Poppy Lunthorn, one of Gunnland’s largest acts, has won the 2024 edition of The Global Music Festival last night in Angougane, a major city in the Syion region of the Free States Union. The winner, the most popular in history, brought hundreds of thousands of new fans into the competition.
Crowned in front of the 25,000 crowd at Le Albo, Lunthorn secured the highest score ever at the competition, besting Milàt’s landslide in 2020. Receiving a full-set of 40 top scores from professional music juries and 75% of the public votes cast, ‘New Way Out’ – a gothic power-metal track – officially becomes the competition’s most successful entry of all time. It had been heavily favoured since being selected in September, the brainchild of Hether Ingorning, from Gunnland’s state broadcaster who pushed for it to become the country’s Globe Fest entry after hearing it as part of a list of songs that had been released that week.
Poppy, already an established act in the country, saw success with the track prior to negotiations to represent Gunnland in Angougane. The single shot straight to the top of the charts upon its publication, also becoming a hit in regional neighbours such as Saria, Nuweland and Telora. With an established fan base, the artist similarly increased viewing figures both domestically, but also across Gallia and Sarvaria. It is thought her record company extracted a significant fee from the broadcaster, which says it was “extremely happy” to win the contest – its best result in history.
“We had to send it. I was listening to songs that were released each week, and before I even knew who it was I was like yes, that’s the one. This isn’t just a hit, it’s a winner. I knew it immediately” said Ingorning yesterday in an interview in this year’s host city. “You just have these songs that grip you. From the moment you start listening. That’s what this did for me. It’s not even remotely my kind of music but this just grabs you.” Ingorning went on to say that the broadcaster had doubts the artist would agree to go to Globe Fest but was “overjoyed” when the negotiations were successful.
The runner up, Ostry’s delegation, congratulated Gunnland on the victory, saying they were “sad” not to secure the win, but “understood” the Gunnish singer’s appeal. “Of course we’re disappointed, Shaya put his heart and soul into this performance and we thought we’d done enough, but you have to get lucky in this competition and this wasn’t our year. We are however immensely proud to come second, particularly up against such a popular winner.”
Elsewhere, Jurzan, which came third, posting its best result for many years. All three super finalists were however once again represented by songs solely in Havenish – continuing to break a trend that had seen success for songs in local languages over the past few years prior to last year’s show in Brandon where the United Republic, Fjalladrottning and the Republica del Sur took the top spots.
This year, Polasciana took 10th place – finishing last in Friday’s final – but PTV has said it was a “strong result” – with the country once again qualifying through the earlier direct rounds. The broadcaster is however aiming for a significantly better result next year, declaring that it was targeting a win in 2025.
