Spain: Luna Ki explains what made her withdraw from Benidorm Fest!

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As we have already informed you in a previous article, Luna Ki withdrew, just yesterday, from the Spanish Final. Today she posted a video, on her YouTube channel, in which she explains the reasons why she was finally forced to withdraw.

Already from the first seconds of the video, the singer points out that the reason why she will not be able to be part of the Benidorm Fest is

“Europe will finally not allow the use of autotune, something we have been discussing with the Spanish broadcaster for a long time and we have really done everything we needed to.”

She also says

“Despite all the efforts of the Spanish delegation, I will not be able to give my performance. I could make up excuses by saying that I am withdrawing for a health issue, but I won’t, because for me, both as an artist and as a human being, the truth is of primary importance. I will never stop defending my truth and above all the truth of my art.”

On the point where Luna refers to the “truth of her art,” she explains, later on, that it’s very important for her to respect the way she writes her songs, which is why she “would rather defend them by telling the truth than just making an excuse.”

“Yes, I could take part in Benidorm Fest and in case I won I would have about 3 months to change the song and remove the autotune. I know there are many people who will say I can’t sing without it. I honestly tell you that Luna can sing. But Luna Ki can not.”

The singer goes on to say “many will ask ‘Then why don’t you sing without autotune?’ and the truth is that many people close to me ask me the same. It doesn’t seem like a big deal to them.”

“For me autotune is part of the aesthetics of the song and not just a technical support. Try to think of a song that is written on an electric guitar and is suddenly forced to be played by an acoustic one. It would be pointless. Its aesthetic, rhythm and dynamics would be lost. I don’t want something like that to happen to my song.”

In the video Luna goes on to urge the officials to reconsider banning autotune at Eurovision as “it’s a singing competition, not a voice one like, for example, The Voice” and through this she hopes to see more electronic songs on similar big stages in the future.

She also extends her heartfelt thanks to Spanish broadcaster, RTVE, and all those who supported her and believed in her, while asking her listeners to support the other participants in the national final regardless of the result.

Finally, she elaborates on how she experienced the whole situation from the day she learned that she would not be able to participate, explaining that the best way she could convey her thoughts to the audience unchanged is through this video. At the same time, she verifies the rumours of creating a video clip for “Voy a morir” in which it is very likely that she will be wearing the clothes she was going to wear at Benidorm Fest!

Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun for all the latest news regarding Spain’s participation in Eurovision 2022! 

Spain: Will Tanxugueiras perform on stage, at Benidorm Fest?

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After Luna Ki, that has withdrawn from Benidorm Fest, another act is in danger of not being able to perform live on stage, at Benidorm Fest, due to Aida and Olaia getting infected by COVID-19.

As the group has already Tweeted a few minutes ago and as some members of their team is already at Benidorm, Aida and Olaia will travel within the next few days, as a precaution.

But how is it going to work with Tanxugueiras at this year’s Spanish national final, but also for any other contestant that might also get infected by COVID-19?

The three scenarios

Three different scenarios have been announced in case an artist tests positive for COVID-19 at Benidorm Fest.

In a recent article, RTVE unveiled the contingency plan in case a competing artist turns out positive before appearing in the upcoming Spanish selection process Benidorm Fest.

The producers, Boomerang TV and the broadcaster, RTVE, have come up with three different scenarios to ensure that every song and artist will be able to compete in this year’s Benidorm Fest.

  • The first scenario is that if the artist has already completed his first rehearsal, it will be broadcast during the live show instead of a live performance.
  • Second, if the artist comes out positive before his first rehearsal, then the official music video for the song will be played.
  • The final scenario is that, if there is no music video, the song will be played with montage of images and photos of the artist.

It was announced by Eva Mora, head of the Spanish delegation, that it was not possible to produce live performances, such as those created for this year’s ESCZ selection process and the expected process of Northern Macedonia, due to lack of time.

The Benidorm Fest will be held with two semifinals on January 26 and 27, leading to the Grand Final on January 29. The songs and the artists have been revealed and the order of the two semifinals has also been decided and announced.

The voting system

Only eight artists will make it to the grand final of the Benidorm Fest. The result will be done through a mixed voting system between a professional jury (national and international), televoting and a poll jury:

  • 50% of the grade will correspond to the professional jury consisting of five experts (three of Spanish nationality and two, international).
  • The remaining 50% will be in the hands of the public (where 25% will be by phone and SMS and the remaining 25% will be selected by a poll jury).
  • The artists will be given a phone number and as soon as everyone completes the show, the hotlines will be open for voting. The voting period will be approximately 15 or 20 minutes and the presenters, Alaska, Inés Hernand and Máximo Huerta, will be responsible for the announcement.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all news regarding Benidorm Fest and the spanish representative at Eurovision 2022!

Source: Tanxugueiras Twitter Account

Spain: Luna Ki withdraws from Benidorm Fest!

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Luna Ki, one of the participants of the Spanish National Selection Benidorm Fest, withdraws from the competition. She was due to perform her song called ‘Voy A Morir’.

This morning RTVE has announced the withdrawal of one of the participants – Luna Ki. She pulled out of the competition due to not being able to use autotune in her performance.

Luna Ki has posted this statement of hers on her Twitter account. Here’s the translation:

Luna Ki has informed RTVE of her decision to withdraw from the Benidorm Fest festival, since the European Eurovision regulations have finally prohibited the use of autotune at the festival. It makes us sad, since autotune is a musical tool that has been used by artists like Cher since ’98, and represents part of the sound and identity of a generation. Luna considers that her song “Voy a Morir” has been composed with said tool and that its sonority and timbre are essential parts of her interpretation. Luna is a sensitive person and is going through a delicate emotional moment, so we ask everyone for the utmost respect and kindness. Luna feels responsible before the Benidorm Fest public, before the other participating artists and before RTVE, for which she will give a detailed explanation about her decision. Finally, we want to thank RTVE and especially Eva Mora and María Eizaguirre for their support and sensitivity at all times.

The singer was supposed to perform her song ‘Voy A Morir’ in the first semi-final of Benidorm Fest. From now on there will be only 6 participants competing in the show:

Semi-finals will take place on January 26 and on January 27 at 22:40 CET. Four song from each will qualify to the Grand-Final. The Final will take place on Saturday, January 29. You can watch the show here!

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Spain: The members of the Benidorm Fest jury unveiled!

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The Spanish broadcasting union, RTVE, announced a few moments ago, the members of the jury for Benidorm Fest, the National Final for the selection of the Spanish representative for Eurovision 2022.

The members of the jury of Benidorm Fest, that will determine the 50% of the voting, are the following:

National Jury Group:

  • Natalia Calderón – Vocal Coach
  • Miryam Benedited – Director and Choreographer
  • Estefanía García – Singer, mezzo soprano at RTVE choir

International Jury Group:

  • Marvin Dietmann – Director of many Eurovision entries
  • Felix Bergsson – Icelandic Head of Delegation

Benidorm Fest: How will it work?

14 artists will be split in two finals, of 7 contestants, that will be held on the 26th and 27th of January respectively and will last 70 minutes each.

The Grand Final that will last 90 minutes, will be shown on the 29th of January, when the 8 finalists will get the chance to perform, bidding to represent Spain at this year’s 66th Eurovision Song Contest, that will be held in Turin the forthcoming May.

All the shows will be broadcast on La 1 de Televisión Española, at 22:40 CET. Benidorm Fest will take place at Palacio de Deportes L’Illa, at the Spanish city of Alicante.

The artists

The 14 artists that will compete int he hopes of becoming this year’s Spanish representative at the Eurovision Song Contest are:

First Semi Final

  1. Luna Ki – “Voy a Morir“
  2. Varry Brava – “Raffaella“
  3. Azúcar Moreno – “Postureo“
  4. Blanca Paloma – “Secreto del agua”
  5. Unique – “Mejores“
  6. Tanxugueiras – “Terra”
  7. Chanel – “SloMo“

Second Semi Final

  1. Xeinn – “Eco“
  2. Marta Sango – “Sigues en mi mente“
  3. Javiera Mena – “Culpa”
  4. Gonzalo Hermida – “Quién lo diría“
  5. Rigoberta Bandini – “Ay Mama“
  6. Rayden – “Calle de la llorería”
  7. Sara Deop – “Make you say“

The voting system

Only 8 artists will be going through to the grand final. The result will be determined by a mixed system made up of the jury (national and international), televoting and demoscopic jury:

  • 50% of the voting will correspond to the votes of the jury consisting of five experts, three of Spanish citizenship and two internationals.
  • the rest 50% will be determined by televoting (25% through the phone calls and SMS of the audience, 25% by choice of the demoscopic jury)
  • The artists will get assigned with a phone number and when all of their performances are complete, the lines will be open and the voting will start. The voting window will last approximately 15 to 20 seconds and the presenters, Alaska, Inés Hernand and Máximo Huerta, will then announce the winner that will represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the latest developments regarding Benidorm Fest and the Spanish entry at Eurovision 2022!

Source : RTVE

Spain: Rehearsals or Video Clips to be Used if Artists Test Positive for COVID-19!

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Three different scenarios have been announced in case an artist tests positive for COVID-19 at Benidorm Fest.

In a recent article, RTVE unveiled the contingency plan in case a competing artist turns out positive before appearing in the upcoming Spanish selection process Benidorm Fest.

The producers, Boomerang TV and the broadcaster, RTVE, have come up with three different scenarios to ensure that every song and artist will be able to compete in this year’s Benidorm Fest.

  • The first scenario is that if the artist has already completed his first rehearsal, it will be broadcast during the live show instead of a live performance.
  • Second, if the artist comes out positive before his first rehearsal, then the official music video for the song will be played.
  • The final scenario is that, if there is no music video, the song will be played with montage of images and photos of the artist.

It was announced by Eva Mora, head of the Spanish delegation, that it was not possible to produce live performances, such as those created for this year’s ESCZ selection process and the expected process of Northern Macedonia, due to lack of time.

The Benidorm Fest will be held with two semifinals on January 26 and 27, leading to the Grand Final on January 29. The songs and the artists have been revealed and the order of the two semifinals has also been decided and announced.

The voting:

Only eight artists will make it to the grand final of the Benidorm Fest. The result will be done through a mixed voting system between a professional jury (national and international), televoting and a poll jury:

  • 50% of the grade will correspond to the professional jury consisting of five experts (three of Spanish nationality and two, international).
  • The remaining 50% will be in the hands of the public (where 25% will be by phone and SMS and the remaining 25% will be selected by a poll jury).
  • The artists will be given a phone number and as soon as everyone completes the show, the hotlines will be open for voting. The voting period will be approximately 15 or 20 minutes and the presenters, Alaska, Inés Hernand and Máximo Huerta, will be responsible for the announcement.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all news regarding Benidorm Fest and the spanish representative at Eurovision 2022!

Source: RTVE

Eurovision 2022: Pots and Participants of Semifinals Allocation Draw revealed!

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The semi-finals draw will take place on Tuesday 25 January at 12:00 CET, from the Palazzo Madama e Casaforte degli Acaja in Turin. At the same time there will be a ceremony of handing over the keys of the contest or as it is widely known, the Host City Insignia from the previous hosts Rotterdam to the Italian organizers.

The allocation draw will determine whether the countries will participate in the First Semifinal (Tuesday, May 10) or the Second Semifinal (Thursday, May 12). Also, again based on the draw it will be determined if they appear in the first or second half of the semifinal. We remind you that the exact order of appearance is announced later by the organizers and after it has first been approved by the EBU.

The draw will be presented by TV presenters Carolina di Domenico and Gabriele Corsi. Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb and Turin Mayor Stefano Lo Russo will be present.

Friends of the contest will be able to watch the draw on Eurovision’s YouTube channel or on Rai’s streaming service.

Semi-final draw: How does it work?

Italy, as the host country, together with the other 4 members of the so-called “Big 5” (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) do not compete in the Semifinals, but vote in one of them… so before the competing countries in Semifinals, it will be determined at random which of the Semifinals the Big 5 will be allowed to vote for.

The next part of the draw will determine in which Semifinal and in which half of the respective Semifinal the remaining 36 participating countries will appear.

The 36 countries of the semifinals are selected from 6 different pots:

Pot 1

  • Albania
  • Croatia
  • Montenegro
  • North Macedonia
  • Serbia
  • Slovenia

Pot 2

  • Denmark
  • Australia
  • Finland
  • Iceland
  • Norway
  • Sweden

Pot 3

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Georgia
  • Israel
  • Russia
  • Ukraine

Pot 4

  • Cyprus
  • Greece
  • Malta
  • Bulgaria
  • Portugal
  • San Marino

Pot 5

  • Estonia
  • Lithuania
  • Latvia
  • Moldova
  • Poland
  • Romania

Pot 6

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Switzerland
  • Czech Republic
  • Ireland
  • Netherlands

Drawing countries from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in the Semi-Finals.

Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the 66th Eurovision Song Contest!

Spain: The running order of the Benidorm semi-finals!

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The spanish broadcaster RTVE has just announced the running order of the Benidorm Fest semi-finals.

The 14 artists will be competing in two semi-finals taking part on the 26th and 27th of January, with a duration of 70 minutes each. The one and a half hour grand final on the 29th of January will include the performances of the 8 finalists. The winner of Benidorm Fest will be Spain’s representative in Eurovision 2022.

All shows will be broadcast on La 1 de Televisión Española, at 22:40 CET.

First Semi-Final

Second Semi-Final

The voting

Only 8 artists will be going through to the grand final. The result will be determined by a mixed system made up of the jury (national and international), televoting and demoscopic jury:

  • 50% of the voting will correspond to the votes of the jury consisting of five experts, three of spanish citizenship and two internationals.
  • the rest 50% will be in the hands of the people (25% through the phone calls and SMS of the audience, 25% by choice of the demoscopic jury)

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all news regarding Benidorm Fest and the spanish representative at Eurovision 2022!

Source: RTVE

Spain: How are the songs of Benidorm Fest doing on Spotify?

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Two weeks after the release of the 14 competing song in Spain’s national selection, some front runners have already emerged. According to Spotify Streams, this is their current placing:

Ay Mama by Rigoberta Bandini, with its feminist message, seems to have won over fans in Spain. The European fan favorites, Tanxugueiras, are at the second place in this listing, with a big differene in streams, and at the third place comes Rayden. The veterans Azucar Moreno are only at the ninth place and most of their streams come from european listeners.

Why do we look on streams though? Well streams correctly predicted the winner of the Czech televoting in the Czech national selection! Will the same happen this time around with Spain?

Benidorm Fest: How will it work?

Benidorm Fest will take place somewhere within January (the exact date is yet to be released) and it will consist of two semi finals, each including seven performances, four of which will eventually advance to the Grand Final!

The winner will be chosen by a 50% public vote and a 50% jury vote. Two sets of juries will vote, both consisting of music professionals. However, one jury team will be Spanish (30& of the jury voting) and the other one will be of international descent (20% of the jury voting). On the contrary, as far as the public vote in concerned, 25% of it will come from televoting and 25% will come from a sample of spanish population, chosen by demographics and statistics, a criterfia used in both Sanremo and Melodifestivalen.

RTVE has chosen this process wanting to ensure that the final result will showcase in the best way the likings of the Spanish majority.

Stay tuned in Eurovision Fun for the latest news and updates on Spain’s participation in Eurovision 2022!

Image Source: Martin Fjellanger

 

Eurovision 2022: Semi Final Allocation Draw to take place on January 25!

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One of the most important dates of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest was revealed a few hours ago, as the draw for the Eurovision 2022 semi-finals will take place on January 25th.

As revealed by the Montenegrin state radio, RTCG, in the context of the announcement of Vladana Vučinić as the representative of the Balkan country in Turin, the draw of the semi-finals will take place in exactly three weeks from today.

During the ceremony, the emblem of the event will be handed over from the city of Rotterdam to the Mayor of Turin. The draw will take place either at the Mole Antonelliana, the tallest building in Turin, or at the Palazzo Madama, which housed the first Senate of the Italian Kingdom.

The draw

The first part of the draw will determine the semi-final that will be broadcasted and voted by each of the five countries that are directly in the final (Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom).

The second part of the draw will determine in which semi-final and in which half the other 36 participating countries will compete. As in recent years, the exact order of appearance will be determined by the producers of the event at a later time.

The 36 countries will be distributed in five or six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the official television partner Digame. This separation is done in order to avoid the gathering of many neighboring countries in a semifinal that would significantly affect the final result.

We remind you that Eurovision 2022 will be held on May 10, 12 and 14 at the PalaOlimpico in the capital of Piedmont. Thus, Turin will become the third city in Italy where the Eurovision Song Contest will be held. The previous two were Naples in 1965 and Rome in 1991.

We remind you that the 66th Eurovision Song Contest will take place at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, on 10, 12 and 14 May 2022, with 41 participating countries.Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news related to the 66th Eurovision Song Contest!

Eurovision 2022: 41 countries joining the 66th contest in Turin!

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Public broadcasters from 41 countries will take part in the Eurovision Song Contest when it returns to our screens next May.

Fans of the Contest will welcome back ARMTV from Armenia and RTCG from Montenegro, both taking to the stage for the first time since Tel Aviv in 2019.

It’s also a special year for Norwegian broadcaster NRK as they will be celebrating the selection of their 60th Eurovision entry during the Melodi Grand Prix grand final on Saturday 19 February.

We will also witness the 300th ‘Big Five’ performance – that’s a song from one of either France, Germany, Italy, Spain or United Kingdom.

Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, shared his thoughts on the line-up:

‘We are so excited that we once again have over 40 broadcasters competing to win the iconic Eurovision trophy in Turin next May.

The team from Rai are working hard on preparations to welcome all the delegations to a new Host City and ensuring the Eurovision Song Contest will provide the excitement and state-of-the-art spectacle expected by nearly 200 million viewers.’

On the announcement of the 41 participants, Simona Martorelli and Claudio Fasulo from Italian broadcaster Rai added:

‘After 31 years, Italy is proud to host the Eurovision Song Contest again! As Executive Producers, we are incredibly excited to set up this amazing event and welcome delegations from 41 nations to Turin next year.

Above all, we strongly believe the Eurovision Song Contest will allow us to showcase and share the beauty of Italy with a global audience via the elements that unite us all: music and harmony.’

The Italian city of Turin won the race to become the Host City of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest, setting Saturday 14 May as the date of the Grand Final, which will be held in PalaOlimpico along with two Semi-Finals on 10 and 12 May.

Source: Eurovision.tv