Wonderful Song Contest 54

Wonderful Song Contest 54 was the fifty-forth edition of the Wonderful Song Contest. The contest took place in Valletta after the Maltesse victory in the 53rd edition. A total of 59 countries competed in Wonderful Song Contest 53. The 53rd edition was win by and their song "Queen" by CASHFORGOLD x Sidewalks and Skeletons, which got a total of 200 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. ,, and  are returning to current edition, while  is withdrawing. The Semi Final allocation draw took place on 1st April 2020 at the WBU headquarters in Prague.

Information


On 26 March 2021 it was announced that Valletta will serve as the host city of the Wonderful Song Contest 54.

Host City
Valletta (/vəˈlɛtə/, Maltese: il-Belt Valletta, Maltese pronunciation: [vɐˈlːɛtːɐ]) is the capital city of Malta. Located in the South Eastern Region of the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population in 2014 was 6,444, while the metropolitan area around it has a population of 393,938. Valletta is second only to Nicosia as the southernmost capital of Europe, and at just 0.61 square kilometres (61 ha), it is the European Union's smallest capital city.

Valletta's 16th-century buildings were constructed by the Knights Hospitaller. The city was named after Jean Parisot de Valette, who succeeded in defending the island from an Ottoman invasion during the Great Siege of Malta. The city is Baroque in character, with elements of Mannerist, Neo-Classical and Modern architecture, though the Second World War left major scars on the city, particularly the destruction of the Royal Opera House. The city was officially recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980.

The city is noted for its fortifications, consisting of bastions, curtains and cavaliers, along with the beauty of its Baroque palaces, gardens and churches. In 1798, the French invaded the island and expelled the Order. After the Maltese rebelled, French troops continued to occupy Valletta and the surrounding harbour area, until they capitulated to the British in September 1800. In the early 19th century, the British Civil Commissioner, Henry Pigot, agreed to demolish the majority of the city's fortifications. The demolition was again proposed in the 1870s and 1880s, but it was never carried out and the fortifications have survived largely intact.

Eventually building projects in Valletta resumed under British rule. These projects included widening gates, demolishing and rebuilding structures, widening newer houses over the years, and installing civic projects. The Malta Railway, which linked Valletta to Mdina, was officially opened in 1883. It was closed down in 1931 after buses became a popular means of transport.

In 1939, Valletta was abandoned as the headquarters of the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet due to its proximity to Italy and the city became a flash point during the subsequent two-year long Siege of Malta. German and Italian air raids throughout the Second World War caused much destruction in Valletta and the rest of the harbor area. The Royal Opera House, constructed at the city entrance in the 19th century, was one of the buildings lost to the raids.

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 26 March 2021 it was announced that Britney Spears will be presenter of the Wonderful Song Contest 54.

Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. She is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s, for which she is referred to as the "Princess of Pop". After appearing in stage productions and television series, Spears signed with Jive Records in 1997 at age 15. Her first two studio albums, certified diamond in the US, ...Baby One More Time (1999) and Oops!... I Did It Again (2000), were global successes and became two of the best-selling albums of all time, along with making her the best-selling teenage artist of all time. The former's title track was named the greatest debut single of all time by Rolling Stone in 2020 and the latter held a 15-year record for fastest-selling album by a female artist in the United States with first-week sales of over 1.3 million copies.

Spears adopted more mature and provocative themes and aesthetics for her next two studio albums, Britney (2001) and In the Zone (2003), and made her feature film debut in a starring role in Crossroads (2002). She became the executive producer of her fifth studio album Blackout (2007), which is often critically referred to as her best work. Due to a series of highly publicized personal struggles, promotion for the album was limited and she was later involuntarily placed in a conservatorship. Since then, she released the chart-topping albums, Circus (2008) and Femme Fatale (2011), the latter of which became her most successful era of singles in the US charts. She embarked on a four-year concert residency, Britney: Piece of Me, at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas to promote her next two albums Britney Jean (2013) and Glory (2016). Since 2019, Spears has been involved in a legal dispute over her conservatorship.

Spears has scored six number-one albums on the Billboard 200. She also has four solo number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100: "...Baby One More Time", "Womanizer", "3", and "Hold It Against Me". As a featured artist, the "S&M" remix also topped the Billboard chart. Other singles, "Oops!... I Did It Again", "Toxic", and "Scream & Shout", topped the charts in most countries. With "3" in 2009 and "Hold It Against Me" in 2011, she became the second artist after Mariah Carey in the Hot 100's history to debut at number one with two or more songs. Spears's heavily choreographed videography is considered a focal point to the success of her career, for which she has been awarded the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. She has earned numerous awards and accolades, including a Grammy Award; thirteen Guinness World Records; six MTV Video Music Awards; seven Billboard Music Awards, including the Millennium Award; the inaugural Radio Disney Icon Award; and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Regarded as a pop icon, Spears has sold over 100 million records worldwide, including over 70 million solely in the United States, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. She was ranked by Billboard as the eighth-biggest artist of the 2000s decade. In the United States, she is the fourth best-selling female album artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era as well as the best-selling female album artist of the 2000s. In 2004, Spears launched a perfume brand with Elizabeth Arden, Inc.; sales exceeded US$1.5 billion as of 2012. Forbes has reported Spears as the highest-paid female musician of 2002 and 2012. She has also topped the list of most searched celebrities seven times in 12 years, a record since the inception of the internet.

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
 * Country have been disqualified from current editions final or semifinal
 * Country have withdrew from current edition due to COVID-19

Prequalification Round
The deadline to vote in prequalification round is 29 March 2021 at 15:00 CET. Every country in Prequalification round have to vote in this round.

First Semifinal
The deadline to vote in semifinals is 14 April 2021 at 20:00 CET. , and  have to vote in this semifinal. In this semifinal also have to vote countries, that failed to Q from Prequalificaiton Round which are:, , , and.

Second Semifinal
The deadline to vote in semifinals is 14 April 2021 at 20:00 CET. , and  have to vote in this semifinal. In this semifinal also have to vote countries, that failed to Q from Prequalificaiton Round which are:, , , and.

Grand Final
All countries have to vote in the Grand Final. The deadline to vote in grand final is 24 April 2021 at 20:00 CET.