Mystical Song Contest 43

The Mystical Song Contest #43 (also known as MSC 43) was the forty-third edition of the Mystical Song Contest. It took place in Sydney, 🇦🇺 Australia after The Faim won in Ganja, 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan.

It was confirmed that 48 countries participated in the 43rd edition. No withdrawing, 🇱🇧 Lebanon debuted while 🇲🇽 Mexico and 🇸🇲 San Marino returned.

The top 6 of last edition 🇦🇺 Australia, 🇺🇦 Ukraine, 🇫🇷 France, 🇰🇷 South Korea, 🇳🇴 Norway and 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan 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.

Sydney
Sydney (/ˈsɪdni/ (listen) SID-nee, Dharug: Cadi) is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and extends about 70 km (43.5 mi) on its periphery towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north, the Royal National Park to the south and Macarthur to the south-west. Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, 40 local government areas and 15 contiguous regions. Residents of the city are known as "Sydneysiders". As of June 2019, Sydney's estimated metropolitan population was 5,312,163, meaning the city is home to approximately 65% of the state's population.

Indigenous Australians have inhabited the Sydney area for at least 30,000 years, and thousands of engravings remain throughout the region, making it one of the richest in Australia in terms of Aboriginal archaeological sites. During his first Pacific voyage in 1770, Lieutenant James Cook and his crew became the first Europeans to chart the eastern coast of Australia, making landfall at Botany Bay and inspiring British interest in the area. In 1788, the First Fleet of convicts, led by Arthur Phillip, founded Sydney as a British penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Phillip named the settlement after Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney. Penal transportation to New South Wales ended soon after Sydney was incorporated as a city in 1842. A gold rush occurred in the colony in 1851, and over the next century, Sydney transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural and economic centre. After World War II, it experienced mass migration and became one of the most multicultural cities in the world. At the time of the 2011 census, more than 250 different languages were spoken in Sydney. In the 2016 Census, about 35.8% of residents spoke a language other than English at home. Furthermore, 45.4% of the population reported having been born overseas, and the city has the third-largest foreign-born population of any city in the world after London and New York City.

Despite being one of the most expensive cities in the world, Sydney frequently ranks in the top ten most liveable cities in the world. It is classified as an Alpha Global City by Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has an advanced market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing and tourism. There is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as Australia's financial capital and one of Asia Pacific's leading financial hubs. Established in 1850, the University of Sydney was Australia's first university and is regarded as one of the world's leading universities. Sydney is also home to the oldest library in Australia, the State Library of New South Wales, opened in 1826.

Sydney has hosted major international sporting events such as the 2000 Summer Olympics. The city is among the top fifteen most-visited cities in the world, with millions of tourists coming each year to see the city's landmarks. Boasting over 1,000,000 ha (2,500,000 acres) of nature reserves and parks, its notable natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, Royal Botanic Garden and Hyde Park, the oldest parkland in the country. Built attractions such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the World Heritage-listed Sydney Opera House are also well known to international visitors. The main passenger airport serving the metropolitan area is Kingsford-Smith Airport, one of the world's oldest continually operating airports. Established in 1906, Central station, the largest and busiest railway station in the state, is the main hub of the city's rail network.

Host of the show
On October 16, 2020 it was announced that Lee Lin Chin was the host of Mystical Song Contest 43.

Lee Lin Chin is an Australian television, radio presenter and journalist, best known for her association with the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) network and was the weekend presenter of SBS World News. She has been a news presenter and journalist for many years and in more recent times, has become popular throughout social media. In 2016, she was nominated for the Gold Logie becoming the first SBS personality to be nominated for the award in the station's 36-year run.

Lee Lin Chin was born in Jakarta, Indonesia to Chinese parents and grew up in Singapore where her media career began in television and radio in 1968.

Lee Lin Chin, at the Logies. Chin's eccentric style has led her to somewhat of an iconic status.

Chin migrated to Australia in 1980 where she began working for SBS TV as a translator for Chinese language films. Wanting to return to broadcasting, Chin moved to ABC Radio in both Newcastle and Darwin. In 1987, Chin moved to SBS World News, presenting the weekend news, where she remained until her retirement in 2018.

Chin has had many roles throughout her career, including news reading, research, reporting, interviews, selecting and programming music, voice-overs for commercials, and producing in-flight programmes for international airlines.

Chin has also starred in a minor role as a newsreader in the independent Australian movie Resistance by Hugh Keays-Byrne. She also had a small role, playing a Thai interpreter, in the 1989 Australian mini-series Bangkok Hilton, with Nicole Kidman.

More recently, Chin has been involved in creating small segments for SBS's The Feed where she presents small comedy segments including 'Pranked with Lee Lin Chin', 'Lee Lin Chin Versus Maggie Beer', 'Celebrity Chin Wag', comedic cooking show 'Lee Linguine' and most recently 'The Real Newsreaders of Sydney' with fellow newsreaders Sandra Sully and Natalie Barr.

On 18 May 2015, she was announced to be Australia's spokesperson for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. She gave the "all-important" twelve points to the eventual winner, Sweden's Måns Zelmerlöw and his song "Heroes". She returned to this role in 2016 and gave twelve points to Belgium's Laura Tesoro and her song "What's the Pressure", and also the following year, where the twelve points were awarded to the United Kingdom's Lucie Jones with her song "Never Give Up On You". In 2018, she was replaced in this role by Ricardo Goncalves.

On 6 August 2015, The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that the tweets posted on Chin's official Twitter account were ghostwritten by comedian Chris Leben, head comedy writer for The Feed. It is unclear how much of an input Chin actually has in overseeing the account, however, an SBS spokesperson insists that Chin "Has to see everything that goes out in her name." Chin's depiction on The Feed and social media are more or less an exaggeration of herself that are "inspired by" her personality. An SBS insider states that Chin "can be quite funny, which she is never allowed to be on the news." They believe the key to her success is that "people get to see something they don't usually get to see."

In July 2018, Chin announced her resignation stating that "...working two days a week didn't give me enough time to devote to the pub and re-reading the complete works of Shakespeare. So now that I work zero days that issue has been addressed."

In October 2018, Chin was placed number 74 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list

Debuting/Withdrawing
On October 14, 2020 it was announced that 3 countries withdrew in the 43rd edition.


 * 🇮🇸 Iceland : Iceland withdrew because the country was just a replacement country last edition. The last participation of the country was in the 42nd edition.
 * 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan : Kazakhstan withdrew due to bad results and less interest for the contest of Kazakh people. The last participation of the country was in the 42nd edition.
 * Kosovo : Kosovo withdrew because the country was just a replacement country last edition. The last participation of the country was in the 42nd edition.

It was also announced that 1 country debuted :


 * 🇱🇧 Lebanon : LBCI the Lebanese broadcaster has stated that Lebanon gained the full MBU membership and was allowed to debut in the contest.

Returning Artists
Here is the list of the returning artists for the 43rd edition.

Semi Finals
On October 16, 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 🇦🇺 Australia, 🇺🇦 Ukraine and 🇰🇷 South Korea had to vote.

Semi Final 2
In this semi final 🇫🇷 France, 🇳🇴 Norway and 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan had to vote.

Grand Final
On October 30, 2020 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the Grand Final.