Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Spain is not taking part in Eurovision song contest 2026 but their usual national selection took place anyways. After two semi-finals - each with 9 songs selected from 870 dsubmissions - earlier this week the final took place and was won by Tony Grox and Lucycalys and T amaré. Read more here  I have always loved Benidorm fest's graphics and finally the stagings were at the same level, thanks to some help from Finland :-)  Asha won expert jury's vote the winning couple being second before Izan llunas who won demoscopic jury before Rosalinda Galan  and Mikel Herzog Jr  the winners placing 4th but they won the televote before Rosalinda Galan and Miranda! and Bailamama. International fan favorite Kenneth was left last.... My favorites were Asha and Mikel Herzog Jr. Final results (experts+demoscopic+tele) : Mayo - Tócame (24 + 4 + 36) 64   11th Kitai - El amor te da miedo (51 + 20 + 32) 103    6th Asha - Turista  (92 + 28 + 24) 144   2...

David Afonso may have placed last in the first Benidorm Fest 2025 but he deserved so much more. Vocally perfect with a melody that has stuck into my mind. But he's just in the beginning of his recording career so please do come back in coming years and win it all!

No surprise in Spain either as one of the biggest favorites melody with Esa diva won Benidorm fest 2025 beating the Temu versions Mahmood and Chanel in the end. The song is ageless indeed, meaning it could be from the 80's or 90's or 00's or ... 2025 but Melody's determination pushed it to victory in the end and it could do better in Basel as fandom thinks due to its Spanishness and nostalgia. I was saying myself Spain is heading to bottom-5 again this year but I may have changed my mind. Maybe. Melody aka Melodia Ruiz Gutiérrez maybe only 34 but she has already 25 years of career under he belt! Coming from a family of singers and musicians she was discovered at early age and she had her first #1 in the Spanish charts at the age of 10 with El baile del gorila and her debut album sold over half a million copies in Spain alone before hitting the charts in Latin America and in the US as well. She has Grammy and Billboard Latin music awards nominations in her CV.  After fou...

Benidorm fest returns for the fourth year as the relaunched Spanish national selection for the Eurovision song contest 2025. As usual it is three nights affair with two semi-finals and the grand final on January 28 and 30 and February 1, 2025. A threesome jury will send four out of eight semi-finalist to the grand final with 50% professional jury, demoscopic panel 25% and televote 25%. The 16 semi-finalist have been chosen among the almost 1000 submissions.  Below are my first time hearing ratings as usual. Sadly there isn't much to get very excited by. Spanish pop by numbers and their own style added with some Latin flavor but very little imagination or originality. Shame. Most fall into *** meaning harmless and listenable but nothing special I'd listen outside Eurovision national finals. This said I know further listening will surely change ratings for some but in the end it's the first impact that matters in Eurovision. The staging and live performance will be crucial to...

One of the funny details in this season's Eurovision is that Nebulossa participated in Una voce per San Marino last year (and didn't even make the final) and won Benidorm Fest this year  while Megara participated in Benidorm Fest last year and won Una voce per San Marino this year.  RTVE received 825 submissions for the third reborn Benidorm Fest and 16 were chosen for two semifinals before the grand final. Nebulossa won after winning the televote, being tied first in the jury vote with St.Pedro and placing second in demoscopic jury behind Jorge Gonzalez.  Nebulossa is married couple Maria Mery Bas (who also happens to be the oldest this year at 55) and Mark Dasousa (50). They have been married over 20 years and have two kids. Mery has been running a beauty salong among other things while Mark has been involved in music as author and producer. Their Nebulossa electrosynthpop duo released their debut EP in 2019 and album in 2021. They have released also a dozen singles be...

The reborn Spanish Eurovision  reached climax last night when Benidorm Fest final was held and won by Blanca Paloma and her flamenco Eaea . She won the jury vote, televote and came second in the demoscopic jury so most likely there won't be such a chaotic uprising like last year when Chanel won (and how did that end??). Blanca Paloma was there already last year and it is quite remarkable her Secreto de agua finished 5th. And guess what? these two songs are the only two songs she has ever recorded! As she's not a singer (with that voice!!!) but set and costume designer! Actually her last year's entry was a theme song for a tv-series she ended up singing.  So, even if not my favorites as you can read in my review I totally admire her and this song. Brave move from Spain that has too often sent plastic Europop written by Swedes. However, flamenco (inspired) songs have had mixed fortunes in Eurovision from Remedios Amaya's fantastic Quien maneja mi barca that scored a fla...

Spain has been reborn at Eurovision thanks to Benidorm fest that was launched last year and besides creating a hype, hit songs and return of Spain to Eurovision top-3 finish this year the concept is the same. Two semi-finals and the grand final. Most of the songs have already been streaming successes but after seeing the semi-finals one can only wonder are they trying a bit too hard? Most of the staging haven't been so good, there's too much going on in most every act and they come across chaotic and too busy. Add weak vocals here and there and even an act where one was left wondering did he sing at all in the end? Sadly that song was maybe my favorite before the live and didn't even make the final despite apparently topping the rank of the pre-selection. What a difference live three minutes can make! Anyways, here's my take on the final songs (and the rest): Agoney - Quero arder ** This one's fun to watch and he can sing for sure, but when I only listened the studi...

Spain became the first country to reveal their names for Eurovision 2023. The semi-finalist of Benidorm Fest 2023 are 18 this year, up two from last year's very successful first edition. Two semi-finals will feature nine entries each, four of them going to the final. There is a mixed voting system for each three shows: 50% professional juries, 25% demoscopic panel and 23% televote. Mónica Naranjo will host again with Inés Hernand. The semi-finals will air on January 31 and February 2 and the grand final on Fenruary 4.  Last year Chanel won over Tanxugueiras (70,75% televote!) thanks to expert jury but they clearly saw its potential better as SloMo finished 3rd in Turin only 7 points short of 2nd place, while France's entry , the most similar to Tanxugueiras one finished 24th.  Among the artists is 2018 Eurovision entrant Alfred Garcia , Blanca Paloma from the 2022 edition,  Famous who won Operacion Triunfo 2018 and already tried to get the ticket to Eurovision 2019. Tw...

It ended the most Spanish way possible. A social media chaos. The fandom once again forgot the simple fact of the game: the rules are rules and everyone has accepted them beforehand, and your own favorite isn't everyone's favorite, especially in a year like this. Benidorm Fest 2022 could have easily been the showcase of Spain's last eight Eurovision entries as each entry was better than anything they have sent since Pastora Soler or so. Each and everyone would have been a solid entry. Fans also forget they have listened the songs ad nauseam whereas a regular viewer and voter sees them for the fist time on the Night. I see sees and not hears as by then it's the whole package that counts and Chanel did just that. Booty hypnotic in slomo for sure. No one cared for her before her semi-final performance but out of the blue she won it- Can you make a better first impression than that? I personally didn't like Rigoberta's performance at all, or Tanxugueiras either whil...

What can we say about Spain's impact at Eurovision in recent years? Saving someone else from the places at the bottom?  Maybe that's all we can say about their fortunes. The songs have not been that bad generally, but they just haven't connected neither with the juries nor televoters. All in all Spain and Eurovision has been quite uninspiring effort but boy, have they changed it around this year! They dusted off the old good Benidorm Fest and gave us fourteen songs, each of them worth a trip to Turin 2022 considering their track record. Or make it 13 now that Luna Ki withdraw. I can only wonder how come no one noticed before she can't use all that auto-tune in her performance?!  But let's get to the business. As usual the remarks are mine and the votes are mine based on my personal taste, not how I think they will/would do at the Eurovision, unless stated something about that in the review. Varry Brava - Raffaella *** An homage to late Raffaella Carrá that does soun...

Spain and Eurovision..... Oh, well. ... 24th. 22nd. 23rd. 26th. 22nd. 21st...... 10th! 25th. 10th! 24th..... It doesn't sound like a success story , does it? It may have taken years but finally RTVE has woken up and decided to do something about it for real and dust off good old Benidorm festival, once modeled after Italy's Sanremo festival - just like the Eurovision itself, as we know - and send its winner to Turin 2022 Eurovision. And it seems the artists have been waiting for this as submissions rolled in and the finalist list is packed with more or less famous and established artists, including Eurovision 1990 legends Azúcar Moreno. Time will tell if Spain will finally aim for the victory and good placements again. I certainly hope so! The songs will be published as an early Xmas gift on December 23.  Azúcar Moreno - Postureo Blanca Paloma - Secreto del agua Chanel - Slo mo Gonzalo Hermida - Quién lo diria Javiera Mena - Culpa Luna Ki - Quiero morir Marta Sango - Sigues en ...