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Spain: The jury for the national selection has been revealed!

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Spain’s broadcaster, RTVE, announced a while ago the jury for Benidorm Fest, the country’s national final for Eurovision 2023.

The committee consists of:

  1. Nina (Spanish singer, representative of Spain in 1989)
  2. Christer Bjorkman (Swedish singer and producer, former head of Melodifestivalen)
  3. Tali Eshkoli (Israeli television producer and Israel’s HoD)
  4. Nicola Caligiore (Italian, former HoD of Italy)
  5. Katrina Leskanich (American singer, UK representative in 1997)
  6. William Lee Adams (founder of wiwibloggs)
  7. Irene Valiente (Spanish presenter and producer)
  8. Juan Jose Santana (Spanish, president of OGAE Spain and composer of past Spanish entries)

Benidorm Fest 2023:
18 artists will participate in two Semi-Finals, which will take place on January 31st and February 2nd. Four songs from each semi-final will advance to the final. The Grand Final on February 4 will feature the eight finalists. The winner of Benidorm Fest will be Spain’s representative at the 67th European competition, which will be held in Liverpool next May.

The result will be decided through a mixed voting system between the jury and the public vote which will include televoting and poll jury.

50% of the score will correspond to the jury
The remaining 50% will be made up of the public vote (where 25% by televoting and the remaining 25% by a polling jury).

Additional information
The communications director of RTVE announced that throughout the week of the festival there will be daily related events throughout the city, as well as concerts with artists from the previous event as well as several who did not manage to be in the final selection this year.

Also, on Friday, February 3, from 9 to 12 at night, the Euroclub will be opened where, among others, last year’s representatives of Albania and Romania, Ronela Hajati and WRS, will be present.

As if all this were not enough, during this week the “tapafest” will also take place, the purpose of which according to the organizers is to promote Spanish gastronomy, as 28 locals will compete in cooking and visitors to the city will be able to “not only to try this very Spanish dish, but also to choose the best one”.

Source: RTVE

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments regarding Spain’s participation in Eurovision 2023, in Liverpool!

Spain: RTVE jury results are out!

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According to maldita.es the main favourites of the RTVE jury were Aritz Arén, Alice Wonder and José Otero. The proposals that obtained the lowest scores were those of Siderland and Karmento: ‘Que esclati tot’ and ‘Quiero y duelo’ could have been left out of the contest if RTVE had not modified the bases to expand from 16 to 18 participants.

The favourite of the bookies and eurofans, Fusa Nocta, with her song ‘Mi Familia’ was able to receive 79 points, which made it tie with Sofia Martin’s ‘TUKI’ placing 12/11 consecutively.

 

The latest version of this year’s rules indicates that the jury could select up to six substitutes. For the 2022 Benidorm Fest, the jury chose 14 participants and six substitutes. If this year the same system had been repeated, ‘Aire’ by Sharonne and ‘Quiero arder’ by Agoney could also have been left out, which were the fifteenth and sixteenth most valued proposals, respectively.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun regarding ESC 2023!

 

 

Spain: Benidorm will host country’s Eurovision Song Contest jury!

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Benidorm will be the home of Spain’s Eurovision Song Contest jury for the 66th contest which takes place in Turin, on May 14.

Hello Europe this is Benidorm calling, we will see Nieves Alvarez saying at the grand final of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest. The famous model and tv presenter will announce the expert jury votes, with a shot of the Benidorm skyline in the background.

The jury put together by RTVE will be based in the city, with Benidorm council planning to organise an event for the Eurovision fans.

The resort staged the Benidorm Fest in January, the Spanish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest, to choose country’s entry for Turin.

Spain will be presented by Slomo as Chanel won Benidorm Fest despite the fact that the Spanish audience voted for Terra with more than 70%.

Stay tuned in Eurovisionfun for all the updates regarding the Eurovision 2022!

Spain: The Spotify streams for the Benidorm Fest final

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The day of the grand final of Benidorm Fest has finally arrived! After Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Albania (and possibly Moldova), Spain will give us the fourth song for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

Eight songs are going to compete tonight, most of which seem to have a lead.

According to the Spotify, five of the eight songs are in the top 200 of the daily chart. These are:

The televoting may have a 25% effect on the spanish song festival, but it could still affect the final result. Ay mamá has a very big lead both in the streams but also in youtube views and will probably be first in the televoting tonight. But Terra could overturn this, if it manages to move the Galicians to massively vote for it. Also, SloMo, the song that was the surprise of the first semifinal, is constantly gaining ground. Nothing has been clarified yet!

Benidorm Fest 2022 is held at the Palacio de Deportes L’Illa in Alicante and is presented by Alaska, Inés Hernand and Máximo Huerta.

You can watch the grand final of the Spanish music festival at 22:15 CET by clicking HERE.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all news regarding the Spanish participation in Eurovision 2022!

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: 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 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

 

Spain: Jorge Gonzalez in the studio of Dimitris Kontopoulos to record his song for Benidorm! EXCLUSIVE

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Jorge Gonzalez is in Athens where in the coming days, according to our safe and exclusive information, he will record in the studio of Dimitris Kontopoulos, the song that he will submit to the Spanish public television for Benidorm, the festival through which the representative of the country will emerge at Eurovision 2022.

The 33-year-old singer became famous in Spain through his participation in Operacion Triunfo in 2006. Although he failed to be the winner of the talent show, he gained great popularity, which gave him the opportunity to sign a record deal with Universal Vale Music.

In 2009 she participated in the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Si yo vengo a enamorarte, occupying the ninth place.

Since 2006 he has released two complete albums and several singles. This year he participated in the New Wave Festival, finishing in third place, but receiving very positive reviews.

Jorge Gonzalez will be in Athens in the coming days in order to work with Dimitris Kontopoulos on the song, with which he hopes to be in Turin in May!

The Benidorm Song Festival is expected to feature 12 artists with 12 separate songs. The system provides for the existence of two semifinals, in which 6 songs will take part respectively. Three artists from each semifinal will advance to the Benidorm Grand Final.

The big winner and representative of Spain in Eurovision 2022 will be selected by 50% by the preference of two juries and by 50% by the will of the Spanish viewers. Both juries will be composed of professionals in the field, with one consisting only of natives and the other being an international one. The results of the juries will come from 60% of the Spanish jury and 40% of the international ones.

Would you like to see Jorge Gonzalez represent Spain in the 66th Eurovision Song Contest?

Historical Benidorm Festival returns as the Spanish national selection

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Spain has made an important announcement about their selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.  In July 16, the president of RTVE stated there will be an official announcement on July 22.  Further, the announcement will take place in the city of Benidorm, Alicante (Spain).  The big 5 country last results have been far from satisfactory, being outside of the top 20 since 2015.  In addition to this, their best achievements in recent times have been two top 10s in 2014 and 2012.  Spain came in the top 5 for the last time in 1995 with Anabel Conde who ended in second place.

 

However, the Spanish broadcaster is looking forward to reverse the current trend with a new format.  The news came as a surprise for many fans because it is not usual that Spain starts her Eurovision plans so early.  The first speculations pointed to the possibility of bringing back the Benidorm International Song Festival as a national final.

“We are going to take the Eurovision Song Contest very seriously.  (…) (RTV) is the only Spanish public broadcaster that is part of the EBU.  We are interested in the contest and its contact with the youth in a European context”. José Pérez Tornero, RTVE president

 

Moreover, the president of the Valencian government announced that he is working with RTVE on a big musical event.

“We are working together with RTVE to make Benidorm a meeting place for what we need more than ever: music, Europe and diversity.  We will communicate all the details on thurday”.  Ximo Puig, president of the Valencian government

What was the Benidorm International Song Festival

The Benidorm International Song Festival took place from 1959 to 2006.  The contest was modeled after the Italian Sanremo Music Festival.  The winner of the Benidorm Festival received the Golden Mermaid Trophy.  RTVE used to broadcast the event.  However, the public broadcaster withdrew their support due to a lack of interest from the public.

Among the winners of the Benidorm Festival we have Raphael (Spain 1966, 1967) and La Década (Spain 1988).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thV-vhOQHvQ

Source: ABC

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more news about the Spanish national selection for Eurovision 2022.