Zendari Song Contest 12

Zendari Song Contest 12 is the twelfth edition of Zendari Song Contest. It was hosted in Xobrania, the winning country of the previous edition. The contest consisted of two semi-finals and a final.

On the 29th of March 2019, it was revealed that Xobrania had won the contest for a third time in a row, with the song "Black Water" by MARUV. They received a record-breaking 218 points.

49 countries participated in this edition, with 2 countries (officially) competing for the first time, 5 countries returning and 7 countries withdrawing from Zendari Song Contest.

Format
There are no changes to the format of the contest this edition.

Location
On the 26th of February 2019, a list of venues interested in hosting the eleventh edition of Zendari Song Contest was revealed.

Bidding phase
Five venues have been announced to have shown interest in hosting the contest. The ZBA announced the conditions under which cities and venues could announce their interest in hosting the contest.


 * The host city has to be near a major airport.
 * The venue must have good connections to public transport.
 * 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.

Host venue

Pots
Pots for the Zendari Song Contest are based off of voting patterns and voting similarities. The pots will be used for semi final allocations for the 12th edition of Zendari Song Contest.

Automatic Qualifiers
Although these countries are automatic qualifiers for this edition, each country has still been assigned a pot.


 * would have been in Pot B.
 * would have been in Pot D.
 * would have been in Pot E.
 * and would both have been in Pot F.

Semi Final 1
Sosij, Xobrania and Yuvia were randomly drawn to vote in this semi-final.

A playlist can be found here, and a recap can be found here.

A full scoreboard of the voting can be found here, and the international jury scoreboard can be found here.

* - Aquazia failed to vote in the first semi-final, and as a result, they were disqualified and automatically placed last. * - Saint Vitus and Roch received the highest amount of points amongst the international jurors and was picked as the 11th qualifier.

Semi Final 2
Omiina and Sierra were randomly drawn to vote in this semi-final.

A playlist can be found here, and a recap can be found here.

A full scoreboard of the voting can be found here, and the international jury scoreboard can be found here.

* - Teardrop Islands received the highest amount of points amongst the international jurors and was picked as the 11th qualifier.

Grand Final
A playlist can be found here, and a recap can be found here.

A scoreboard showcasing each individual votes can be found here. The rest of the world voting scoreboard can be found here.

* - As the hosts of the contest, Xobrania were randomly drawn to perform 2nd.

Cascadian and Qyzylshan entry
On 19 February 2019, the delegations of Cascadia and Qyzylsha released their entries for the twelfth edition and immediately controversy descended. Both delegations launched formal complaints at the other citing plagiarism as a major concern due to the apparent similarities between the two songs. The ZBA was asked to settle the matter and stated that given the songs being revealed at the same time, both should be allowed to compete. However, it is rumoured that Margaret and Jenny B have engaged in online violence with one another after leaked photos emerged of the two of them calling each other "fat ugly bitch" and "Sandra Afrika award show reject" over Facebook. Moreover, reports emerged of the two singers engaging in Icelandic wrestling to settle their differences in the backstreets of Xobrania's capital city instead of turning up to rehearsals.

Jenifer vs. Jenifer
On 4th March, following the allegations of the abovementioned plagiarism and scandal, Qyzyl singer Jenifer Brening lodged a second complaint to the ZBA, this time directed at the delegation from Cyan. Miss Brening claimed that the Cyan singer, whose name also happened to be Jenifer, had plagiarised her name from Miss Brening herself. The Qyzyl delegation requested that Cyan withdraw from the competition immediately due to the blatant attack upon Jenifer Brening's artistic integrity or they would have no option but to proceed with legal action. The ZBA has not commented on the issue and it is believed the delegation of Cyan have yet to respond to the allegations.

Jenifer Brening vs. herself
On 6th March, after a series of scandals surrounding the Qyzyl entry, Jenifer Brening engaged in a legal battle against herself. A few days prior, the music video for her entry "Party Shore" had been uploaded onto YouTube and various music streaming services by Miss Brening herself. Despite this, a few days later, Jenifer launched a copystrike campaign against the music video claiming plagiarism once again even though she had produced and uploaded the music video herself. The Qyzyl singer accused herself of violating her artistic production and ordered that the music video be taken down from YouTube as well as all other platforms it had been uploaded to.

Presentation of Cascadian votes
Following the elimination of "Cool Me Down" in the semi-finals, Cascadian singer Margaret returned home to present her country's votes in the grand final. Margaret commenced the voting sequence by congratulating "the 26 talented artists with original songs who performed tonight" before thanking the Cascadian broadcaster for the opportunity to represent the country in the contest. Margaret moved on to announce the votes and when she got up to the crucial 12 points, she said, "What the fuck? What is this fucking bullshit? Who in this fucking country voted for that fucking crap. This is a fucking joke." The stream of the Cascadian votes was immediately cut, with the hosts citing "technical difficulties" for the incident. Moments later, an anonymous Cascadian producer appeared on the stream and revealed that Cascadia had awarded 12 points to Qyzylsha without much fanfare. Qyzyl representative Jenifer Brening was shown laughing and making obscene gestures towards a photo of Margaret, before poking holes through the eyes on the picture. The show then proceeded as normal.

Two days after the final, Margaret was seen at Underwood International Airport in Cascadia and was surrounded by reporters asking her about the incident. Margaret expressed "extreme disappointment at the people of Cascadia for supporting plagiarised crap and talentless whores" and declared that she would be "leaving Cascadia permanently and never returning to this fucked up country ever again". Reporters claimed that Margaret was waiting for a flight to Ul-Azaar, the capital of Qyzylsha.

Five minutes later, the Cascadian Broadcasting Corporation announced that Margaret would return to represent Cascadia in the thirteenth edition of the Zendari Song Contest with a song to be revealed at a later stage. Margaret revealed to reporters waiting at Ul-Azaar International Airport that she had "received a phone call" and was "strongly considering returning to the contest to achieve a better result more befitting of [her] talents". Margaret revealed that negotiations were on hold as she had ripped her Cascadian passport in half and was awaiting a new passport to be issued to return to Cascadia and commence discussions with the CBC.

International broadcasts and voting
The contest will be broadcasted in over 60 countries.

Spokespersons

 * 1) Monke
 * 2) Courtney Act
 * 3) Lena
 * 4) China Anne McClain
 * 5) Janice (Yuvian representative in the seventh edition)
 * 6) Penelope Austin (Violían representative in the eleventh edition)
 * 7) Jenna Ezarik
 * 8) Marie Kondo
 * 1) Penelope Austin (Violían representative in the eleventh edition)
 * 2) Jenna Ezarik
 * 3) Marie Kondo
 * 1) Jenna Ezarik
 * 2) Marie Kondo
 * 1) Marie Kondo

 Alex Horne   Nessa Jenkins    Margaret  Fletcher (Marnonian representative in the eleventh edition)      Shauna Sand    HawkAussie

 <li> <li> SuRie <li> <li> <li> <li> <li> <li> <li> <li> <li> <li> <li> Xhensila Myrtezaj</li>

Other countries
Eligibility for potential participation in Zendari Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with an active ZBA membership that is be able to broadcast the contest. All countries with an active ZBA membership have been given an invitation to join this edition.

Active ZBA countries

 * - On 30 January 2019, Achalasia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) announced that they had initially planned to host a national final for the twelfth edition of Zendari Song Contest. However, after the semi-final results of the previous edition, they announced that they would withdraw from the contest, as the citizens of Achalasia had lost spirit and confidence of the current system held to define the qualifiers of the contest. When asked about returning to the contest in the future, Astor Serene Parvel stated that "we are obviously dead space, we will only consider returning if the ZBA are desperate because of the lack of entries and are struggling to fill the semi-finals".
 * - On 30 January 2019, Live Television Network Company (LTNC) announced that they would be withdrawing from the contest due to scheduling conflicts and ever growing disappointment regarding the qualification of joke entries with poor results placing beneath them.
 * - Colleagues Is Lovingly Fantastic (CILF) announced on the 28th of February that they would be withdrawing in favor of the semi-finals to not overfill. They will most likely return next edition.
 * - On 28 February 2019, Ei Televisija (EITI) announced that they would be withdrawing due to time constraints.
 * - Franova Radio & Television Company (FRTC) announced in a press conference on 31 January 2019, that they would be withdrawing from the contest due to the quality of songs dropping considerably, along with their interest in competing over the past editions. They also stated that "there has been a big lack of appreciation for nations who run national finals each edition, and the constant childish, swearing or sexual comments by delegations in chats is making FRTC's interest in the contest decline". When asked about a return in the future, they responded that they "will base a decision about potentially returning in the future at a later date". However, on 13 February, Franova retracted their withdrawal as the childish behaviour seemed to have calmed down.
 * - On 16 February 2019, TV of Light and Dark (L&D) announced their withdrawal from the contest, due to scheduling issues. A return in the future has not been ruled out.
 * - Sutruc National Radio and Television announced on 16 February 2019 that they would not take part in the twelfth edition of Zendari Song Contest. No reason was given behind the withdrawal.
 * - On the 8th of February 2019, TibirisTV (TTV) announced that they would take a break for an edition or two. However, on 11 February 2019, they retracted their withdrawal.
 * - On the 28th of January 2019, Royal Vasque Broadcasting Association (RVB) announced their withdrawal from the contest, citing time constraints as the main reason of their withdrawal, and that they wish to let other countries participate. A return in the future has not been ruled out.

Inactive ZBA countries

 * - On 29 January 2019, the country's head of delegation reiterated their desire to debut in the contest, but must first gain active ZBA membership. It is understood that the broadcaster, NeoTV, requested this from the ZBA, who responded to their request on the 3rd of February with "sadly, the contest is currently full, but we will invite countries on the waiting list whenever we have the capacity to do so". They were also thanked for showing interest in debuting in the contest.
 * - On 30 January 2019, National Purple Country Broadcaster (NPCB) expressed interest in returning to the contest for a second edition in a row. They were, once again, told that they are forced to wait in order to see if any countries will withdraw from the contest, to not cause the current edition to overfill. They are, however, prioritized to return over any countries who withdrew before the previous edition, if any of them wish to return. The ZBA later stated that Purple Country's participation in the twelfth edition of Zendari Song Contest was "very likely to happen", and on 7 February 2019, they received an invitation to return to the contest.
 * - On 3 February 2019, Voval Television & Radio (VTVR) expressed their desire to debut in the twelfth edition of Zendari Song Contest, but was promptly declined with the statement "sadly, the contest is currently full, but we will invite countries on the waiting list whenever we have the capacity to do so". They were also thanked for showing interest in debuting in the contest.
 * - On 23 January 2019, Ktoetot Denrozhdeniya (KDE) expressed interest in returning to the contest after a 6 edition break. However, they were told that they were forced to wait in order to see if any countries withdraw from the contest, to not cause the current edition to overfill. The ZBA later stated that Purple Country will be prioritized over Zamolodchikova to return to the contest, since they applied to return earlier than them. On 18 February 2019, they were invited back into the contest, which they accepted.