Mystical Song Contest 44

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

It was confirmed that 48 countries participate 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.

Espoo
Espoo ( Finnish: [ˈespoː]; Swedish: Esbo [ˈɛ̌sːbɔ],[check IPA] Finland Swedish: [ˈesːbo] (listen)) is the second largest city and municipality in Finland. It is part of the Finnish Capital Region, along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and Kauniainen. Most of its population lives in the inner urban core of the Helsinki metropolitan area. Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen. Other bordering municipalities of Espoo are Nurmijärvi and Vihti in the north, and Kirkkonummi in the west. The city is located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, in the region of Uusimaa, and has a population of 291,439.

Espoo encompasses 528 square kilometres (204 sq mi), of which 312 km2 (120 sq mi) is land. The national park of Nuuksio is situated in northwestern Espoo.

Espoo does not have a traditional city center, having instead several local regional centers. Espoo is thus divided into seven major areas (Finnish: suuralueet, Swedish: storområden): Vanha-Espoo (with administrative center), Suur-Espoonlahti, Pohjois-Espoo, Suur-Kauklahti, Suur-Leppävaara, Suur-Matinkylä, and Suur-Tapiola.

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.

The city of Espoo is officially bilingual. The majority of the population, 75.1%, speaks Finnish as their mother tongue and 6.9% speaks Swedish. 18% of Espoo's population has a first language other than Finnish or Swedish.

The name Espoo probably comes from the Swedish name for the River Espoo, Espå (or Espåå), which in turn comes from the old Swedish word äspe, meaning a border of aspen, and the Swedish word for "river", å, thus "a river bordered by aspen". The name was first mentioned in 1431. The banks of the River Espoo are even today heavily populated with aspen.

The first inhabitants in the area arrived about 9,000 years ago. Physical evidence (pollen grains) indicates agriculture from ca. 1000 AD, but there are no historical records. Up to the 13th century, the area was a borderland between the hunting grounds of Finnish Proper and Tavastian Finns, with a sparse population. Immigrants from Sweden established permanent agricultural settlements to the area from the late 13th century onwards after the so-called Second Crusade to Finland. Espoo was a subdivision of the Kirkkonummi congregation until 1486–1487. The oldest known document referring to Kirkkonummi is from 1330; Espoo as a subchapter has been dated to the 1380s, although the first document directly referring to Espoo is from as late as 1431. The construction of the Espoo Cathedral, the oldest preserved building in Espoo, marks the independence of Espoo. Administratively, Espoo was a part of Uusimaa. When the province was split to Eastern and Western provinces governed from the Porvoo and Raasepori castles, respectively, the eastern border of the Raasepori province was in Espoo. The 13th-century road connecting the most important cities in Finland at that time, the King's Road, passes through Espoo on its way from Stockholm via Turku and Porvoo to Viipuri.

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 have to vote.

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

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