USC 91

Universong 91 "You are stronger than you think!"
Date	2 - 22 September 2016
Host city	Gothenburg, Sweden
Participants	51
Debuting countries	None
Returning countries	Chile, England, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Uzbekistan
Withdrawing countries	Albania, Greenland, Iran, Japan, New Zealand, Slovenia
Winner	Chile Camila Gallardo "Más de la mitad"
Timeline	◄ Madrid 90 Santiago de Chile 92 ►

Universong 91 was the 91st edition of the Universong Contest, held in Sweden between 2nd and 22nd September, 2016, in Gothenburg, the second most important city of this country. The sixth Swedish production of Universong Contest was possible thanks to the winning of the duet First Aid Kit with the song "My silver lining" on the previous edition held in Madrid, Spain.

51 countries took part in this edition (incidentally, the same quantity than in USC 90 in Madrid), without a debuting country for the third time in a row, but counting on the returns of Uzbekistan (first participation since USC 78), South Africa (whose last entry was sent in USC 81), Chile (its last showing-up was in USC 82), South Korea (first participation since USC 88), England and Switzerland (both having last competed in USC 89). Even though, Iceland was withdrawn from the competition during the semifinal stage, while competing with the song "No lie" of Glowie. This song can compete in future editions of Universong.

As a curiosity there were four songs, two each sharing the same title: "Adieu", which are the songs of Austria (represented by Zoë) and Luxembourg (sang by Slimane); and "Fly", both presented by South Korea (with the band Got7) and Lithuania (represented by Donny Montell). Incidentally, the only one of them who advanced to the Grand Final was the Austrian "Adieu", that eventually got 15th place with 88 points.

For the second consecutive edition, the split-up between finalists and non-finalists - format that debuted on the previous edition in Madrid - were shown into two separate tallies. After both series were revealed, Chile, a returning country to this competition, emerged as the winner of this edition of the Universong Contest. Camila Gallardo, runner-up of the first series of The Voice Chile, was the first Chilean entry ever to win the USC title, with her song "Más de la mitad", winning the finalists vote with 111 points, while only tenth in the non-finalists vote with 45 points, making a grand total of 156 points. This winning for Chile is only the second winning for a South American country (the first after Colombia winning USC 16 in Paris, France) and the third for a Latin American country (the first after Puerto Rico's winning in USC 80 in Perth, Australia), as well as being the fifth time that both a Spanish-speaking country and a song in Spanish wins Universong. Additionally, "Más de la mitad" also won the Special award for Best Non-English song, being the third USC winner to do so. The others were Cassandre, who won USC 76 for Monaco, and Mahan Moin, who won USC 77 for Iran.

In the other hand, the runners-up were quite controversial. The songs of Denmark, MØ's "Final song"; and of Canada, Shawn Mendes' "Treat you better", were rumoured to be disqualified, since some contestants considered both as worldwide hit, a clear violation to the Universong rules that forbid world hits to compete in order to avoid unfair advantages. However, the USC staff left both songs in competition, in consideration of their overall commercial performance and popularity. Incidentally, both entries were the runners-up to Camila Gallardo from Chile. While Denmark got the runner-up position for the third time in its history with 149 points (being the second favourite of the finalists, and the fourth option of the non-finalists, and having a 7-point margin with Chile), Canada got third place for the second time in its history with 136 points (the first after USC 80, being the third favourite of the finalists and the seventh choice of the non-finalists).

The top 5 was completed by the songs of Uzbekistan (country who gained its best historical position in USC since USC 74, being also the winner of the second semifinal and the winner of the non-finalists vote) and Australia (represented by the song "In my blood" of The Veronicas, who were fourth with the finalists vote), with 134 and 126 points, respectively.

About the city Edit

Gothenburg  is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, the city has a population of 549,789, with 549,839 in the urban area and 982,360 inhabitants in the metropolitan area.

Gothenburg was founded by royal charter in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus. At the mouth of the Göta älv, the Port of Gothenburg is the largest port in the Nordic countries.

Gothenburg is home to many students, as the city includes the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology. Volvo was founded in Gothenburg in 1927.

Gothenburg is served by Göteborg Landvetter Airport 30 km (18.64 mi) southeast of the city center. The smaller Göteborg City Airport, 15 km (9.32 mi) from the city center, was closed to regular airline traffic in 2015.

The city hosts some of the largest annual events in Scandinavia. The Gothenburg Film Festival, held in January since 1979, is the leading Scandinavian film festival with over 155,000 visitors each year. In summer, a wide variety of music festivals are held in the city, such as Way Out West and Metaltown.

Semifinal 1 Edit

In this semifinal, the 24 semifinalists plus Italy shall vote in this semifinal. Sweden will decide in which semifinal it'll vote. The rest of the countries can vote too, but their votes will be counted as Rest of the World.

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
01	United States	Skillet	"Rebirthing"	13	56
02	Latvia	Brainstorm & Musiqq	"Debesis iekrita tevī "	12	62
03	Ecuador	Anima Inside	"Everything"	15	46
04	Philippines	Sarah Geronimo	"Tala"	18	30
05	South Korea	Got7	"Fly"	20	24
06	Russia	Polina Gagarina	"Ja ne budu"	9	75
07	Canada	Shawn Mendes	"Treat you better"	1	136
08	Iceland	Glowie	"No lie"	WDN	-
09	Netherlands	Rochelle	"All night long"	6	86
10	Turkey	Sertab Erener	"Bir damla gozlerimde"	16	46
11	Germany	Lions Head	"When I wake up"	11	72
12	Romania	Taxi	"Cele doua cuvinte"	21	8
13	Belgium	Billie	"Talking loud"	8	80
14	Portugal	Aurea	"I didn't mean it"	10	73
15	Moldova	Maxim	"Sărutări criminale"	14	49
16	Cyprus	Metaxas	"Timezones"	4	95
17	Colombia	Carlos Vives & Shakira	"La bicicleta"	DSQ	-
18	Bulgaria	Elica Naumova ft. Siso	"Na ruba"	3	98
19	Spain	Auryn ft. Anastacia	"Who's loving you?"	2	116
20	Croatia	Severina ft. Sajsi MC	"Silikoni"	17	32
21	Ukraine	Zlata Ognevich	"Kukushka"	DSQ	-
22	North Macedonia	Magdalena Ena Cvetkoska	"Placat i najsilni"	7	82
23	Australia	The Veronicas	"In my blood"	5	87
24	Peru	Líbido	"Malvada"	19	27

Semifinal 2 Edit

In this semifinal, the 24 semifinalists plus Hungary shall vote in this semifinal. Sweden will decide in which semifinal it'll vote. The rest of the countries can vote too, but their votes will be counted as Rest of the World.

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
01	Austria	Zoë	"Adieu"	12	59
02	Israel	TripL ft. Chen Aharoni	"Only one moment"	21	22
03	Uzbekistan	Nargiz	"Ya ne tvoya"	1	121
04	Switzerland	Bligg	"Manhattan"	16	51
05	Poland	Mary Komasa	"Lost me"	5	105
06	Scotland	Nina Nesbitt	"Chewing gum"	10	72
07	Greece	Helena Paparizou	"Fiesta"	13	54
08	Liechtenstein	Felix Jaehn ft. ALMA	"Bonfire"	DSQ	-
09	Andorra	Marta Sánchez	"El ganador"	18	44
10	Serbia	Saša Kovačević	"Temperatura"	17	49
11	Lithuania	Donny Montell	"Fly"	19	43
12	South Africa	Jesse Clegh	"Use me"	4	109
13	Finland	Chisu	"Tuu mua vastaan"	8	75
14	England	Anne Marie	"Alarm"	9	74
15	Brazil	Anitta ft. Maluma	"Sim ou não"	22	22
16	Luxembourg	Slimane	"Adieu"	14	54
17	Ireland	Time Is A Thief	"Our game"	15	52
18	Mexico	Tefa	"Tempestad"	7	76
19	Norway	Helene Bøksle	"Bifröst"	6	79
20	Chile	Camila Gallardo	"Más de la mitad"	3	117
21	Kosovo	Dhurata Dora	"Ti don"	23	20
22	Denmark	MØ	"Final song"	2	121
23	Monaco	SOUF	"Mi amor"	20	29
24	France	TAL	"Are we awake"	11	60

Grand Final Edit

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
01	Austria	Zoë	"Adieu"	15	88
02	Netherlands	Rochelle	"All night long"	7	119
03	Russia	Polina Gagarina	"Ja ne budu"	19	82
04	Norway	Helene Bøksle	"Bifröst"	13	92
05	Hungary	Antal Timi	"Ne várj"	27	30
06	South Africa	Jesse Clegg	"Use me"	8	117
07	England	Anne Marie	"Alarm"	23	69
08	Uzbekistan	Nargiz	"Ya ne tvoya"	4	134
09	Finland	Chisu	"Tuu mua vastaan"	24	66
10	Spain	Auryn ft. Anastacia	"Who's loving you?"	DSQ	-
11	Denmark	MØ	"Final song"	2	149
12	Belgium	Billie	"Talking loud"	20	80
13	Bulgaria	Elica Naumova ft. Siso	"Na ruba"	17	85
14	France	TAL	"Are we awake"	25	65
15	Mexico	Tefa	"Tempestad"	14	91
16	Chile	Camila Gallardo	"Más de la mitad"	1	156
17	Poland	Mary Komasa	"Lost me"	11	104
18	Sweden	Oscar Zia	"Human"	9	117
19	Latvia	Brainstorm & Musiqq	"Debesis iekrita tevī"	18	82
20	Portugal	Aurea	"I didn't mean it"	16	85
21	Australia	The Veronicas	"In my blood"	5	126
22	Italy	Alessandra Amoroso	"Comunque andare"	6	125
23	North Macedonia	Magdalena Ena Cvetkoska	"Placat i najsilni"	22	69
24	Canada	Shawn Mendes	"Treat you better"	3	136
25	Cyprus	Metaxas	"Timezones"	10	113
26	Germany	Lions Head	"When I wake up"	12	97
27	Scotland	Nina Nesbitt	"Chewing gum"	21	75

Split Results Finalists/Non-Finalists Votes Edit

Place	Finalists Votes	Points	Non-Finalists	Votes
1	Chile	111	Uzbekistan	76
2	Denmark	97	Netherlands	65
3	Canada	88	Cyprus	64
4	Australia	81	Denmark	52
5	Italy	73	Italy	52
6	Poland	73	Norway	48
7	South Africa	71	Canada	48
8	Sweden	71	Sweden	46
9	Germany	65	South Africa	46
10	Russia	59	Chile	45
11	Uzbekistan	58	Australia	45
12	Portugal	57	Austria	44
13	Netherlands	54	Mexico	43
14	Bulgaria	53	Scotland	39
15	Latvia	52	England	33
16	Cyprus	49	Latvia	32
17	Belgium	49	Germany	32
18	North Macedonia	48	Bulgaria	32
19	Mexico	48	Poland	31
20	Austria	44	Belgium	31
21	Norway	44	Portugal	28
22	France	43	Finland	28
23	Finland	38	Russia	23
24	Scotland	36	France	22
25	England	36	North Macedonia	21
26	Hungary	12	Hungary	18

Returning artists Edit

Artist	Country	Previous participation
Marta Sánchez	Andorra	USC 63 (with Carlos Baute, for Venezuela)
The Veronicas	Australia	USC 23, USC 41, USC 71
Anitta	Brazil	USC 56
Maluma	Brazil	USC 66 (with Eli Palacios, for Colombia), USC 70 (for Colombia), USC 79 (with Maía, for Colombia), USC 87 (with Carlos Vives and other Colombian artists, for Colombia)
Shawn Mendes	Canada	USC 83 (with Camila Cabello, for Cuba)
Carlos Vives	Colombia	USC 65 (with ChocQuibTown), USC 87 (with other Colombian artists)
Shakira	Colombia	USC 16, USC 33 (for Lebanon), USC 50, USC 60
Severina	Croatia	USC 18, USC 22 (with Boris Novković, for Bosnia & Herzegovina), USC 29, USC 44, USC 48, USC 52, USC 58, USC 60, USC 65, USC 69 (with Ministarke), USC 72 (with Sasa Matic), USC 77 (with Učiteljice), USC 89
Metaxas	Cyprus	USC 50, USC 88
MØ	Denmark	USC 77 (with Major Lazer and DJ Snake), USC 82
Chisu	Finland	USC 62, USC 64, USC 68
TAL	France	USC 35, USC 40, USC 59, USC 69
Magdalena Ena Cvetkoska	North Macedonia	USC 39 (with Darko Ilievski), USC 46
Helena Paparizou	Greece	USC 24, USC 28, USC 39, USC 43, USC 50, USC 55, USC 58 (with Playmen, Courtney Parker & Riskykidd), USC 78
Chen Aharoni	Israel	USC 54, USC 62
Alessandra Amoroso	Italy	USC 48 (for San Marino), USC 49 (for San Marino)
Dhurata Dora	Kosovo	USC 75 (for Albania)
Brainstorm	Latvia	USC 36, USC 42
Musiqq	Latvia	USC 45
Donny Montell	Lithuania	USC 65
Sarah Geronimo	Philippines	USC 74
Aurea	Portugal	USC 51, USC 74, USC 86 (with The Black Mamba)
Polina Gagarina	Russia	USC 45, USC 56, USC 79
Nina Nesbitt	Scotland	USC 61
Saša Kovačević	Serbia	USC 36, USC 72
Auryn	Spain	USC 73
Anastacia	Spain	USC 12 (for United States), USC 83 (for United States)
Sertab Erener	Turkey	USC 03, USC 16, USC 34, USC 50 (with Demir Demirkan)

 Special Awards Edit

Bartek Award Edit

Country	Artist	Song	Place	Situation
Serbia	Saša Kovačević	"Temperatura"	17th (SF2)	Winner
Poland	Mary Komasa	"Lost me"	11th	Nominée (2nd)
Romania	Taxi	"Cele doua cuvinte"	21st (SF1)	Nominée (3rd)

Best Non-English Award Edit

Country	Artist	Song	Place	Situation
Chile	Camila Gallardo	"Más de la mitad"	Winner	Winner
Bulgaria	Elica Naumova ft. Siso	"Na ruba"	17th	Nominée (2nd)
Russia	Polina Gagarina	"Ja ne budu"	19th	Nominée (3rd)

hph01 Award Edit

Country	Artist	Song	Place	Situation
United States	Skillet	"Rebirthing"	13th (SF1)	Winner
Greece	Helena Paparizou	"Fiesta"	13th (SF2)	Nominée (2nd)
Ireland	Time Is A Thief	"Our game"	15th (SF2)	Nominée (3rd)