Wonderful Song Contest 52

Wonderful Song Contest 52 was the fifty-second edition of the Wonderful Song Contest. The contest took place in Busan after the Korean victory in the 51st edition. A total of 64 countries competed in Wonderful Song Contest 51. The 51st edition was win by and their song "Home" by Yezi, which got a total of 224 points.Prequalified countries for this edition are:, , ,  ,  and. They are directly qualified to the final, while the other competing countries are split into two semifinals. is withdrawing for current edition, while and  are returning or debuting from the contest. The Semi Final allocation draw took place on 1st February 2020 at the WBU headquarters in Prague.

Information


On 23 January 2020 it was announced that Busan will serve as the host city of the Wonderful Song Contest 52.

Host City
Busan ( Korean pronunciation: [pusan]), formerly romanized as Pusan and now officially known as Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second-most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over approximately 3.4 million inhabitants. It is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, with its port—Korea's busiest and the fifth-busiest in the world—only about 193 kilometers (120 mi) from Japanese islands of Kyushu and Honshu. The surrounding "Southeast Economic Zone" (including Ulsan and South Gyeongsang) is South Korea's largest industrial area.

Busan is divided into 15 major administrative districts and a single county, together housing a population of approximately 3.6 million. The full metropolitan area, the Southeastern Maritime Industrial Region, has a population of approximately 8 million. The most densely built-up areas of the city are situated in a number of narrow valleys between the Nakdong and the Suyeong Rivers, with mountains separating most of the districts. The Nakdong is Korea's longest river and Busan's Haeundae Beach is also the country's largest.

Busan is a center for international conventions, hosting APEC in 2005. It is also a center for sports tournaments in Korea, having hosted the 2002 Asian Games and FIFA World Cup. It is home to the world's largest department store, the Shinsegae Centum City. Busan was added to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a "City of Film" in December 2014. The name "Busan" is the Revised Romanization of the city's Korean name since the late 15th century. It officially replaced the earlier McCune-Reischauer romanization Pusan in 2000. The name 釜山 (now written 부산 using the hangul alphabet) is Sino-Korean for "Cauldron Mountain", believed to be a former name of Mt Hwangryeong (황령산, 荒嶺山, Hwangryeong-san) west of the city center. The area's ancient state Mt Geochil (거칠산국, 居柒山國, Geochilsan-guk, "Rough-Mountain Land") is similarly thought to refer to the same mountain, which towers over the town's harbor on the Suyeong. (The later Silla district of Geochilsan-gun was renamed Dongnae in 757.) Busan is located on the Southeastern tip of the Korean Peninsula. It is located on the coast, which determined the development of the whole city itself. It is the nearest of South Korea's six largest cities to Japan. The distance as the crow flies from Busan to Tsushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, is about 49.5 km (31 mi), to Fukuoka, Japan, about 180 km (112 mi), and by contrast, to Seoul about 314 km (195 mi). Busan borders low mountains on the north and west, and the seas on the south and east. The Nakdong River Delta is located on the west side of the city, and Geumjeongsan, the highest mountain in the city, on the north. The Nakdong River, South Korea's longest river, flows through the west and empties into the Korea Strait. The southeastern region, called Yeongnam in Korea, encompasses both Gyeongsang Provinces and 3 metropolitan cities of Busan, Daegu and Ulsan. Ulsan lies northeast of Busan. Combined population exceeds 13 million.

Bidding phase
Only one main venue was announced as possible venue for the competition to be held. It has a capacity of 20,000 and several big concerts and sport events take place here.
 * The host city had to be near a major airport.
 * The venue must be available for at least six weeks before the contest and one week after the conclusion of the contest
 * The venue must not be open-air, but an air-conditioned building with a capacity of at least 10,000 and a minimum ceiling height of 15 metres (49 ft), insulated for sound and light.
 * The green room must be located as close to the arena as possible (or within it), with a capacity of 300.

Presenter
On 23 January 2020 it was announced that Yezi will be presenter of the Wonderful Song Contest 52.

Lee Ye-ji (born August 26, 1994), better known by her stage name Yezi, is a South Korean rapper and singer. She debuted as a member of South Korean girl group Fiestar in 2012. Yezi was a semi-finalist on Unpretty Rapstar 2 in 2015, during which she released several singles. Her debut solo maxi single, Foresight Dream, was released on January 28, 2016. Yezi was born in Gangneung, Gangwon Province and grew up there. She was a student at Kang Won-rae Dance School and learned dancing from Clon. She traveled four hours to Seoul every weekend to perform as a backup dancer for singers such as Park Mi-kyung [ko] and Hong Kyung-min. Her parents were originally against her working in the entertainment industry, but changed their minds when they saw how much Yezi was advancing, and she moved to Seoul in her second year of middle school.

Yezi auditioned at LOEN Entertainment after one of their trainees saw her videos posted on Cyworld. The videos were the two most popular on the social network at the time, and showed Yezi singing and dancing. Yezi became interested in rap while listening to rapper Yoon Mi-rae. After training at LOEN for three years, she debuted in the new girl group Fiestar in August 2012. In September 2015, it was announced that Yezi was part of the lineup of Mnet's Unpretty Rapstar 2. The show is the second season of the television series, Unpretty Rapstar, a competition for female rappers. She was initially disliked by viewers because she kept asking others to repeat themselves; it was later revealed she told Mnet staff her hearing is "not that good". She then criticized the show's producers in her freestyle rap, which was edited out and not broadcast. Yezi became popular with viewers after her bold performance of "Crazy Dog" in the third episode. She was eliminated in episode eight, but returned for the semi-final after winning a revival round.

Two of Yezi's performances were released as singles during the show: "Solo (Remix)" (featuring Jay Park and Loco) and "Listen Up" (featuring Hanhae). Both songs charted on the Gaon Digital Chart, at numbers 16 and 27, respectively. Yezi was not well known as a member of Fiestar, and had significantly more public recognition after Unpretty Rapstar. She stated: "Before the show, people were like 'I think I saw her somewhere', but now people recognize me immediately, even if I'm not wearing my performance clothes." Her fans appreciated her "fierce" rapping style and "bad girl" image.

Yezi pre-released a new version of "Crazy Dog" on December 11, 2015. It was produced by Rhymer of Brand New Music and features San E, one of the judges on Unpretty Rapstar. Her debut maxi single, Foresight Dream, was released on January 28, 2016. It was produced by Rhymer and has four songs, including "Cider", which was promoted on various music shows. Another song, "Sse Sse Sse", features fellow contestants Gilme, KittiB and Ahn Soo-min.

On 23 December 2015, Yezi released a promotional single titled "Z-Noid" for the game Counter-Strike Online and also filmed a music video.

On 7 July 2016, Yezi also featured on the soundtrack for Wanted (South Korean TV series) in a song titled "Shadow" alongside Jung Chae-yeon. On 8 September, she released a single which called "Chase" with singer Babylon. Its Jazz version was released at 12 noon on the same day.

On 24 May 2017, Yezi released her third single Anck Su Namum. This album marked her first producer credit since debut for an album of her own, accompanied by her usual composition and writing credit. Shinsadong Tiger is the co-producer of this album.



Provisitation list of Participants

 * Countries are in Prequalification Round next edition
 * Countries qualified to the grand final or semifinal
 * Country have won current edition
 * Country have finished on second place current edition
 * Country have finished on third place current edition
 * Country have finished on last place current editions final

Others

 * - Algerian National Broadcaster have shared, that they're excited to be back in competition, WBU have decided on 10th January 2021 that Algeria is free to return to the contest.
 * - Argentinan National Broadcaster on 15th January 2021 have shared, that they're interested to take part in edition 52, WBU allowed their application for Prequalification Round.
 * - After their last place in Prequalification Round WBU have decided to send them home for 2 edition, Latvia will be back in edition 54 - If they will be interested.