Global Festival 2018

GlobeFest 2018, officially known as The Global Festival 2018 and more commonly as Yaochang 2018, was the 8th edition of The Global Festival - an annual international culture and music competition organised by the World Media Commission for members of the World Broadcasters' Association. The show took place between 26 October and 3 November 2018 at the 36,000 capacity Doyang International Indoor Centre in Yaochang, Touzen , with more than 200,000 spectators attending the live broadcasts - including 65,000 attendees at the Launch Ceremony split over two exhibition halls.

Organisation

Touzen broadcaster TOK and the City of Yaochang were chosen as the host broadcaster and city of the 2018 edition in late 2014 at a session of WBA members and commissioners of the World Media Commission. The city was selected ahead of Bahía Blanca (Republica del Sur), the front-runner and favourite, Westhaven (Havenshire), Caladbolg (Kennelly) and Metz (Lorraine). The result of the bid was controversial, with the del Sur delegation claiming that Havenshire's representatives had been bribed to switch their votes to support Yaochang once Westhaven had been eliminated. The WBA and WMC investigated the allegations but found no evidence to support the claim. Bahía Blanca would eventually however go on to be announced as the host of the 2020 show four years later in early 2018 during the build up to Yaochang. Caladbolg had been an outside contender to host, having been the contest's unofficial "stand-by" host between 2011 and 2014.

In the run up to the show several delays were reported with preparations, and there were news reports that the WMC were considering asking TOK to move the show to the Touzen's capital city, Almintora. Show organisers instead brought in several veterans of previous organising committees - including Luca Ford. Many changes were made to the show - including the running order and other aspects to make it more appealing for viewers. The show opened to critical acclaim on 26 October in Yaochang as planned.

Results

46 countries took part in the show, the highest number recorded for several years.

The 2018 edition was also the first edition to focus solely on the musical element of the competition - the WMC had announced at the end of the 2016 show in Marlborough that dancing would be removed as a competitive element following the 2017 show. Ice dancing was removed in 2014. Izistan in Kashtan hosted a 'pre-show' in the week running up to the contest, which has become a new tradition, attended by around 20 of the entries.

The favourites to win the competition prior to rehearsals were the United Republic, who had won the competition in Concord three years previously, and Briminian Asul. During rehearsals, 2014 winners Keida emerged as a contender. All three would make the final, placing seventh, fifth and sixth respectively. Republica del Sur, as last year's winners, used their bonus to advance to the duel stage of the competition, where they were eliminated.

Group qualification

Four group stages took place from 26 October - 29 October where the top ballad, anthem and pop entry in each group qualified for the run-off duels. Across both the group stage and duels, entries gained a rating from jurors and public voting which would ultimately decide if they would qualify to the final. Both Lusitania and the United Republic failed to qualify for the duels, but had an average score higher than some entries eliminated in the direct rounds, and so advanced to the final following the completion of the duels.

Nation	Entry	Artist	Language	Genre	Order
Aleconia	Hearts Ain't Gonna Lie	Arlina	Havenish	Pop	32
Arandaal	Love Lasts Forever	Sømo	Havenish	Pop	23
Queensland	On My Own	Claire Richards	Havenish	Anthem	8
Belmonté	D'aimer	Josh Gròben	Gallian	Ballad	26
Boliatur	Cylla	Illaria	Sarmatian	Anthem	45
Briminian Asul	For You	Rita and Liam	Havenish	Anthem	37
Butan	Multu Ol	Ferhat Göçer	Butanese	Pop	17
Cantignia	Fight For This Love	Cheryl	Havenish	Pop	10
Pacitalia	Me Pardonne	Claudio Kendji	Gallian	Pop	13
Eiffelland	Don't Want To Lose You Again	Second Summer	Havenish	Anthem	3
Elon	Soldiers	Delara	Havenish	Pop	41
Erlangen-Ansbach	Phantom of the Dancefloor	Kiesza and Hermann	Havenish	Pop	7
Altai	Jedra	Sasá	Gornian	Ballad	5
Gunnland	Mother	Ina	Havenish	Pop	2
Havenshire	My Only Soul	Billy Downs	Havenish	Anthem	39
Jurzan	Ari Ari	Tamar	Havenish/Jurzanese	Pop	36
Kanem Bornu	Ashes	Minuala	Havenish	Ballad	28
Karakhstan	The Distant	Gabrellius	Havenish	Anthem	33
Karolina	What Happened To Us	Gabby	Havenish	Anthem	15
Kelsekk	Love	Robin	Havenish	Anthem	1
Keida	Friends	Raye	Havenish	Pop	31
Kryobaijan	Ngrie (Amazing)	Dani	Havenish/Baijani	Ballad	42
Chambón	Warrior	Chloe	Havenish	Anthem	35
Lusitania	Nothing Here	Liam	Havenish	Pop	25
Milát	Sirens	The Shadow	Havenish	Anthem	24
Montelimar	Tu Van Manquer	Girou	Gallian	Anthem	22
Nicosia	Like Nobody's Watching	Sara	Havenish	Ballad	34
Norseland	Never Fall In Love	Anaœton	Havenish	Pop	44
Nuweland	Evergreen	Reign	Havenish	Anthem	21
Part-Hava	Say It Anyway	Agnew	Havenish	Ballad	9
Polasciana	Noyachana	Polina	Sarmatian	Ballad	27
Potenza	Fall On Me	Matteo and Andrea	Havenish/Potenzan	Ballad	11
Puerto	Youth	Halie	Havenish	Pop	16
Republica del Sur	Changing	Conrad	Havenish	Anthem	4
Kennelly	Prove Me Wrong	Angelis	Havenish	Ballad	38
Saria	Rush	Jesse and Leon	Havenish	Ballad	20
Secadores	Safari	Serena	Havenish	Pop	18
Shcherbatskaya	Be Free	Catirinah	Havenish	Ballad	12
Skarabost and Storhavn	Thunderstruck	Erlend	Havenish	Pop	19
Talemantros	Alive	Lyda	Havenish	Ballad	14
Telora	Ghost	Storvi	Havenish	Anthem	29
Touzen	Real Life	Kung	Havenish	Pop	40
Tulus and Biminis	I'll Be There	Enea	Havenish	Pop	43
Uttania	You Are My World	Agnese	Havenish	Pop	6
United Republic	Come Undone	Rhys	Havenish	Ballad	46
Western States	Love Is A Game	Haven	Havenish	Anthem	30

Direct rounds

12 entries competed across two nights of direct-round "duels" where songs in the same category contested those who had qualified through another group. Songs that gained the highest score in each duel progressed directly to the final. All eliminated entries, along with all songs that didn't qualify for the duels, were also eligible to qualify for the final based on their average score. Both Milát and Keida advanced to the final due to their average score, having lost their duels.

Duel 1

The first duel was held on Tuesday 30th October.

Genre	Qualify	Nation	Song
Pop	1	Erlangen-Ansbach	"Phantom of the Dancefloor"
	2	Puerto	"Youth"
Anthem	1	Republica del Sur	"Changing"
	2	Montelimar	"Tu Van Manquer"
Ballad	1	Potenza	"Fall On Me"
	2	Saria	"Rush"

Duel 2

The second duel was held on Wednesday 31st October.

Genre	Qualify	Nation	Song
Pop	3	Keida	"Friends"
	4	Elon	Soldiers
Anthem	3	Milát	"Sirens"
	4	Briminian Asul	For You
Ballad	3	Kanem Bornu	"Ashes"
	4	Kryobaijan	Ngrie (Amazing)

Finals

Final

The final of the competition took place on Friday 2nd November - with three songs qualifying for a 'super-final'.

Nation	Entry	Artist	Language	Genre	Place
Keida	Friends	Raye	Havenish	Pop	6
Briminian Asul	For You	Rita and Liam	Havenish	Anthem	5
Erlangen-Ansbach	Phantom of the Dancefloor	Kiesza and Hermann	Havenish	Pop	10
Potenza	Fall On Me	Matteo and Andrea	Havenish/Potenzan	Ballad	1
Elon	Soldiers	Delara	Havenish	Pop	4
Kanem Bornu	Ashes	Minuala	Havenish	Ballad	8
Lusitania	Nothing Here	Liam	Havenish	Pop	9
Milát	Sirens	The Shadow	Havenish	Anthem	2
Montelimar	Tu Van Manquer	Girou	Gallian	Anthem	3
United Republic	Come Undone	Rhys	Havenish	Ballad	7

Superfinal

The final stage of the 2018 competition, a 'super-final' between the top three acts, took place on Saturday 3rd November 2020.

The winner was announced as Potenza with the song 'Fall On Me', a duet, performed by Matteo and Andrea Bocelli. It was the first song that included lyrics in a language other than Havenish to win the show.

It was Potenza's first victory in the contest since the 2011 rule changes.

Nation	Entry	Artist	Language	Genre	Place
Montelimar	Tu Van Manquer	Girou	Gallian	Anthem	Third place
Milát	Sirens	The Shadow	Havenish	Anthem	Runner-up
Potenza	Fall On Me	Matteo and Andrea	Havenish/Potenzan	Ballad	Winner