Mystical Song Contest 24

The Mystical Song Contest #24 (also known as MSC 24) was the twenty-fourth edition of the Mystical Song Contest. It took place in Constanta, 🇷🇴 Romania after Elena Ionescu won in Dublin, 🇮🇪 Ireland.

It was confirmed that 48 countries participated in the 24th edition. 🇨🇿 Czech Republic and 🇱🇻 Latvia returned while 🇮🇸 Iceland and 🇮🇳 India withdrew.

The top 6 of last edition 🇷🇴 Romania, 🇮🇱 Israel, 🇨🇭 Switzerland, 🇱🇹 Lithuania, 🇧🇾 Belarus and 🇺🇸 United States were automatically pre qualified for the Grand Final of this edition. The 42 other countries that participated were split into 2 semi finals.

The running orders were made by the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås.

Constanta
Constanța ( UK: /kɒnˈstæntsə/, US: /kənˈstɑːn(t)sə/, Romanian: [konˈstantsa] (listen); Greek: Κωνστάντζα, romanized: Kōnstántza, or Κωνστάντια Kōnstántia; Bulgarian: Кюстенджа, romanized: Kjustendža, or Констанца Konstanca; Turkish: Köstence), historically known as Tomis (Ancient Greek: Τόμις), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Romania. It was founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Northern Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region of Dobruja.

As of the 2011 census, Constanța has a population of 283,872, making it the fifth most populous city in Romania. The Constanța metropolitan area includes 14 localities within 30 km (19 mi) of the city, and with a total population of 425,916 inhabitants, it is one of the largest metropolitan areas in Romania.

The Port of Constanța has an area of 39.26 km2 (15.16 sq mi) and a length of about 30 km (19 mi).[citation needed] It is the largest port on the Black Sea, and one of the largest ports in Europe.

According to Jordanes (after Cassiodorus), the foundation of the city was ascribed to Tomyris the queen of the Massagetae (The origin and deeds of the Goths): After achieving this victory (against Cyrus the Great) and winning so much booty from her enemies, Queen Tomyris crossed over into that part of Moesia which is now called Lesser Scythia - a name borrowed from Great Scythia -, and built on the Moesian shore of the Black Sea the city of Tomi, named after herself.

In 29 BC the Romans captured the region from the Odryses, and annexed it as far as the Danube, under the name of Limes Scythicus (Scythian Frontier).

In AD 8, the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC-17) was banished here by Augustus and it was where he spent the remaining eight years of his life. He laments his exile in Tomis in his poems: Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto. Tomis was by his account a town located in a war-stricken cultural wasteland on the remotest margins of the empire.

Hosts of the show
On August 23, 2019 it was announced that Elena Ionescu & Ester Peony were the hosts of Mystical Song Contest 24. Elena Ionescu (17 May 1988) is a Romanian singer who was the lead singer of pop band Mandinga from 2006 until 2016, replacing Elena Gheorghe after she left the group to work on her solo career.

Ionescu left the group in 2016 to pursue a solo career as well. Mandinga won the Romanian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan, where Ionescu performed the hit song Zaleilah. Ionescu was the second lead singer of Mandinga to represent Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest, as Elena Gheorghe represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.

Ester Alexandra Crețu ([ˈɛstɛr ɑlɛkˈsɑndrɑ ˈkrɛt͡su], born 21 July 1993), known professionally as Ester Peony (formerly only Ester), is a Romanian singer and songwriter. She represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song On a Sunday after winning the selection show Selecția Națională 2019. However, she failed to qualify for the Grand Final in Tel Aviv.

Peony started to compose music for Romanian artists before gaining recognition for posting covers on YouTube in 2015. Later that year, she attained commercial success in Romania with her single Sub aripa ta featuring Vescan.

Ester Alexandra Crețu was born in Câmpulung, Romania on 21 July 1993. She and her parents emigrated to Montreal, Canada in 2001. There, she showed a particular interest in music and started studying jazz singing at the age of eight.

Peony relocated to Romania four years later and graduated from the Dinu Lipatti High School of Art in Pitești, where she studied classic singing and classic guitar. In 2013, she enrolled at the Music Interpretation Faculty in Bucharest to study jazz.

Peony cites Delia, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Cher, Queen, Michael Jackson and Ariana Grande as some of her musical inspirations. Her stage name refers to the peony flower. In Romanian, peony translates to bujor, which refers to part of her mother's name.

The singer has been in a relationship with Alexandru Șerbu since about 2013; Șerbu acted as producer for On a Sunday. Peony believes in God.

Peony released her debut single Cuminte de Crăciun under her mononym Ester in late 2014.

At the same time, she had been composing music for other Romanian artists. In 2015, she started posting covers on YouTube. The cover videos gained her attention, and she was subsequently offered a record deal with a Romanian label.

Later that year, Peony released the song Sub aripa ta, featuring Romanian rapper Vescan. The song was played on radio and television stations across the country. In 2016, she embarked on her first tour with Vescan.

The singer changed her stage name to Ester Peony and independently distributed her debut EP Dig It in May 2018, for which she was also one of the main composers.

In February 2019, Romanian Television (TVR) announced her as the Romanian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel, after she won the selection show Selecția Națională with her song On a Sunday.

The announcement was met with mixed reactions from the public. In 2019, TVR were able to spend significant amounts on their Eurovision entry for the first time; they spent about 100,000 euros on the visual and special effects in the performance.

Romania failed to qualify for the Eurovision Grand Final as their second consecutive—and second overall—non-qualification, placing 13th with 71 points.

During her Eurovision time, Peony had signed a record deal with Cat Music, and is currently working on her debut studio album set to be released later in 2019. She performed at the 2019 Golden Stag Festival.

Debuting/Withdrawing
On August 23, 2019 it was announced that 2 countries withdrew in the 24th edition.


 * 🇮🇸 Iceland : RUV the Icelandic broadcaster decided to withdraw since Iceland doesn't stand out in the contest. The last participation of the country was in the 23rd edition.
 * 🇮🇳 India : India getting their first non qualification in the previous edition, and losing their 100 % qualification streak, decided to withdraw. The last participation of the country was in the 23rd edition.

Returning Artists
Here is the list of the returning artists for the 24th edition.

Semi Finals
On August 26, 2019 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of both semi finals.

The big 6 members were assigned to a semi final where they had to vote.

A total of 21 countries competed in each semi final and 10 countries qualified in both.

Semi Final 1
In this semi final 🇷🇴 Romania, 🇱🇹 Lithuania and 🇺🇸 United States had to vote.

Semi Final 2
In this semi final 🇮🇱 Israel, 🇨🇭 Switzerland and 🇧🇾 Belarus had to vote.

Grand Final
On September 1, 2019 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the grand final.