Wonderful Song Contest 70

Wonderful Song Contest 70 will be the seventieth edition of the Wonderful Song Contest. The contest took place in Belgrade after the Serbian victory in the 69th edition. A total of 48 countries competed in Wonderful Song Contest 69. The 69th edition was won by and their song "Omadjijan" by Sanja Vucic, which got a total of 423 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. The Semi Final allocation draw took place on TBA 2022 at the WBU headquarters in Prague.

Information


On 27 October 2022 it was announced that Belgrade will serve as the host city of the Wonderful Song Contest 70.

Host City
Belgrade is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 2.5 million people live within the administrative limits of the City of Belgrade. It is the third largest of all cities on the Danube river.

Belgrade is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe and the world. One of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region and, after 279 BC, Celts settled the city, naming it Singidūn. It was conquered by the Romans under the reign of Augustus and awarded Roman city rights in the mid-2nd century. It was settled by the Slavs in the 520s, and changed hands several times between the Byzantine Empire, the Frankish Empire, the Bulgarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Hungary before it became the seat of the Serbian king Stefan Dragutin in 1284. Belgrade served as capital of the Serbian Despotate during the reign of Stefan Lazarević, and then his successor Đurađ Branković returned it to the Hungarian king in 1427. Noon bells in support of the Hungarian army against the Ottoman Empire during the siege in 1456 have remained a widespread church tradition to this day. In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottomans and became the seat of the Sanjak of Smederevo. It frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Ottoman–Habsburg wars.

In the period after the Serbian Revolution, Belgrade again was named the capital of Serbia in 1841. Northern Belgrade remained the southernmost Habsburg post until 1918, when it was attached to the city, due to former Austro-Hungarian territories becoming part of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after World War I. Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia from its creation in 1918 to its dissolution in 2006. In a fatally strategic position, the city has been battled over in 115 wars and razed 44 times, being bombed five times and besieged many times.

Being Serbia's primate city, Belgrade has special administrative status within Serbia. It is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies, and government ministries, as well as home of almost all of the largest Serbian companies, media, and scientific institutions. Belgrade is classified as a Beta-Global City. The city is home to the Clinical Centre of Serbia, one of the hospital complexes with the largest capacity in the world, the Church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox church buildings, and the Štark Arena, one of the indoor arenas with the largest capacity in Europe. Belgrade hosted major international events such as the Danube River Conference of 1948, the first Non-Aligned Movement Summit (1961), the first major gathering of the OSCE (1977–1978), Eurovision Song Contest (2008), as well as sports events such as the first FINA World Aquatics Championships (1973), UEFA Euro (1976), Summer Universiade (2009) and EuroBasket three times (1961, 1975, 2005).

Belgrade is a separate territorial unit in Serbia, with its own autonomous city authority. The Assembly of the City of Belgrade has 110 members, elected on four-year terms. A 13-member City Council, elected by the Assembly and presided over by the mayor and his deputy, has the control and supervision of the city administration, which manages day-to-day administrative affairs. It is divided into 14 Secretariats, each having a specific portfolio such as traffic or health care, and several professional services, agencies and institutes.

The 2022 Belgrade City Assembly election was won by the Serbian Progressive Party, which formed a ruling coalition with the Socialist Party of Serbia. Between 2004 and 2013, the Democratic Party was in power. Due to the importance of Belgrade in political and economic life of Serbia, the office of city's mayor is often described as the third most important office in the state, after the President of the Government and the President of the Republic. As the capital city, Belgrade is seat of all Serbian state authorities – executive, legislative, judiciary, and the headquarters of almost all national political parties as well as 75 diplomatic missions. This includes the National Assembly, the Presidency, the Government of Serbia and all the ministries, Supreme Court of Cassation and the Constitutional Court.

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(s)
On 27 October 2022 it was announced that Konstrakta, Breskvica & Sanja Vucic will be presenter of the Wonderful Song Contest 70.

Ana Đurić (born 12 October 1978), known professionally as Konstrakta is a Serbian singer and songwriter. Before pursuing a solo career in 2019, she rose to prominence as the lead vocalist of the indie pop band Zemlja Gruva! , which was founded in 2007. On 28 February 2022, Konstrakta released her project Triptih (Triptych), a 12-minute music video for three songs – "Nobl" (Noble), "In corpore sano" (In a Healthy Body) and "Mekano" (Soft). The project's concept was created by Konstrakta herself, alongside Ana Rodić and Maja Uzelac, the latter of whom also directed the video. The video and the songs illustrate modern-day life in Serbia, each focusing on a particular aspect. On 8 February 2022, the song "In corpore sano" was announced as one of the 36 entries for the national selection festival broadcast on Radio Television of Serbia to choose Serbia's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. Entering the competition as an underdog, Konstrakta quickly acquired popularity following her performance in the first semi-final on 3 March, where she placed second and thus qualified for the final. In the final, which was held on 5 March, "In corpore sano" won both the jury vote and the public vote, receiving 31.34% of the public votes and therefore winning the competition. Next to the overwhelming support from the Serbian public, Konstrakta also received open praise from numerous regional public figures, such as the likes of Porfirije, Serbian Patriarch, and Novak Djokovic. She also received praise from fellow musicians and composers such as Tonči Huljić for both her lyrics, music and visuals. During the second semi-final of Eurovision, held on 12 May, Konstrakta performed third and qualified to the grand final. It was later revealed that she was the second runner-up of the evening with 237 points. On 14 May, Konstrakta performed second to last in the finale, placing fifth overall with 312 points. On the evening of the final, she won the Artistic Marcel Bezençon Award. She also received an award from the Polish media for the most creative entry. In late May 2022, Konstrakta performed for the first time after Eurovision at Sea Star Festival in Umag, Croatia to estimated crowd of close to 20,000 people. Subsequently, Konstrakta and Zemlja gruva! became the first local headliners on the main stage of Exit in July 2022.

Anđela Ignjatović (born 19 May 2001), known professionally as Breskvica is a Serbian singer. Ignjatović was born on 19 May 2001 in Belgrade. She plays the piano and guitar. She released her debut single "Utopia" in early 2019. The same year she signed a record deal with the label Generacija Zed. From 2019 to 2021 she collaborated on numerous occasions with her ex-boyfriend Voyage. At the 2020 Music Awards Ceremony, Ignjatović won the YouTube Star award for her collaboration "Vrati me" (Return Me) with Voyage. In 2021, Ignjatović parted ways with Voyage and continued to release music as a solo artist. She signed a new record deal with Toxic Entertainment and released her second solo single "Srećan put" (Have a Good Journey). In early 2022, Ignjatović released two singles, "Maska" (Mask) and a collaboration with MC Stojan titled "Život si moj" (You're My Life). The later became her first song to chart on Billboard's newly introduced Croatia Songs chart.

Sanja Vučić (born 8 August 1993) is a Serbian singer and songwriter. Initially the lead vocalist of the Serbian crossover band ZAA, she represented Serbia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Goodbye". From 2017 to 2022 she was a member of pop folk girl group Hurricane, during which time they represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contests 2020 and 2021 with the songs "Hasta la vista" and "Loco Loco".

Radio Television of Serbia internally selected Sanja Vučić for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm. A press conference with the artist, held by RTS, took place on 7 March 2016 in Košutnjak, Belgrade where it was announced that the song Vučić would perform at the Eurovision Song Contest would be titled "Goodbye (Shelter)" and was written by Serbian singer-songwriter and lead vocalist of the rock band Negative, Ivana Peters. The Serbian performance at the Eurovision stage featured Sanja Vučić performing together with four backing vocalists and a male ballet dancer. The choreography and staging of the performance interpreted the song's abuse of women in domestic violence message. In the final, Serbia performed in position 15 and placed eighteenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 115 points. Vučić was an international jury member in the Czech national selection process to the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 and in the first semi-final of the selection for the French entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.



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 in the final qualified to the semifinals or final

All Songs
All countries had to present their songs until 2nd November 2022 at 22:00 CEST.

First Semifinal
The deadline to vote in semifinals is 10 November 2022 at 22:00 CET. , and  have to vote in this semifinal.

Second Semifinal
The deadline to vote in semifinals is 10 November 2022 at 22:00 CET. , and  have to vote in this semifinal.