Mystical Song Contest 63

The Mystical Song Contest #63 (also known as MSC 63) was the sixty-third edition of the Mystical Song Contest. It took place in Espoo, 🇫🇮 Finland after Mailis won in Toronto, 🇨🇦 Canada.

It was confirmed that 48 countries participated in the 63rd edition. No one debuted or returned while Bosnia & Herzegovina, 🇲🇽 Mexico, 🇲🇦 Morocco and 🇸🇮 Slovenia withdrew.

The top 6 of last edition 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇮🇸 Iceland, 🇦🇺 Australia, 🇮🇪 Ireland and 🇳🇴 Norway were automatically pre qualified for the Grand Final of this edition. The 42 others participating countries were split into 2 semi final.

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

Espoo
Espoo (/ˈɛspoʊ/, Finnish: [ˈespoː]; Swedish: Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi while surrounding the enclaved town of Kauniainen. The city covers 528.03 square kilometres (203.9 sq mi) with a population of about 300,000 residents in 2022, making it the 2nd-most populous city in Finland. Espoo forms a major part of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Helsinki, home to over 1.5 million people in 2020.

Espoo was first settled in the Prehistoric Era, with the first signs of human settlements going back as far as 8,000 years, but the population effectively disappeared in the early stages of the Iron Age. In the Early Middle Ages, the area was resettled by Tavastians and Southwestern Finns. After the Northern Crusades, Swedish settlers started migrating to the coastal areas of present-day Finland, and Espoo was established as a self-governing Catholic parish in the 15th century. In the aftermath of the Finnish War, the establishment of Helsinki as the new capital of the Russian-controlled Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812 greatly benefited the development of the municipality. However, the area remained largely agrarian, until the 20th century. Espoo experienced rapid urbanization and major demographic changes in the decades following World War II, with Finnish superseding Swedish as the language of the majority around 1950. The municipality became a market town in 1963 and gained city status in 1972.

The cityscape is dominated by detached housing and suburban environment, and the city itself is known for its large natural areas, including its long shoreline—58 kilometres in total—and archipelago, forests, lakes and a national park. Administratively, the city is divided into seven major districts, and each major district is further divided into smaller districts and neighbourhoods. Espoo has no traditional city centre; instead, it has five distinct city centres—Leppävaara, Tapiola, Matinkylä, Espoon keskus and Espoonlahti—and numerous local centres, many of which are formed around historical manors.

Aalto University is based in Otaniemi, Espoo, along with a thriving science community that includes numerous startups and organizations such as VTT – the Technical Research Center of Finland. Several major companies are based in Espoo, including Nokia, HMD Global, Tieto, KONE, Neste, Fortum, Orion Corporation, Outokumpu, and Foreca, as well as video game developers Rovio and Remedy Entertainment. Espoo joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities in 2015.

Before the time of the Swedish colonization, Espoo was inhabited by Tavastians, a Finnish tribe, and the area in which the city lies on did most likely have a different name. The name of Espoo is believed to have derived from the Medieval Swedish village of Espaby (or Espoby), which was located in the western part of the present-day city. It may refer to aspens that grew on a nearby riverbank, as the archaic Swedish word for the tree is "äspe", and the word for a river is "å", with the suffix "-by" meaning village.

The coat of arms of Espoo features a gold horseshoe topped by a gold crown on a blue shield. The crown refers to the old kungsgård of Espoo and the horseshoe refers to the obligation to transport officials, military or prisoners that parishes along the King's Road fell under. Many roads in Espoo still follow the old medieval King's Road. The King's Road in Finland, stretching from Turku in the west to Vyborg in the east, was formed in the 1340s or 1350s and was the most important road in Finland at the time.

Host of the show
On January 21, 2023 it was announced that Jaana Pelkonen will be the host of Mystical Song Contest 63.

Jaana Pelkonen (born 27 January 1977) is a Finnish member of parliament and television presenter.

Pelkonen's media career started as a radio presenter for Radio 99 in Lahti in 1995–1997. She became famous in Finland as the host of the video gaming show Tilt in 1997–2005 and the youth program Jyrki in 1998. In 2001–2002 she hosted an entertainment travel show called FarOut. She has also hosted the Finnish qualifications of the Eurovision Song Contest for five years.

On 12 May 2007 Pelkonen hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 together with Mikko Leppilampi. She also gave the Finnish votes in the Eurovision Dance Contest 2008 held in Glasgow, Scotland which was the second ever Dance Contest. She earned her master's degree in Political Science from Helsinki University in 2007, after graduation she worked as an assistant for the Finnish Minister of Communications Suvi Lindén.

Pelkonen received attention in Finland when she took part in the 2008 local elections. She was elected to Helsinki City Council with 3,518 votes, the 15th highest vote total in the nation. She was also the highest ranking celebrity amongst the candidates for local councillors.

She was further elected to the Finnish parliament in 2011 representing the National Coalition Party.

In 2015 parliamentary election Pelkonen got the highest vote total in Helsinki and the highest vote total of all female candidates in the nation. She was re-elected in 2019 parliamentary election with 10,563 votes. In February 2020, Pelkonen announced that she would not run in the next parliamentary election.

In autumn 2018, Pelkonen competed in Dances with Stars, the Finnish version of the dance contest Strictly Come Dancing, and placed sixth.

Debuting/Withdrawing
On January 20, 2023 it was announced that 4 countries won't participate in the 63rd edition.
 * Bosnia & Herzegovina : BHRT, the Bosnian broadcaster, stated that the country won't participate in the 63rd edition to take an undefined break from the contest. The last participation of the country was in the 62nd edition.


 * 🇲🇽 Mexico : Televisa, the Mexican broadcaster, stated that the country won't participate in the 63rd edition due to constant disappointing results in the contest but a return in the contest is still possible. The last participation of the country was in the 62nd edition.
 * 🇲🇦 Morocco : SNRT, the Moroccan broadcaster, stated that the country won't participate in the 62nd edition and take a break from the contest. The last participation of the country was in the 62nd edition.
 * 🇸🇮 Slovenia : RTV Slovenija, the Slovenian broadcaster, stated that the country won't participate in the 62nd edition quoting an internal problem in the delegation which disable them to be fully on point for the contest. The last participation of the country was in the 62nd edition.

Returning Artists
Here is the list of the returning artists for the 63rd edition.

Semi Finals
On January 22, 2023 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 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇮🇪 Ireland and 🇳🇴 Norway had to vote.

Semi Final 2
In this semi final 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇮🇸 Iceland and 🇦🇺 Australia had to vote.

Grand Final
On TBA the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the Grand Final.