USoS 2021: Semifinal Voting is over! Minnesota Entry & the Public Vote

Hello there! As you may have heard, the voting period for Semifinal Two ended July 12, so we are busy behind the scenes counting up the points for both Semifinal Two and One. The thirteen songs with the most points from each semifinal will proceed to the Final Round.

Alongside those 26 songs, the 27th song - Minnesota - was determined earlier this year in a state song selection. From eight songs, the winning entry was Graveyard Club's song "Dreamland". They are an indie pop band from the Minneapolis area, who actually competed in 2017 with the song "Nightcrawler" but failed to make the Final.

We are honored to have them represent Minneapolis in a year where going off to dreamland sounded really appealing at times. Good luck, Minnesota!

In addition, it is time to determine from which spot Minnesota's entry will perform in the Final Round. A random number was generated between 1 and 27, and it was determined that Minnesota receives spot 6.

Moving on now. The Final Round introduces public voting, which was changed slightly in 2020 in response to feedback received by our fans. The format will remain the same for 2021: public voters will rank each song on a scale from 1 to 7, with 1 being the worst rating, and 7 being the best. This does technically mean they have the ability to rank each song a 1 and be done with it. But if this happens, their vote will not be counted. Songs will still be split into five groups of five, but they can rate any number of songs the highest possible rating if they wish to do so.

Songs that receive a '7' rating will receive 6 public pts, songs with a '6' rating receive 4 public pts, songs with a '5' rating receive 2 public pts, and songs with a '4' receive 1 public pt. Songs that get a rating of 3, 2, or 1 will not receive points from that public voter. Then we combine the total number of points received for that song from all public voters and apply it to an equation at the end that adjusts the points given to be 50% of the overall vote. It's a mathematically complicated process to explain, but it makes sense once you see what's going on.

Public and Jury voting will open on the same date as the release of the Final Round Recap. At that time, voters will have a good 3 to 4 weeks to submit their vote.

We just want to thank everyone for sticking with us through what has been a pretty challenging couple of years. Your continued support of our contest means a lot to us!

Stay tuned for the Semifinal Results announcement!