ASEAN Song Festival 1

ASEAN Song Festival 1 is the first edition of the Southeast Asia regional selection ASEAN Song Festival. The festival, which was non-competitive, took place in the The Esplanade located in the middle of Singapore. Seven countries, including Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, confirmed their participation in the first edition of the competition.

The highest scoring song from each country will compete for their respective nation at the Own Asiavision Song Contest 31 held in Jordan.

The format of the competition will consist of three shows: two semi-final rounds and a final. Each country is obliged to send in four entries to represent them in the festival, except Malaysia whose one of originally submitted entries is disqualified. The twenty-seven competing entries are randomly divided into two semi-finals, with fourteenth compositions and two songs from each country in each show. From each semi-final, the songs that place within the top three qualify directly to the final, as well as the highest placing songs from each nation, and the next highest placed songs to bring the total number of competing entries in the final to fourteen. The show is hosted by Mediacorps, as well as, with cooperation from other Southeast Asian broadcasters.

Musicians couple Tóc Tiên and Touliver from Vietnam won the first ever song festival with the amount of 111 points with the song "1 Cọng tóc mai".

Location
Further information on the host country: Singapore

Host city
The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive buildings in the world, with a luxurious standalone casino at Bayfront Avenue. There are many skyscrapers in Raffles Place, Tanjong Pagar and Marina Bay CBD with a height limit of 280m. It is one of the eleven planning areas located within the most urbanised Central Area, forming the latter's dense urban core. It is bounded by Rochor to the north, Kallang to the northeast, Marina East and Marina South to the east, Straits View to the southeast, Bukit Merah to the south, as well as Outram, Museum and Singapore River to the west.

As the financial Heart of Singapore, the Downtown Core houses the headquarters and offices of numerous corporations, as well as the Singapore Exchange. The area is also home to many governmental institutions, notably the seat of Parliament and the Supreme Court of Singapore.

Venue
Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay (also known as the Esplanade Theatres (Teater di Persisiran) or simply The Esplanade) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) and a performing arts centre located in the Downtown Core of Singapore near the mouth of the Singapore River. Named after the nearby Esplanade Park, it consists of a concert hall which seats about 1,600 and a theatre with a capacity of about 2,000 for the performing arts.

Competing entries
The broadcasters from seven participating countries opened a public submission window for artists to apply. Each broadcaster had time to evaluate the submissions and select four songs to participate in the event until 5 February 2023. Sheezan & FootriX were disqualified from the competition due to the song being previously entered and performed in the Own Asiavision Song Contest 29, reducing the number of songs from twenty-eight to twenty-seven.

Semi-finals
ASEAN Song Contest commences with two semi-finals, which will determine the fourteen entries that will advance directly to the final.

Semi-final 1
Qualified (top 3) | Qualified (highest placing songs from the nation) |  Qualified (next highest placed songs)

Semi-final 2
Some hours after the lineup revealed, "Love of My Life", performed by Sheezan & FootriX, was disqualified as it had previously been entered and performed in the Own Asiavision Song Contest 29 as the official Malaysian entry. The decision to allow Malaysia to provide a replacement act was later rejected and therefore, reduce Malaysia's entries number down to 3. Sheezan and FootriX, however, still performed the song during the heat as an interval act at the same running order.

Qualified (top 3) | Qualified (highest placing songs from the nation) |  Qualified (next highest placed songs)

Final
On 16 February, the fourteen finalists of the first final ever were announced by Mediacorps. The winner and the highlighted songs represented their country at the Own Asiavision Song Contest 31 on Jordan. Five countries managed to qualify to the grand final with the exception of Cambodia and Laos. Philippines and Singapore finished in top 10 with the former almost entered the top 6 while Malaysia placed 4th and Vietnam successfully won the whole edition.