Mystical Song Contest 44

The Mystical Song Contest #44 (also known as MSC 44) was the forty-fourth edition of the Mystical Song Contest. It took place in Turku, 🇫🇮 Finland after Pihlaja won in Sydney, 🇦🇺 Australia.

It was confirmed that 48 countries participated in the 44th edition. No withdrawing, returning or debuting.

The top 6 of last edition 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇦🇺 Australia, 🇦🇹 Austria, 🇸🇰 Slovakia, 🇪🇸 Spain and The Netherlands 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.

Turku
Turku (/ˈtʊərkuː/ TOOR-koo; Finnish: [ˈturku] (listen); Swedish: Åbo [ˈǒːbʊ] (listen), Finland Swedish: [ˈoːbu] (listen), Latin: Aboa; in Russian: Турку, formerly Або) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (Varsinais-Suomi). The region was originally called Suomi (Finland), which later became the name for the whole country. As of 30 September 2018, the population of Turku was 191,499 making it the sixth largest city in Finland after Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa and Oulu. There were 330,192 inhabitants living in the Turku sub-region, ranking it as the third largest urban area in Finland after the Greater Helsinki area and Tampere sub-region. The city is officially bilingual as 5.2 percent of its population identify Swedish as a mother-tongue.

It is unknown when Turku gained city rights. The Pope first mentioned the town Aboa in his Bulla in 1229 and the year is now used as the foundation year of the city. As the oldest town in the country, Turku was the most important city in Finland, a status it retained for hundreds of years throughout the centuries under the rule of the Kingdom of Sweden. After the Finnish war, Finland became an autonomous grand duchy of the Russian Empire (1809) under the direct rule of the Czar and the capital of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland was moved to Helsinki (1812).

It was only after the last great fire in 1827 that most governmental institutions were moved to Helsinki along with the Academy of Turku (Turun Akatemia) founded in 1640, which then became the University of Helsinki. Turku continued to be the most populous city in Finland until the end of the 1840s, and it remains the regional capital and an important business and cultural center and port.

Because of its long history, it has been the site of many important events, and has extensively influenced Finnish history. The history of the country is closely linked to Turku, the former capital. Along with Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, Turku was designated the European Capital of Culture for 2011. In 1996, it was declared the official Christmas City of Finland.

Due to its location, Turku is a notable commercial and passenger seaport with over three million passengers traveling through the Port of Turku each year to Stockholm and Mariehamn.

The Finnish name Turku originates from an Old East Slavic word, tǔrgǔ, meaning "market place". The word turku still means "market place" in some Finnish dialects.

The Swedish name Åbo may be a simple combination of å ("river; creek; large stream") and bo ("dwelling"). There is however an old legal term called "åborätt [sv]" (meaning roughly "right to live at"), which gave citizens (called "åbo") the inheritable right to live at land owned by the crown (å meant at or on in old Swedish, now på).

In Finnish, the genitive of Turku is Turun, meaning "of Turku". The Finnish names of organizations and institutes of Turku often begin with this word, as in Turun yliopisto for the University of Turku.

Host of the show
On November 8, 2020 it was announced that Krista Siegfrids will be the host of Mystical Song Contest 44.

Kristin "Krista" Siegfrids (born 4 December 1985) is a Finnish singer and television presenter. She represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with her entry "Marry Me". Siegfrids' debut album, named Ding Dong!, was released in May 2013. As a television presenter, she has hosted Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu since 2016.

Siegfrids was born into the Swedish-speaking minority in Kaskinen in western Finland. Her mother language is Swedish, though Siegfrids also speaks fluent Finnish and English. She studied in Vaasa to be a teacher. Siegfrids has three siblings.

Siegfrids started her career with her band Daisy Jack in 2009. Their first single was Perfect Crime, released in October 2011. She achieved her first musical role in the musical, Play Me (2009-2010) at the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki. Her next major career step was to be cast in the rock musical Muskettisoturit, (The Three Musketeers, 2011) at the Finnish Peacock Theatre in Helsinki. Siegfrids participated in the first season of The Voice of Finland (2011–2012) but was dropped in the semifinals.

Siegfrids participated in Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2013 for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "Marry Me". The 27-year-old Siegfrids won the contest held at Barona Areena by attaining the maximum vote of both the public and judges. She was elected to represent Finland in Malmö. During her performance, she shared a kiss with one of the female dancers on stage. According to Siegfrids, the act was a part of the show and urged Finland to legalize same-sex marriage. On 16 May, her entry made it to the final of the Eurovision on 18 May. However, in the finals it finished 24th out of the 26 countries with a total of 13 points.

According to the Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, Jon Ola Sand, Turkey had announced in November that it would not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. Though the channel promised to show the contest, Turkey's TRT cancelled showing the semifinal and the finals over what LGBT activists alleged was fears of Siegfrids' promised lesbian kiss. When China broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in October 2013, officials aired Siegfrid's performance but removed the kiss as a result of the television censorship in China and violation of Chinese ethics, sparking outrage among Eurovision fans in the country.

Siegfrids' debut album, Ding Dong!, was released on 10 May 2013. Later, it was announced that she would be a guest on Big Brother's Bit on the Side, a spin-off of the British version of Big Brother. She represented Finland in the Sopot Festival in concert "Top of the Top" on 23 August 2013 with her entry "Marry Me". Siegfrieds was the spokesperson for Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna and gave the top mark of twelve points to Sweden's Måns Zelmerlöw and his song "Heroes", which went on to win the contest.

Siegfrids has presented Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, the Finnish national selection show for Eurovision since 2016. At the same time she participated in the Swedish national selection show Melodifestivalen 2016 with the song "Faller", but did not advance from second semifinal after placing fifth. In September, she signed a contract with Universal Music Sweden and Stereoscope Scandinavia. She participated in third semifinal Melodifestivalen 2017 with the song "Snurra min jord", but did not advance after placing seventh.

Debuting/Withdrawing
No countries withdrew or debuted.

Returning Artists
Here is the list of the returning artists for the 44th edition.

Semi Finals
On November 8, 2020 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, 🇦🇺 Australia and The Netherlands had to vote.

Semi Final 2
In this semi final 🇦🇹 Austria, 🇸🇰 Slovakia and 🇪🇸 Spain had to vote.

Grand Final
On November 20, 2020 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the Grand Final.