Mystical Song Contest 56

The Mystical Song Contest #55 (also known as MSC 55) was the fifty-fifth edition of the Mystical Song Contest. It took place in Incheon, 🇰🇷 South Korea after Sura won in Sarajevo,  Bosnia & Herzegovina.

It was confirmed that 52 countries participated in the 55th edition. No one debuted or withdrew while 🇧🇷 Brazil, 🇧🇬 Bulgaria, 🇯🇵 Japan and 🇸🇮 Slovenia returned.

The top 6 of last edition 🇰🇷 South Korea, 🇺🇸 United States, 🇹🇷 Turkey, 🇦🇱 Albania, 🇨🇦 Canada and 🇩🇪 Germany were automatically pre qualified for the Grand Final of this edition. The 46 other participating countries were split into 2 semi finals and a Pre-Qualification Round which consists of the countries which ended in the bottom 4 of each semi final of the previous edition.

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

Incheon
Incheon (Korean: 인천; Hanja: 仁川; Korean pronunciation: [intɕʰʌ̹n]; McCune-Reischauer romanization Inchŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Chemulpo, until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시), is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. Today, about 3 million people live in the city, making it South Korea's third most-populous city after Seoul and Busan.

The city's growth has been assured in modern times with the development of its port due to its natural advantages as a coastal city and its proximity to the South Korean capital. It is part of the Seoul Capital Area, along with Seoul itself and Gyeonggi Province, forming the world's fourth largest metropolitan area by population.

Incheon has since led the economic development of Korea by opening its port to the outside world, ushering in the modernization of Korea as a center of industrialization. In 2003, the city was designated as Korea's first free economic zone. Since then, large local companies and global enterprises have increasingly invested in the Incheon Free Economic Zone, including Samsung which chose Songdo International City as its new investment destination for its bio industry.

As an international city, Incheon has held numerous large scale international conferences, such as the Incheon Global Fair & Festival in 2009. The 17th Asian Games Incheon 2014 was also held in Incheon on 19 September 2014. Incheon has established itself as a major transportation hub in northeast Asia with the Incheon International Airport and Incheon Port. The city is also home to the Green Climate Fund, an international organization addressing environmental issues. The first historical record of the Incheon area dates back to 475 CE, during the reign of King Jangsu of Goguryeo, by the name of Michuhol, which is supposed to be located on today's Munhak Hill (문학산). The area underwent several name changes with successive kingdoms and dynasties. In Goryeo era, Incheon was called Gyeongwon (경원) or Inju (인주). The current name was turned to Incheon in 1413.[citation needed] Later, Incheon County became Incheon Metropolitan Prefecture (dohobu, 도호부). Old Incheon consisted of today's southern Incheon (i.e. Jung-gu, Dong-gu, Nam-gu, Yeonsu-gu, and Namdong-gu) and northern part of Siheung City. The city centre was Gwangyo-dong, where the prefecture office (도호부청사) and the local academy (hyanggyo, 향교) were located. The "original" two remaining buildings of the Incheon prefecture office are located in Munhak Elementary School, while the newly built (in 2001) prefecture office buildings are right across from Munhak Baseball Stadium.

Host of the show
On August 5, 2021 it was announced that Sunmi will be the host of Mystical Song Contest 55.

Lee Sun-mi (born Sun Mi on May 2, 1992), known mononymously as Sunmi (stylized as SUNMI), is a South Korean singer and songwriter. She debuted in 2007 as a member of South Korean girl group Wonder Girls and left the group in 2010 to pursue an academic career. After a three-year hiatus, Sunmi resumed her career as a soloist with her 2013 debut extended play Full Moon– spawning the number two singles "24 Hours" and "Full Moon" on the national Gaon Digital Chart.

In 2015, Sunmi was announced to be resuming promotion with the Wonder Girls until their disbandment in 2017. She subsequently left JYP Entertainment and joined MAKEUS Entertainment (now known as ABYSS Company), releasing the hit single "Gashina".

Her second extended play Warning was released in 2018 and produced two other hit singles: "Heroine" and "Siren". Sunmi was born on May 2, 1992 in Iksan, North Jeolla, South Korea.[1] She attended Hwangnam Elementary School, Chungdam Middle School and Chungdam High School, and later majored in musical theater at Dongguk University.[citation needed]

Sunmi revealed on a 2018 episode of Talkmon that she first decided to become a celebrity when she was 12, after her father was admitted to hospital due to complications of pulmonary tuberculosis. She was inspired by BoA who debuted at the age of 13, and it was for her "the fastest way to make money" in order to take care of her mother and two younger brothers.

She went to Seoul to audition and became a JYP Entertainment trainee at 14, though her father passed away three months before her debut with Wonder Girls. She later adopted her stepfather's surname Lee while in university and merged her original given name and surname, becoming Lee Sun-mi.[2]

Sunmi is known in the K-pop industry to have created her own musical style called "Sunmi-pop".[40][41][42] It maintains K-pop’s core influences such as Pop, Rock, Jazz, Electronic Dance Music, traditional Korean music plus Retro and City Pop elements mixed with Sunmi's own defined music identity. [43]

The concept of "Sunmi-pop" was first mentioned by Sunmi on Yu Hee Yeol's Sketchbook at the start of 2018.[44] Later in the year, in an interview for 1TheK's YouTube channel published in September 2018, she revealed that her personal goal was to create her own music style named after herself.[45][46]

The interview was published at a time coinciding with the release of Warning (her first Extended Play since her renewal as a solo artist) and she referred to the newly published EP as "a stepping stone from which [she] can build [her] own music style".[46]

Debuting/Withdrawing
No countries withdrew or debuted.

Returning Artists
Here is the list of the returning artists for the 55th edition.

Pre-Qualification Round
On August 5, 2021 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the Pre-Qualification round.

Semi Finals
On August 5, 2021 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 19 countries competed in each semi final and 10 countries qualified in both.

Semi Final 1
In this semi final 🇰🇷 South Korea, 🇺🇸 United States and 🇹🇷 Turkey had to vote.

Semi Final 2
In this semi final 🇦🇱 Albania, 🇨🇦 Canada and 🇩🇪 Germany had to vote.

Grand Final
On August 21, 2021 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the Grand Final.