

The power six for this edition were Canada, Ireland, Ghana, Finland, Austria and Sweden - 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

* Singapore
* Uzbekistan
* Denmark
* Iceland
* Japan
* Kosovo
* Lebanon
* Northern Ireland
* Cyprus
* Germany
* Israel
* New Zealand

## ​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 21 August 2017, the draw was done via live stream on the Facebook group.  The forty-six semi-finalists (excluding Scotland, Monaco, Singapore and Uzbekistan) 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 the country is on the admin team and is in charge of the first semi final.  Therefore, they were automatically placed into one of the other semi-finals - they were randomly assigned to the third semi-final.

Monaco, Singapore and Uzbekistan (our three debuting nations) were not included in the pots because the admin in charge of the allocation draw decided to place one of the debuting nations in each of the three semi-finals.  Singapore was randomly allocated to semi-final one, Uzbekistan was randomly allocated to semi-final two, and Monaco was randomly allocated to the third semi-final.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (Canada, Ireland, Ghana, Finland, Austria and Sweden) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals.  Ghana and Austria were assigned to the first semi-final; Ireland and Sweden were assigned to the second semi-final; and Canada and Finland were assigned to the third semi-final.

## ​Odds

The odds for the semi finals were released on 23 August 2017 by the admins in charge of their respective semi finals, below you can see the odds for the top seven (the predicted qualifiers) in each semi final:

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

  Scotland
  Romania
  Malta
  Slovenia
  Andorra
  Singapore
  Portugal
  Spain
  Mexico

## Returning Artists

This edition of the contest featured seventeen artists who also previously performed at the Global Music Festival.  The collaboration between CNCO and Little Mix represented Colombia: this was CNCO's second participation for Colombia after last participating in the eleventh edition with the song "Quisiera" - they came tenth in the third semi final and failed to qualify they hoped to qualify this edition and get a respectible position; Little Mix have come third three times out of their four previous participations and hoped to improve this edition representing Colombia for the first time.  Helena Paparizou returned to participate for Greece for the fifth time with her song "Haide", Pitbull returned for Cuba for the sixth time with the song "Greenlight" alongside LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida (who is also returning for a second participation).  Bebe Rexha returned for England (alongside Louis Tomlinson and Digital Farm Animals), Dua Lipa returned for Kosovo, Gery-Nikol returned for Bulgaria and Becky G returned for Mexico.

Tove Lo returned for Sweden for the first time since their win in edition ten, hoping to get a similar result.  Nyanda returned for Jamaica, she hoped to get her first top three placement.  Kerli returned for Estonia, Vassy participated for Australia, The New Victorians returned for Malta and Christopher for Denmark.  Also, Samra and Soprano returned for Azerbaijan and Monaco respectively, they both hoped to qualify for the first time!

## Semi Final One

 Ghana and  Austria 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 wildcard entry from this semi final to progress to the final -  Moldova were selected as the wildcard entry for this semi-final.

## Semi Final Two

 Ireland and  Sweden from the power six voted in the semi final, following the allocation draw, as well as the countries participating in this semi final.  Unfortunately,  Kosovo and  Azerbaijan both failed to vote before the deadline and were both disqualified as a result - Kosovo would have placed second with 159 points, Azerbaijan would have placed ninth with 85 points.  After the results were announced the admin team discussed selecting a wildcard entry from this semi final to progress to the final -  Bulgaria were selected as the wildcard entry for this semi-final.

## Semi Final Three

 Canada and  Finland from the power six voted in the semi final, following the allocation draw, as well as the countries participating in this semi final.   Scotland were automatically placed in this semi-final because the head of delegation for Scotland is in charge of the first semi-final - the country was randomly drawn to participate in semi-final three.  Unfortunately,  Denmark were disqualified because the head of delegation for Denmark left the Global Music Festival Facebook group - Denmark would have placed sixth with 91 points.  After the results were announced the admin team discussed selecting a wildcard entry from this semi final to progress to the final -  Japan were selected as the wildcard entry for this semi-final.

## 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 25 August 2017.