Redditvision Song Contest SE2

The Redditvision Song Contest Special Edition 2, commonly shortened to SE2, was the second special edition and twenty-second overall edition of the Redditvision Song Contest. The winner of the first special edition, u/geogaymer, had first rights to hosting the second round, but the moderators of Redditvision received no response from them when asked to host. As a result, the two users rounding out the SE1 podium hosted instead. The semi-finals were hosted by third-placed u/_xSyracuse in Valletta, Malta and the final was hosted by runner-up u/stardust112 in Yerevan, Armenia. This was the first time multiple users co-hosted the contest.

The theme for the edition was random countries. Each participating user was randomly assigned a country (though some countries were blacklisted due to a having a low population or small music scene) and the artist had to have some connection to the country in question. As a result of the edition's rule, some countries never claimed before made a debut. The edition was also capped at 66 users, the first time a cap was imposed. A total of 55 users signed up and received a country for the edition, however, only 53 users submitted a song before the deadline.

The winner was Chile with the song "Tómame" by Francisca Valenzuela. It became the third highest scoring winner after England in edition 20 and Morocco in edition 8, scoring 206 points. This made Chile the first South American winner, as well as being the first winner performing in Spanish. This was the first time a European country has failed to reach the top 3 (the highest being Ukraine in 8th)

Theme
Likewise with the first special edition, the moderators asked for theme suggestions from the wider community. On 18 July 2018, a theme ballot was posted on the subreddit. Users could submit three ideas each. On 22 July 2018, the ballot closed and the moderators selected 41 potential themes for the edition. Using an approval voting system, users could then vote for all theme ideas they liked. The ideas with the most likes would then proceed to the next round, where the winning theme would be randomly selected.



The nine themes that the community voted for were:
 * You get a random country and you have to send a song from that country
 * Deduction: Users give out minus points in addition to normal points. They may have 20 minus points to allocate however they wish, added together and ‘awarded’ at the end like a televote
 * No music videos
 * Media special: entries must be from or based on a TV show, film or video game
 * Single-elimination tournament: knock-out/1v1 battles)
 * FIFA World Cup themed: Groups & knockout rounds
 * That sounds familiar: Only song titles that have previously been submitted to RSC are permissible
 * Below 100,000 views on Youtube
 * Homegrown: The artist/act you submit must be from the country you currently live in

Each participating user will be randomly assigned a country and the artist must have some connection to the country in question. Grand final host u/stardust112 is the only one exempt from the theme and will participate and host as Armenia. Due to the nature of the theme, country claiming will instead be confirmations from participating users. A live show will be held at the end of the confirmation period where all users receive their assigned country. The song submission period will be extended so each user has more time to find a suitable song for their country. Certain small nations will likely be blacklisted.

Participants
A total of 55 users have signed up for the edition; an increase over the 37 people who participated the previous special edition, and a decrease from the 63 that entered edition 20. u/ApostolisKKK, u/getdeezcookies and u/Ruairiwx made their Redditvision debut.

As a result of the theme, 9 countries made a debut. Ecuador, El Salvador, Mozambique, Qatar, Somalia, Suriname, Tanzania, Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates are all set to make their first apperance. A shortlist of 148 countries was made by the hosts before the random draw, to ensure that countries with a smaller population and music scene were excluded from the draw. Notably, normally high-demand countries such as Australia, England, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Korea, Sweden and the Netherlands were not drawn to a user.

On 6 August 2018, the hosts announced that users that had not yet submitted an entry or started a national final would be able to switch their country. Antigua and Barbuda (drawn by u/Kaylaboe), Haiti (drawn by u/DarkCartoon) and Mauritania (drawn by u/TheDutchDen) were all discarded in favour of Moldova, Wales and Switzerland respectively.

Latvia and Tunisia failed to submit an entry in time, bringing the number of submissions down to 53. In addition, three users withdrew during the semi-final period and one user got disqualified for not voting in time.

National finals
18 national finals were held during the edition.
 * See also: National Finals in Redditvision Song Contest SE2

Semi-finals
All semi-finalists were divided into three semi-finals with 16 or 17 participants each. Latvia and Tunisia failed to submit their entries in time.

Semi-final 1
Armenia and Papua New Guinea voted in this semi-final.

A YouTube playlist can be found here, a Spotify playlist can be found here, a recap can be found here and a sorter can be found here.

Semi-final 2
Greece and Belize voted in this semi-final.

A YouTube playlist can be found here, a Spotify playlist can be found here, a recap can be found here and a sorter can be found here.

Semi-final 3
Vietnam and Scotland voted in this semi-final.

A YouTube playlist can be found here, a Spotify playlist can be found here, a recap can be found here and a sorter can be found here.

Grand final
The top six participating users from the first special edition was automatically qualified for the final. u/geogaymer, winner of the first special edition, did not sign up for SE2. That meant 7th-placed u/Azzbestos was directly qualified for the final. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines failed to vote in the final.

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