Mystical Song Contest 7

The Mystical Song Contest #7 (also known as MSC 7) was the seventh edition of the Mystical Song Contest. It took place in London, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom after Tom Grennan won in Budapest, 🇭🇺 Hungary.

It was confirmed that 56 countries participated in the 7th edition. 🇦🇩 Andorra, 🇯🇲 Jamaica, 🇯🇴 Jordan, Kosovo, 🇲🇨 Monaco, 🇰🇵 North Korea,

🇸🇬 Singapore and 🇸🇰 Slovakia debuted. 🇲🇦 Morocco and 🇸🇲 San Marino returned while 🇸🇮 Slovenia and 🇨🇭 Switzerland withdrew.

The top 6 of last edition 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, 🇦🇱 Albania, 🇨🇿 Czech Republic, 🇦🇺 Australia, 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein and 🇱🇹 Lithuania were automatically pre qualified for the Grand Final of this edition. The 50 other countries that participated were split into 2 semi finals.

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

London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

London is considered to be one of the world's most important global cities and has been termed the world's most powerful, most desirable, most influential, most visited, most expensive, innovative, sustainable, most investment friendly, and most popular for work city in the world. London exerts a considerable impact upon the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transportation. London ranks 26 out of 300 major cities for economic performance. It is one of the largest financial centres and has either the fifth or sixth largest metropolitan area GDP. It is the most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the busiest city airport system as measured by passenger traffic. It is the leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. London's universities form the largest concentration of higher education institutes in Europe, and is home to highly ranked institutions such as Imperial College London in natural and applied sciences, the London School of Economics in social sciences, and the comprehensive University College London. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted three modern Summer Olympic Games.

London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2018 municipal population (corresponding to Greater London) was 8,908,081, the most populous of any city in the European Union and accounting for 13.4% of the UK population. London's urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The population within the London commuter belt is the most populous in the EU with 14,040,163 inhabitants in 2016. London was the world's most populous city from c. 1831 to 1925.

London contains four World Heritage Sites: the Tower of London; Kew Gardens; the site comprising the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, and St Margaret's Church; and the historic settlement in Greenwich where the Royal Observatory, Greenwich defines the Prime Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time. Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square and The Shard. London has numerous museums, galleries, libraries and sporting events. These include the British Museum, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, British Library and West End theatres. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world.

Host of the show
On August 14, 2018 it was announced that Lucie Jones was the host of Mystical Song Contest 7.

Lucie Bethan Jones (born 20 March 1991) is a Welsh singer, actress, and model. Jones first came to prominence while competing on series 6 of The X Factor UK in 2009, where she finished eighth. She represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Never Give Up on You", finishing with 111 points in 15th place, the country's best result since 2011.

Jones was born in Pentyrch, a small village outside of Cardiff. In 2007, she attended the World Scout Jamboree as a Scout, and was the main performer singing "Jambo", the theme song of the jamboree. Lucie was also a part of Cardiff's own Scout and Guide Gang Show.

Jones auditioned for series 6 of The X Factor UK with the song "I Will Always Love You". She advanced to the live shows, and was mentored by Dannii Minogue. Jones was eliminated in week five, during the final showdown against John & Edward after the result went to deadlock with Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell voting to eliminate Jones while Minogue and Cheryl Cole voted to send home John & Edward. After her elimination, 1,113 viewers complained about Cowell sending the result to deadlock rather than sending home John & Edward in a majority vote.

After being eliminated from The X Factor, Jones was signed to Select Model Management, and began a modelling career. In May 2010, Jones was signed by Cameron Mackintosh to play Cosette in the West End production of Les Misérables. In September 2010, she was revealed to be the face of Wonderbra's Full Effects campaign. In 2010, she appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures episode, "Lost in Time: Part Two". Jones played the role of Meat in the 2013 arena tour of We Will Rock You. Jones also played the role of Victoria in the musical American Psycho at the Almeida Theatre in December 2013.

In February 2015, Jones appeared as Melody Carver in ITV's Midsomer Murders, in the episode "The Ballad of Midsomer County". In April 2015, Jones played the role of Emma in the showcase performance of Like Me, at The Waterloo East Theatre. In March 2015, she was cast as Molly in the Chinese tour of Ghost the Musical. In April 2016, she played the lead role of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde at Curve Leicester. In 2016, she was cast as Maureen Johnson in the UK tour of Rent. Jones appeared in a summer run as Holly in the UK Tour of The Wedding Singer from 20 June to 19 July 2017. Between September 2017 and June 2018 she reprised her role as Elle Woods in a UK tour of Legally Blonde.

Jones made her debut as Jenna in Waitress on Thursday 16th May 2019. Following a brief break, she returned to Waitress in mid-June to play Jenna indefinitely.

In January 2017, Jones was confirmed to be competing in Eurovision: You Decide, the United Kingdom's national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. Her song, "Never Give Up on You", was co-written by Eurovision Song Contest 2013 winner Emmelie de Forest. On 27 January 2017, Jones won the televised show, and was confirmed to be representing the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, in Kiev.

Jones's performance was shown in excerpt at the first semi-final of the Eurovision and, following this, betting odds went on to surge. At the Grand Final Jones performed eighteenth in the running order and then, in the second half of the final, went on to score 111 points through combined voting from the jury vote and the popular vote. Jones also managed to score 12 points from the Australia professional Jury. An article in the International Business Times stated that she blamed Brexit for the "disappointing" result.

Debuting/Withdrawing
On August 14, 2018 it was announced that 2 countries won't participate in the 7th edition.


 * 🇸🇮 Slovenia : Due to bad results, the Slovenian broadcaster RTV Slovenija decided to withdraw from the contest. The last participation of the country was in the 6th edition.
 * 🇨🇭 Switzerland : Due to bad results, the Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR decided to withdraw from the contest. The last participation of the country was in the 6th edition.

 BBC also invited 8 new countries to debut :


 * 🇦🇩 Andorra : The broadcaster RTVA announced that Andorra will debut in the Mystical Song Contest.
 * 🇯🇲 Jamaica : The broadcaster TVJ announced that Jamaica will debut in the Mystical Song Contest.
 * 🇯🇴 Jordan : The broadcaster JRTV announced that Jordan will debut in the Mystical Song Contest.
 * Kosovo : The broadcaster RTK announced that Kosovo will debut in the Mystical Song Contest.
 * 🇲🇨 Monaco : The broadcaster TMC announced that Monaco will debut in the Mystical Song Contest.
 * 🇰🇵 North Korea : The broadcaster KCT announced that North Korea will debut in the Mystical Song Contest.
 * 🇸🇬 Singapore : MediaCorp TV announced that Singapore will debut in the Mystical Song Contest.
 * 🇸🇰 Slovakia : The broadcaster RTVS announced that Slovakia will debut in the Mystical Song Contest.

Returning Artists
Here is the list of the returning artists for the 7th edition.

Semi Finals
On August 19, 2018 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.

Since edition 7 had more than 50 participating countries, the semi finals consisted of 25 countries in which 12 countries qualified.

Semi Final 1
In this semi final 🇦🇱 Albania, 🇨🇿 Czech Republic and 🇦🇺 Australia had to vote.

Semi Final 2
In this semi final 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein and 🇱🇹 Lithuania had to vote.

Grand Final
On August 26, 2018 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the grand final. The grand final was remarkably composed of 30 countries.