Nedas' and Rob's Earthvision Song Contest 04

The Nedas' and Rob's Earthvision Song Contest 04, often referred as NRESC 04, is scheduled to be the fourth edition of Nedas' and Rob's Earthvision Song Contest. The edition will take place in Japan, following lqvr's win with Japan in South Korea, with "" by Mitski. The contest will be held at Nippon Gaishi Hall, the city's general gymnasium; the show will consist of two semi-finals on 8 and 15 January, and the final on 22 January 2022.

Thirty-six countries will take part in the contest, a decrease from 3 countries in the previous edition.

City
Nagoya (名古屋市) is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3 million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast on central Honshu, it is the capital and the most populous city of Aichi Prefecture, and is one of Japan's major ports along with those of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama, and Chiba. The principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the third-most populous metropolitan area in Japan with a population of 10.11 million in 2020. Nagoya was announced as the host city on the 22nd of October.

Venue
Nippon Gaishi Hall is an indoor sports arena located in Nagoya, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 10,000 people, and the venue hosted some of the group games for the 2006 and 2010 editions of the official Women's Volleyball World Championship.

Bidding phase and host city selection
After Japan won the third contest, information regarding potential venues was slowly gathered in order to help decide on an appropriate venue. Over the month of October, an official presentation of possible venues was developed, shortlisting 7 venues in 6 Japanese cities.

The cities Chiba, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Saitama, Sendai, and the capital Tokyo, were revealed as the official candidates for hosting the contest. Tokyo had two bids, the Nippon Budokan as well as the Tokyo Dome. Each city, and its venue, were assessed in a variety of capacities in order to determine which would be deemed as a viable host. Some basis for assessment included:


 * The size of the venue, ideally approximately 10,000 capacity
 * In a relatively established city, that people know and are familiar with
 * The difficulty in construction of a virtual venue

Presenters
Hatsune Miku, Mitski and Rina Sawayama are set to be the presenters of the show. Mitski was also the Japanese entrant in the previous edition when she won. The hosts were revealed during the allocation draw on 28 November 2021.

Visual design
The contest's slogan, "Prevail", was unveiled on 20 November 2021, while the official logo and branding were revealed in "The NRESC Event" on 28 November 2021. Designed by Rob, it consists of layered shards designed to resemble a dragon, inspired by Japanese culture.

Entries
According to the rules: More entry rules are available to find.
 * The act(s) must have a feasible connection to the country, e.g. born there, have roots there, currently live there. Therefore, they should have at least 25% connection to the chosen country (this includes both solo artists and bands).
 * Songs must be approved by a 5 member song council before their release.
 * Originality for songs is highly recommended, but not required. Acts that are ‘extremely unoriginal’ are most likely to get denied by the song council team (e.g. LYRA, Dreamcatcher, MARUV, OONAGH, Betta Lemme, Faouzia etc.).
 * Mainstream songs are not allowed and therefore, the maximum view limit for all entries must be 120 million from the time you sent it for approval, unless if you are using some of the borrowing rules, where the view count is considerably less. Artists that are deemed ‘world chart’ currently, for example BTS, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, will not be approved.
 * Songs must be released after the 1st of January 2015.
 * The maximum song length is 4:30, the minimum is 1:30. A few seconds after the maximum limit is permitted, as long it's not around 15 seconds.

Semi final allocation draw
Similar to the previous two editions, the thirty-two participating semi-finalists were randomly allocated to a semi-final and one of its halves. The draw was unveiled on 28 November 2021, as well as the halves of the Grand Final the "Big 6" would perform in and what semi-final they would vote in. Nevertheless, during the event, REOL performed her song "The Sixth Sense", filmed at a Japanese temple.

The thirty-two semi-finalists were allocated into five pots, based on their relationships. Drawing from different pots helps in reducing the chance of so-called neighbour voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined.

The five pots were the following:

Participating countries
Nedas and Rob initially announced on the 10th of October 2021 the 36 countries that would participate in the contest, a decrease of 3 from the previous edition. Nine countries made their debut, with seven returning from an absence during the previous edition(s). 16 countries withdrew.

Returning artists
The contest featured two representatives who also previously performed as a lead vocalist for the same or for another country.

Entries that were originally sent
The edition featured six entries who were originally sent before the delegations had changed their entries.

Semi-final 1
The first semi-final will take place on 5 January 2022 at 19:00 (CEST). Sixteen countries will participate in the first semi-final. South Africa and Sweden will vote in this semi-final.

Semi-final 2
The second semi-final will take place on 15 January 2022 at 19:00 (CEST). Sixteen countries will participate in the second semi-final. Japan and the United States will vote in this semi-final.

Final
The final will take place on 22 January 2022 at 19:00 (CEST). Twenty countries will participate in the second semi-final, along with the 4 pre-qualified countries.

Aleyna Tilki's arrest
On 12 December 2021, Aleyna Tilki, one of Turkey's representatives, was arrested and sentenced to 5 months in prison over an incident which occurred at Istanbul's airport in January 2020. She was granted special permission to be transferred to a prison in Nagoya, but would have to wear handcuffs during her performance.

England
About 2 weeks after the list of countries was announced, the head of delegation for England, known as Liam_Aharon, chose to step down from their position. Duunowwutimean was selected as a replacement due to them being at the top of the waiting list.

Guam
A week before the first rehearsals, the head of delegation for Guam, known as Pepz_ie, chose to step down from their position due to lack of interest and pressure. P34XH was selected as a replacement due to them being at the top of the waiting list, behind Duunowwutimean.

Palau
A day after the rehearsals, it has been discovered that the Head of Delegation for Palau, known as DoodlayRed12, has left the server, therefore violating the participation rules. TomYTofficiel was selected as a replacement due to them being at the top of the waiting list. The date and reason of DoodlayRed12's withdrawal is yet to be known.

Puerto Rico
Days before the first rehearsals, the head of delegation for Puerto Rico, known as WillowDog12, chose to step down from their position due to inability to participation. Nikitosa2zero was selected as a replacement due to them being at the top of the waiting list, behind P34XH. Hours after the announcement of the replacement, Nikitosa2zero stated that he will step down from participating as Puerto Rico due to various reasons. karex888 was selected as a replacement due to them being at the top of the waiting list.

Entry changes
The executive directors gave a chance to all the delegations to change their entries, if they had the opportunity to do so. Australia, Guam, Thailand, United States, Wales and Zimbabwe changed their entries after the permission given from the executive directors.

Broadcasters and commentators
All participating broadcasters may choose to have on-site or remote commentators providing an insight about the show and voting information to their local audience. While they must broadcast at least the semi-final they are voting in and the final, most broadcasters air all three shows with different programming plans. Similarly, some non-participating broadcasters may still want to air the contest. These are the broadcasters that have confirmed their broadcasting plans and/or their commentators:

Active broadcaster members

 * india.png India - The Head of Delegation, Kawaiiliqxe, had originally claimed India, but later changed to philippinesflag.png Philippines and sent "Care" by Beabadoobee. It was later confirmed by Kawaiiliqxe that NISHA was going to represent India in Japan with her song "Figures" before the country's withdrawal.

National finals

 * australia.png Australia - Australia Decides
 * china.png China - Stage Boom
 * fiji.png Fiji - FIJI^6
 * greenland.png Greenland - Nuuk To Nagoya
 * scotland.png Scotland - Dylan Innit
 * southafrica.png South Africa - Queen of the Babies
 * southkorea.png South Korea - South Korean Star 04
 * usvirginislands.png U.S. Virgin Islands - Virginresc
 * ukraine.png Ukraine - Unearthly Rebirth
 * uzbekistan.png Uzbekistan - O'zbekiston keyingi yulduz
 * vietnam.png Vietnam - Shining Lotus
 * wales.png Wales - Wales Decides