Mystical Song Contest 29

The Mystical Song Contest #29 (also known as MSC 29) was the twenty-ninth edition of the Mystical Song Contest. It took place in Gothenburg, 🇸🇪 Sweden after Smith & Thell won in Washington DC, 🇺🇸 United States.

It was confirmed that 48 countries participated in the 29th edition. 🇸🇰 Slovakia returned while 🇦🇩 Andorra withdrew.

The top 6 of last edition 🇸🇪 Sweden, 🇭🇺 Hungary, 🇨🇦 Canada, 🇱🇹 Lithuania, 🇮🇸 Iceland and 🇲🇰 North Macedonia were automatically pre qualified for the Grand Final of this edition. The 42 other countries that participated were split into 2 semi finals.

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

Gothenburg
Gothenburg (/ˈɡɒθənbɜːrɡ/ (listen); abbreviated Gbg; Swedish: Göteborg [jœtɛˈbɔrj] (listen)) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a population of approximately 570,000 in the city proper and about 1 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area.

Gothenburg was founded as a heavily fortified, primarily Dutch, trading colony, by royal charter in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus. In addition to the generous privileges (e.g. tax relaxation) given to his Dutch allies from the then-ongoing Thirty Years' War, the king also attracted significant numbers of his German and Scottish allies to populate his only town on the western coast. At a key strategic location at the mouth of the Göta älv, where Scandinavia's largest drainage basin enters the sea, the Port of Gothenburg is now the largest port in the Nordic countries.

Gothenburg is home to many students, as the city includes the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology. Volvo was founded in Gothenburg in 1927. The original parent Volvo Group and the now separate Volvo Car Corporation are still headquartered on the island of Hisingen in the city. Other key companies are SKF and Astra Zeneca.

Gothenburg is served by Göteborg Landvetter Airport 30 km (19 mi) southeast of the city center. The smaller Göteborg City Airport, 15 km (9.3 mi) from the city center, was closed to regular airline traffic in 2015.

The city hosts the Gothia Cup, the world's largest youth football tournament, alongside some of the largest annual events in Scandinavia. The Gothenburg Film Festival, held in January since 1979, is the leading Scandinavian film festival with over 155,000 visitors each year. In summer, a wide variety of music festivals are held in the city, including the popular Way Out West Festival.

Host of the show
On December 30, 2019 it was announced that Loreen was the host of Mystical Song Contest 29.

Lorine Zineb Noka Talhaoui, known professionally as Loreen ( IPA: [lɔˈreːn]), born 16 October 1983) is a Swedish pop singer and music producer. Representing Sweden, she won the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, with her entry "Euphoria". The song reached number one in several countries, including Germany and Sweden. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, she sang as the opening act in the first semi-final and as the interval act in the grand final.

Interested in becoming a musician, Loreen took part in the Idol 2004 television competition, finishing fourth. The following year she released her first single, "The Snake", with the band Rob'n'Raz and became a television presenter on TV400. While working as a segment producer and director for several Swedish reality TV shows, she entered Melodifestivalen 2011 with the song "My Heart Is Refusing Me", which became a Top 10 hit in Sweden. She also had Top 20 hits in Sweden with the singles "Crying Out Your Name" (2012) and "Statements" (2017).

Loreen was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1983 to Moroccan Berber immigrant parents. She was raised in a liberal Muslim household. Early in her life, Loreen moved to Västerås. She grew up there, and calls Västerås her hometown. She spent most of her teenage years in Gryta, a residential area in Västerås.

Loreen returned to the public eye when she took part in Melodifestivalen 2011 with the song "My Heart Is Refusing Me", which she co-wrote with Moh Denebi and Björn Djupström. After placing fourth in the second semi-final in Gothenburg on 12 February 2011, she competed in the Second Chance round, but failed to qualify for the final after a sing-off with Sara Varga. The song was released on 11 March 2011 and became a hit on the Swedish Singles Chart, debuting and peaking at number 9. Following Loreen's success a year later, the song re-entered the chart, peaking at number 22 in May 2012.

In the first semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2012 on 4 February, Loreen advanced directly to the final round with her entry "Euphoria", written by Thomas G:son and Peter Boström. She won the national final on 10 March with a combined total of 268 points and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The song won the competition with a total of 372 points from 40 voting countries out of 42 (Italy was the exception, and Sweden could not vote for itself). According to online betting companies, she was the favourite to win the contest.

Debuting/Withdrawing
On December 27, 2019 it was announced that 1 country won't participate in the 29th edition.


 * 🇦🇩 Andorra : The broadcaster RTVA had confirmed that due to bad results in the contest since Andorra debuted, the country won't be present in the 29th edition of the contest. The last participation of the country was in the 28th edition.

Returning Artists
Here is the list of the returning artists for the 29th edition.

Semi Finals
On December 31, 2019 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 🇸🇪 Sweden, 🇱🇹 Lithuania and 🇲🇰 North Macedonia had to vote.

Semi Final 2
In this semi final 🇭🇺 Hungary, 🇨🇦 Canada and 🇮🇸 Iceland had to vote.

Grand Final
On 11 January, 2020 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the Grand Final.