Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

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Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country Spain
National selection
Selection processOperación Triunfo 2017
Selection date(s)29 January 2018
Selected entrantAmaia and Alfred
Selected song"Tu canción"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Raúl Gómez
  • Sylvia Santoro
Finals performance
Final result23rd, 61 points
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2017 • 2018 • 2019►

Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Tu canción", written by Raúl Gómez and Sylvia Santoro. The song was performed by Amaia Romero and Alfred García. The Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) used the ninth series of reality television talent competition Operación Triunfo as the platform to select the Spanish entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. Amaia and Alfred with "Tu canción" were selected by the vote of the Spanish public from among nine competing entries.

As a member of the "Big Five", Spain automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 2, Spain placed twenty-third out of the 26 participating countries with 61 points.

Background[]

Main article: Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2018 contest, Spain had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-seven times since its first entry in 1961.[1] The nation has won the contest on two occasions: in 1968 with the song "La, la, la" performed by Massiel and in 1969 with the song "Vivo cantando" performed by Salomé, the latter having won in a four-way tie with France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Spain has also finished second four times, with Karina in 1971, Mocedades in 1973, Betty Missiego in 1979 and Anabel Conde in 1995. In 2017, Spain placed twenty-sixth and last with the song "Do It for Your Lover" performed by Manel Navarro.

The Spanish national broadcaster, Televisión Española (TVE), broadcasts the event within Spain and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. TVE confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 1 September 2017.[2] The Spanish broadcaster had used both national finals and internal selection to choose the Spanish entry in the past. For 2017, TVE selected the entry that would compete at the Eurovision Song Contest via the multi-artist national final Objetivo Eurovisión 2017. From 2002 to 2004, the reality television singing competition Operación Triunfo (the Spanish version of Star Academy) was used to select the artist and song to represent Spain in the contest. On 26 April 2017, TVE announced that they had commissioned a new season of Operación Triunfo, which premiered on 23 October 2017 returning to TVE after 13 years.[3] On 4 December 2017, TVE confirmed that the ongoing series would serve as the platform to select the Spanish entrant at the 2018 contest.[4]

Before Eurovision[]

Operación Triunfo 2017[]

Main article: Operación Triunfo (series 9)

Operación Triunfo is a Spanish reality television music competition consisting of training sixteen contestants in a boarding academy in order to find new singing talent. The ninth series, also known as Operación Triunfo 2017, took place from 23 October 2017 to 5 February 2018 at the Parc Audiovisual de Catalunya in Terrassa, Barcelona, hosted by Roberto Leal. The competition was broadcast on La 1, TVE International as well as online via TVE's official website rtve.es. During the sixth live show (Gala 6) on 4 December 2017, Leal announced that the Spanish entry for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected from the contestants competing on the ongoing series. The same method was used in the 2002, 2003 and 2004 editions.[4] On 20 December 2017, TVE announced that the five contestants that would advance to the series' final would compete in the Eurovision selection show, Gala Eurovisión, on 29 January 2018.[5] It was later announced that the contestant placed sixth would also compete in Gala Eurovisión as part of a duet combination.[6] The six contestants performed nine songs in Gala Eurovisión and the winner was decided exclusively through a public vote.[7]

Contestants[]

Operación Triunfo 2017 featured eighteen novel solo artists as contestants, of which sixteen were selected to enter "The Academy" following the introduction live show (Gala 0) on 23 October 2017.[8] During each regular weekly live shows (galas), the contestants were assigned a popular song to perform in a duet or solo. The public votes via telephone, SMS and the official Operación Triunfo app, and the contestant with the most votes is exempt for nominations. The show's judging panel nominates four contestants for eviction, from which the Academy's staff and the safe contestants each saves one nominee. The two remaining nominees each perform of a song of their choice during the next live show, where one of the contestants is saved by the public. The first four finalists were decided during Gala 11 on 15 January 2018. Alfred, Amaia and Miriam were selected by the judging panel while Aitana was selected by the Academy teachers.[9] The fifth finalist, Ana Guerra, was decided by the public during Gala 12 on 22 January 2018. The top five classified contestants qualified for Gala Eurovisión as soloists, while Agoney, who placed sixth, participated in Gala Eurovisión as part of a duet combination.[6][7][10]

  Contestant qualified to "Gala Eurovisión"

Contestant Age Residence Episode of elimination Place finished
(Overall ranking)
Amaia 19 Pamplona Gala Final 1st
Aitana 18 Barcelona 2nd
Miriam 21 A Coruña 3rd
Alfred 20 Barcelona 4th
Ana Guerra 23 Tenerife 5th
Agoney 21 Gala 12 6th
Roi 23 Santiago de Compostela Gala 11 7th
Nerea 18 Barcelona Gala 10 8th
Cepeda 28 Ourense Gala 9 9th
Raoul 20 Barcelona Gala 8 10th
Mireya Málaga Gala 7 11th
Ricky 31 Palma Gala 6 12th
Marina 19 Seville Gala 5 13th
Thalía 18 Cáceres Gala 4 14th
Juan Antonio 23 Bilbao Gala 3 15th
Mimi 25 Granada Gala 2 16th
Joao 21 Madrid Gala 0 Not selected
Mario

Competing entries[]

Circa 200 original songs were submitted by music publishers, independent songwriters as well as specific artists and songwriters invited by TVE for Gala Eurovisión. The Academy teachers evaluated the songs received and selected nine songs. The nine songs were then allocated to the top six classified contestants of Operación Triunfo 2017. The top five contestants were each allocated one song as solo artists, three songs were allocated to duet combinations, and the remaining song "Camina", written by the sixteen official contestants of Operación Triunfo 2017 together with the series' musical director Manu Guix, was performed by the five finalists as a group.[6][11][12][13] The competing songs and the allocations were announced on 23 January 2018. Prior to Gala Eurovisión, the competing songwriters together with the Academy teachers coached the contestants in order to prepare their performances.[5][7]

Gala Eurovisión[]

Gala Eurovisión took place on 29 January 2018. The winner was selected through two rounds of public voting via telephone, SMS and the official Operación Triunfo app. In the first round, the top three entries advanced to the second round. In the second round, the winner, "Tu canción" performed by Alfred and Amaia was selected.[6] Gala Eurovisión was watched by 3.086 million viewers in Spain, making it the most watched Spanish national final since 2004.[14][15]

The four members of the expert panel that commented on the entries were:[16]

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, guest performers included Luísa Sobral performing "Cupido", winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 for Austria Conchita Wurst performing "Rise like a Phoenix", J Balvin performing a medley of "Machika" and "Mi Gente", and the eliminated contestants of Operación Triunfo 2017 performing the Eurovision winning songs for Spain "La, la, la" and "Vivo cantando". Manel Navarro who represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was also present to announce the winner.[16]

First Round – 29 January 2018
Draw Artist Song Songwriter(s) Televote Place
1 Aitana, Alfred, Amaia, Ana Guerra and Miriam "Camina" Operación Triunfo 2017 contestants, Manu Guix 1% 9
2 Aitana "Arde" Alba Reig, María Peláe — 2-3
3 Agoney and Miriam "Magia" David Otero, Diego Cantero, Tato Latorre 7% 5
4 Alfred "Que nos sigan las luces" Nil Moliner 3% 8
5 Aitana and Ana Guerra "Lo malo" Jess Morgan, Will Simms, Brisa Fenoy — 2-3
6 Amaia "Al cantar" Rozalén 4% 7
7 Miriam "Lejos de tu piel" Steve Robson, Ina Wroldsen, Diego Cantero 8% 4
8 Ana Guerra "El remedio" Nabález 5% 6
9 Alfred and Amaia "Tu canción" Raúl Gómez, Sylvia Santoro — 1
Second Round – 29 January 2018
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 Aitana "Arde" 31% 2
2 Alfred and Amaia "Tu canción" 43% 1
3 Aitana and Ana Guerra "Lo malo" 26% 3

Preparation[]

The official video of the song, directed by Gus Carballo, was filmed in February 2018 at studio in Madrid. The video premiered on 9 March 2018 on a special prime time broadcast on La 1, hosted by Roberto Leal.[17][18] The music video served as the official preview video for the Spanish entry.

Promotion[]

Amaia y Alfred made appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Tu canción" as the Spanish Eurovision entry. On 5 April, they performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom. They also performed during the Israel Calling event which was held at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel on 10 April. On 14 April, Amaia y Alfred performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands.[19]

In addition to their international appearances, on 26 February, Amaia y Alfred performed an acoustic version of the song on talk show El Hormiguero on Antena 3, where they were guest interviewed.[20] On 11 March, they performed the acoustic version on talk show Viva la vida on Telecinco, where they were likewise guest interviewed.[21] On 15 March, they performed the song on the Premios Dial awards show at the Auditorio de Tenerife in Santa Cruz, aired live on Divinity.[22] On 24 March, they performed the song on the La noche de Cadena 100 charity concert at the WiZink Center in Madrid, aired live on Divinity.[23] On 25 March, they performed as guests on competitive dance reality television series Fama, a bailar, aired on #0.[24] On 21 April, they performed during the Eurovision-Spain Pre-Party event which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid.[19] On 26 April, the special live concert event Amaia, Alfred y amigos, which aired on TVE's official website and the web platform Playz, centered on them, accompanied by guest performers Zahara and Love of Lesbian, among others.[25] During the concert, Amaia y Alfred performed "Your Song", an English version of their entry.[26]

At Eurovision[]

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 took place at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal and consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May and the final on 12 May 2018.[27] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big 5", Spain automatically qualifies to compete in the final. In addition to their participation in the final, Spain is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. At the semi-final allocation draw on 29 January 2018, Spain was drawn to vote in the first semi-final on 8 May; the country also performed in the first semi-final jury show on 7 May, and an extended clip of the performance was broadcast in the televised semi-final show the following evening.

In Spain, both semi-finals were broadcast on La 2, while the final was televised on La 1 with commentary by Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela.[28][29] The Spanish spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Spanish jury during the final, was Nieves Álvarez, for the second year in a row.[29] For the first time, the final of the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast live in cinemas across the country due to an agreement with cinema chain Cinesa.[30] The Spanish song placed 23rd in the final with 61 points.[31]

Staging and performance[]

The staging director for the Spanish performance was Tinet Rubira, and Jordi Vives was the multi-camera director.[32]

Voting[]

Points awarded to Spain[]

Points awarded to Spain (Final)[33]
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Portugal
10 points  Romania
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points  France
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point   Switzerland

Points awarded by Spain[]

Detailed voting results[]

The following members comprised the Spanish jury:[35]

Detailed voting results from Spain (Semi-final 1)[34]
Draw Country Jury Televote
R. Cano B. Fenoy Miriam Roi Conchita Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Azerbaijan 8 18 13 17 12 13 17
02  Iceland 16 13 18 18 19 18 15
03  Albania 10 12 4 4 4 7 4 6 5
04  Belgium 9 10 14 16 13 12 13
05  Czech Republic 3 5 9 5 5 4 7 7 4
06  Lithuania 17 9 15 14 14 14 8 3
07  Israel 2 1 2 1 2 1 12 4 7
08  Belarus 12 11 19 15 16 16 16
09  Estonia 4 15 6 3 6 5 6 9 2
10  Bulgaria 14 3 8 12 8 8 3 3 8
11  Macedonia 13 16 16 13 17 17 18
12  Croatia 7 14 12 11 11 11 19
13  Austria 5 4 3 2 3 3 8 11
14  Greece 18 19 17 19 18 19 12
15  Finland 6 8 10 9 10 10 1 5 6
16  Armenia 19 17 11 10 15 15 14
17   Switzerland 15 2 5 7 7 6 5 10 1
18  Ireland 11 6 7 8 9 9 2 1 12
19  Cyprus 1 7 1 6 1 2 10 2 10
Detailed voting results from Spain (Final)[33]
Draw Country Jury Televote
R. Cano B. Fenoy Miriam Roi Conchita Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Ukraine 22 13 19 19 21 21 16
02  Spain
03  Slovenia 20 6 17 23 19 17 24
04  Lithuania 16 21 11 15 17 19 14
05  Austria 5 12 2 5 2 3 8 15
06  Estonia 8 19 6 12 7 10 1 9 2
07  Norway 3 11 16 16 11 11 8 3
08  Portugal 24 4 13 17 22 15 13
09  United Kingdom 9 16 9 14 15 16 21
10  Serbia 25 17 23 24 25 23 25
11  Germany 10 5 5 3 4 4 7 5 6
12  Albania 19 18 7 7 10 12 23
13  France 11 1 14 8 6 5 6 7 4
14  Czech Republic 4 9 12 6 13 7 4 2 10
15  Denmark 23 24 24 18 23 24 17
16  Australia 6 23 15 13 9 14 22
17  Finland 12 20 20 21 18 20 20
18  Bulgaria 18 10 22 20 14 18 6 5
19  Moldova 13 22 21 22 20 22 12
20  Sweden 7 8 8 10 12 9 2 11
21  Hungary 21 25 25 25 24 25 18
22  Israel 2 2 3 1 5 2 10 1 12
23  Netherlands 17 14 18 4 16 13 19
24  Ireland 14 7 4 9 8 6 5 10 1
25  Cyprus 1 3 1 2 1 1 12 3 8
26  Italy 15 15 10 11 3 8 3 4 7

References[]

  1. ^ "Spain Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Spain: RTVE Confirms Eurovision 2018 Participation - Eurovoix". Eurovoix. 1 September 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  3. ^ 'Operación Triunfo' vuelve a La 1, 16 años después de su estreno en TVE
  4. ^ a b "La representación de España en Eurovisión 2018 saldrá de 'Operación Triunfo'". RTVE.es. 5 December 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  5. ^ a b Mahía, Manu (8 January 2018). "España escogerá el 29 de enero su candidatura para Eurovisión entre los finalistas de OT". Eurovision-Spain.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d "Agoney, Ana Guerra y 'Camina' podrían ir a Eurovisión 2018". RTVE.es (in Spanish). 22 January 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  7. ^ a b c "Los cinco finalistas de OT competirán por ir a Eurovisión 2018". RTVE.es (in Spanish). 20 December 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  8. ^ RTVE.es. "Concursantes" (in Spanish).
  9. ^ Rico, Vicente (16 January 2018). "Amaia, Alfred, Miriam y Aitana, ¡primeros finalistas de OT y candidatos a Eurovisión!". Eurovision-Spain.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  10. ^ Rico, Vicente (12 January 2018). "El lunes conoceremos a los cuatro primeros finalistas de OT que optan a Eurovisión". Eurovision-Spain.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  11. ^ Carro, David (17 January 2018). "'OT 2017': TVE y Gestmusic trabajan en Eurovisión 2018 con más de 200 canciones para solistas y dúos". FormulaTV.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  12. ^ Mahía, Manu (23 January 2018). "¡OT presenta las nueve canciones candidatas de España para Eurovisión!". Eurovision-Spain.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  13. ^ @ot_oficial (25 January 2018). "COMUNICADO DEL DEPARTAMENTO DE CAMBIO DE TÍTULOS: La canción que interpretan @AnaG_ot2017 y @Aitana_ot2017 se llama "Lo Malo" porque el anterior título está registrado por una marca comercial. Así que ¡a tope con "Lo Malo"!