Mystical Song Contest 54

The Mystical Song Contest #54 (also known as MSC 54) was the fifty-fourth edition of the Mystical Song Contest. It took place in Sarajevo,  Bosnia & Herzegovina after Haris won in Maastricht,  The Netherlands.

It was confirmed that 48 countries participated in the 54th edition. No one debuted, returned or withdrew.

The top 6 of last edition  Bosnia & Herzegovina, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇪🇪 Estonia, 🇸🇰 Slovakia, 🇵🇱 Poland and 🇳🇴 Norway were automatically pre qualified for the Grand Final of this edition. The 42 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.

Sarajevo
Sarajevo (/ˌsærəˈjeɪvoʊ/ SARR-ə-YAY-voh; Cyrillic: Сарајево, Bosnian pronunciation: [sǎrajeʋo] (listen); see names in other languages) is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,569 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo Canton, East Sarajevo and nearby municipalities is home to 555,210 inhabitants. Located within the greater Sarajevo valley of Bosnia, it is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of the Balkans, a region of Southern Europe.

Sarajevo is the political, financial, social and cultural center of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a prominent center of culture in the Balkans, with region-wide influence in entertainment, media, fashion and the arts. Due to its long history of religious and cultural diversity, Sarajevo is sometimes called the "Jerusalem of Europe" or "Jerusalem of the Balkans". It is one of only a few major European cities to have a mosque, Catholic church, Orthodox church and synagogue within the same neighborhood. A regional center in education, the city is home to the Balkans' first institution of tertiary education in the form of an Islamic madrasa, today part of the University of Sarajevo.

Although settlement in the area stretches back to prehistoric times, the modern city arose as an Ottoman stronghold in the 15th century. Sarajevo has attracted international attention several times throughout its history. In 1885, Sarajevo was the first city in Europe and the second city in the world to have a full-time electric tram network running through the city, following San Francisco. In 1914, it was the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by local Young Bosnia activist Gavrilo Princip that sparked World War I, which also ended Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and resulted in the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Later, after World War II, the establishment of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Second Yugoslavia led to a massive expansion of Sarajevo, then the constituent republic's capital, which culminated with the hosting of the 1984 Winter Olympics marking a prosperous era for the city. However, after the start of the Yugoslav Wars, for 1,425 days from April 1992 to February 1996, the city suffered the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare, during the Bosnian War and the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Sarajevo has been undergoing post-war reconstruction, and is the fastest growing city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The travel guide series Lonely Planet has named Sarajevo as the 43rd best city in the world, and in December 2009, listed Sarajevo as one of the top ten cities to visit in 2010. In 2011, Sarajevo was nominated to be the 2014 European Capital of Culture and in 2019, it hosted the European Youth Olympic Festival. In October 2019, Sarajevo was designated as a UNESCO Creative City for placing culture at the center of its development strategies, and is one of the world's eighteen Cities of Film.

Host of the show
On June 26, 2021 it was announced that Jala Brat will be the host of Mystical Song Contest 53.

Jasmin Fazlić (born 16 October 1986), known by his stage name Jala Brat, is a Bosnian rapper and hip-hop recording artist, songwriter and producer. He is best known for collaborating with a Bosnian rapper, Buba Corelli and singer Maya Berović.

Jala also represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 by co-writing and performing "Ljubav je" together with Dalal, Deen and Ana Rucner but failed to qualify to the final.

In the summer of 2016, Jala announced he would run as a candidate for the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) in Bosnia's 2016 municipal elections.

Jala Brat is the most famous artist in the Balkan area in Eastern Europe, and is responsible for creating new and revolutionized sound, along with his friend and colleague Buba Corelli.

Jala started making rap music in 2004 at his improvised house-studio. Later, he formed a Hip hop group Bluntbylon with Smayla and several other members. Their career started mostly on YouTube. He also made a few solo-works at that period. In 2011, he released his first EP Replay, on which his first song with Buba Corelli appeared.

In 2012 he released his first solo album Riječ na riječ. He also released EP Mahala with Shtela. He also started making album Lice Ulice, but it is still unfinished yet. In 2012 two singles were released, (Lice Ulice and Uzeću vam sve).

In 2015, Dom, the third single from album was released, revealing that the project is not canceled but only paused. Also, in 2012 Jala, alongside Buba Corelli, started releasing singles from EP SA Sin City. There were 5 singles released, and EP was fully completed in 2013.

On 16 November 2014, the first single from the album, "Bez Tebe", was released. Full album was released in 13 December 2014, following three singles (22, Trinidad & Tobago and Borba). The album gained huge success and Jala and Corelli were the most listened rappers in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time.

Debuting/Withdrawing
No countries withdrew or debuted.

Returning Artists
Here is the list of the returning artists for the 54th edition.

Pre-Qualification Round
On June 26, 2021 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the Pre-Qualification round.

Semi Finals
On June 26, 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 🇪🇪 Estonia, 🇸🇰 Slovakia and 🇵🇱 Poland had to vote.

Semi Final 2
In this semi final Bosnia & Herzegovina, 🇩🇰 Denmark and 🇳🇴 Norway had to vote.

Grand Final
On July 18, 2021 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the Grand Final.