Griffiniskaja Laul 9

Griffiniskaja Laul 09 will be the ninth edition of the Griffiniskaja Laul musical event and Waiting List Song Contest national final which took place in Mare Incatato, the capital of the principality of Meremaa following their victory at the previous edition. Meremaa won again, on home ground with Pzyerüyölkeä coming in second and Õklingsmaa in third place which was the best result for this principality to date.

Bidding phase
This was the first time that Merema won and hosted an edition of the contest. Preparations for the contest began relatively later than usual following the reorganisation in the Griffiniskaja Televisioon as well as local elections in the principality. Despite the late start, it was confirmed by the executive supervisor of the Griffiniskaja Televisioon (GTV) that tradition of co-organisation between the main channel GTV 1 with a regional broadcaster (in this case GTV MER) will continue. This was confirmed by the director of GTV MER as well.

Meremaa was excited to host the event having the biggest bidding phase to date. All major cities expressed interest in hosting the contest and all of their bids were accepted by GTV for the official hosting rights competition. These cities are: Mare Incatato(the capital and the biggest city of the principality, also the second biggest city in the Griffin Empire), Tevs (7th biggest city in the Empire), Salta (13th biggest city in the Empire), and Zonpolah (17th biggest city in the Empire). However the interest was big among the smaller towns as well with Umutstad bidding the whole town as a venue. Total of nine cities and towns had applied to host the show.

Later it was announced that the Bidding Phase was won by the Meremaa capital - Mare Incatato since their biggest venue was already ready and experienced with hosting big events.

Venue
Mare Incatato, the capital of Griffin Principality of Meremaa was already the host city for the 212th edition of Waiting List Song Contest, so it was only natural for them to get the hosting gig for Griffiniskaja Laul as well. The venue choice for the festival was MareStadiumi, a football stadium in the Saudi Saxmarga district of Mare Incatato.

MareStadiumi (stylized version of Mare Stadijümi), is a multi-purpose stadium and home to the Olimpia football club since it opened in 1937, and was a venue in the 1998 Natia World Cup, the 2007 Natia Rugby World Cup and the Western Natia Football Cup 2016. It is the largest club football ground in Griffin Empire, with a capacity of 67,394 spectators. The stadium is also used regularly by the Griffin national rugby union team. The main problem in the bidding phase was the lack of a retractable roof, but it was later added to the building. This was the biggest venue ever to host a Waiting List Song Contest with the final capacity for the contest bein limited at 38,000 seats. The stadium is four kilometres from the Old Port of Mare Incatato, in the neighbourhoods of Marga and Kamaoozs in the southern part of Mare Incatato. It is bound to the south by the Joföeomösör river and to the north by the Üemid Paark and the headquarters of regional public TV station, GTV MER. To its west runs the Naurödt Boulevardt and to the east the Mare Incatatoiskaja Shaitö ot sparrtotre and the Törild Stadijümi.

It is serviced by the bus and metro networks of the city. Besides several bus services operating in the area, two stations of the Mare Incatato Metro line 2 are close to the stadium. Mare Incatato Meremaa Airport is thirty kilometres from the stadium.

Mare Incatato
Mare Incatato is the metropolis and the capital city of the principality of Meremaa in Griffin Empire. It is located on the Griffin coast near the mouth of the Drinsörwõt River. It is the third largest city in Griffin Empire, covering an area of 241 km2 (93 sq mi) and had a population of 1,760,653. Its inhabitants are called Incatatese (or Incatatodniqe in Griffin).

One of Western Natia's oldest cities, founded around 600 BC, it has been a trading port since ancient times. In particular, it experienced a considerable commercial boom during the 19th century, becoming a prosperous industrial and trading city. Nowadays the Old Port still lies at the heart of the city where the manufacturing of soap, began some 6 centuries ago. Overlooking the port is the Kirkja ot brõõdermanhuafft or "Kallisbror" for the people of Mare Incatato, the symbol of the city. Inherited from this past, the Grandiozsiska Portet Mare Incatatoiskaja (GPMI) and the maritime economy are major poles of regional and national activity and Mare Incatato remains the first Griffin port, the second West Natian port and the fifth Natian port. Since its origins, its openness to the sea has made it a cosmopolitan city marked by cultural and economic exchanges with different parts of Natia. The city was named Natian Capital of Culture in 2013 and Natian Capital of Sport in 2017. It is also home to several higher education institutions in the region, including the University of Ötblifemzs.

Show
It was revealed on all major social, printed and broadcast media that the host for the 89th edition would be Griffin actress Kiernan Shipka. The official photoshoot was revealed on the specially crafted billboard in front of the Museumi ot istorietotr ot Natiaiskaja Liudotre at L'zjuud ot Madnaotr Tere Square in Joglýgët District of Mare Incatato during the traditional 100 days till Laul ceremony.

Kiernan Brennan Shipka is a Griffin actress known for her roles as Sally Draper in the AMC drama series Mad Men and as Sabrina Spellman in the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. She also appeared as B. D. Hyman in the FX series Feud: Bette and Joan and voiced Jinora in The Legend of Korra. Shipka has also starred in numerous films, including Carriers, Flowers in the Attic, The Blackcoat's Daughter, and The Silence.

The show was traditionally opened with a flag parade, this time accompanied by medley of songs performed by previous victor - Meremaa's own Christopher Nissen. Traditionally, the host (this time Kiernan Shipka) did a monologue in which she also explained the voting procedure. Christopher came back for interval act with many other previous Meremaa participants, but also Waiting List Song Contest veterans.

Songs selection
Regional branches of GTV had sole discretion on the process they employed to select their entry for the contest, although the GTV strongly encouraged that broadcasters engage the public with the selection of their act. Even though the regional broadcasters got to choose their representatives completely on their own once again, there were no regional finals for the second edition in a row and all principalities have chosen their acts internally. One of reasons for such decisions was "the risk of the show being postponed once again" as stated by the head director of the Eestimadnait GTV branch. Number of songs submitted for the first planned event was similar to the previous editions at 3 562 with the most of them coming from Foreõsvdetrre once again and the least from Pzyerüyölkeä.

Reception and result at the Waiting List Song Contest
Traditionally, Griffiniskaja Laul did well with both Griffin and international public. All seven songs finished in the top 10 on Griffin charts, but charting in other jury nations as well. Despite good critiques, the winning song Nudes became the first winner not to finish in the top 10 at the Waiting List Song Contest finishing 13th overall.