Spain: the night was for... Soraya

After a long long loooooong selection process, Spain has finally chosen their entrant to Moscow. Last Saturday's show saw both the third semifinal and the final (after RTVE decided to eliminate the second chance round, which meant that all top-four from each semifinal went directly to the grand final), in which could have been a really tiring show but, thanks mostly to a high-quality competition and Alaska's incomparable charm, became a pleasant evening.

To open the show (the part that matters, at least), we had El Secreto de Álex, with the amazing song Por esta vez (For this time). The leading singer looked really pretty (although the dress wasn't really flattering), the vocals worked to perfection and the act was altogether really good. I immediately wanted this one to move forward to the final (and was upset in the end when it didn't).

Right after that, we "enjoyed" Beatriz's performance of Dónde te metes? (Where do you hide?), which was probably one of the worse acts of the whole Spanish selection. The vocals were horrible, the song is no better, the backing dancers (with real good will calling them that) were terrible, and so was the choreography. Obviously, she didn't make it to the final.

Third up were Remembrances with the gothic song Espejismo (Mirage), which was a good effort to bring something really different to the Spanish scene. I quite liked the song, although the vocals were off-key most of the time. If the singer had actually managed to do a better job, they might have just sneaked to the final. Still, I applaud the intention of bringing new music styles to the Spanish ESC selection.

The turn was up for Biquini, with Una chica normal (A normal girl), which was... well... uhm... I don't know what it was, whether a total mess, or a charming effort. What's true is that in the lyrics she said "I'm not a popstar"... well, I'm pretty sure that with such a terrible voice she never will be. If the intention was to give a retro-let's-go-back-to-the-sixties impression, it failed... it sounded plain dated.

Just when I was thinking that the third semifinal was starting to disappoint me, Julia Bermejo came to scene and gave me my faith back in this show. Her song, Ya no estás (You're no longer here) was lovely, the lyrics are extremely beautiful but, above all, her voice reached perfection. Now, that's what singing is all about, that performance was pure emotion, and I would have hated it for her not to go the final... we still had to wait and see.

Solydo was up next with Tú (You). While electronic music is not particularly my cup of tea, the music is not all bad; the lyrics work rather well... but the vocals, oh, the vocals, remember what singing means??? Well, they didn't.

Right after them, we had the lovely and always impressive Mirela, with Nada es comparable a ti (Nothing compares to you). The song is one of the best in the whole selection process, she sings it beautifully, and let's not forget that she is one adored singer in the ESC Spanish scene (she lost to Nash in 2007 with strong reaction from the public who considered her to be a much better option), the lyrics are amazing, and even though it's a ballad, it sounds somewhat different to the typical love song you would expect in the run to ESC. She was the clear favorite of this semifinal and proved why... she was obviously moving to the final.

Singing in the eight position we had Isi. She is a strong performer with a strong song. Ahora no (Not now) is a wonderful song which suits perfectly both the performer and the ESC style. I feared that following Mirela might have been bad for her, but she didn’t give in and end up delivering one of the best performances of the night. Isi truly deserved to move forward to the final.

Much was expected and a lot was said about the next act. Santa Fe, with Samba House, which in all honesty failed to make a huge impression on me. I did like it, but seemed too cheesy for me. It’s the kind of song you’d expect in a not-so-good party and that you’d dance like crazy after an enormous amount of drinking. Not a song for ESC. The choreography was… well, something of its own, again, it was not something to be hated, but also nothing special. I’ve read some Spanish fans claiming that Santa Fe should have won the whole thing, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

The last act was, well, dreadful. How Dulce managed to convince the jury in the auditions that she might be a decent option to represent Spain is beyond me. She can’t sing, the song was terrible, she wasn’t looking particularly good… certainly an act to be forgotten.

It was time for the voting, and the results were pretty much what I was expecting (and in a way fearing): Santa Fe (OMG), Mirela, Isi and Julia Bermejo were through, thus leaving El Secreto de Álex out. Still, the mixed feelings lasted for a very short time, since now we had excitement building up towards the final.

Performances in the final were pretty much the same as we had seen, so I’m just making a few notes about them:

First, Julia Bermejo deserves distinction because if after her first performance I thought her vocals were close to perfection, this time she was flawless… simply amazing!

Melody on the other hand seemed somewhat less enthusiastic than on the semifinal. Still, she delivered quite close to perfection.

Thank God they changed both Soraya’s and Virginia’s dresses. They both looked a lot better, particularly Virginia, who no longer seemed pregnant. Noelia Cano probably should have consulted with their imaging staff to have someone change that hairdo… what on earth was that???!!! Ok, I hand it to her, the vocals this time were really good throughout the song. So were Jorge González’s, who did much better than in the semifinal.

Mirela, on the other hand, seemed more nervous and eager to impress no matter what, which resulted in poor vocals… which really surprised me, given that she is a polished performer.

Well, the time had come, and well, let’s be honest we were all just waiting to see whether it would be Melody or Soraya who would carry the Spanish flag to Moscow. After the jury vote, the latter must have been a nerve wrack. 12 points had gone to Melody and only 10 for her. Gran Baobab and Salva Ortega were ignored, being the unlucky ones who didn’t receive any points from the jury.

Now Soraya could only rely on the televote if her hopes to go to Moscow were to be kept alive. Excitement kept growing with the announcement of the final results… Jorge González, one point… Julia Bermejo (amazing, not in a good way though), two points… Salva Ortega, three points… Isi, four points… La la love you, five points… Virginia, six points… Mirela, seven points… the time was coming, the announcement of the top places!!! Santa fe, eight points… moment of truth… Melody, ten points, which meant Soraya twelve points and… THEY WERE TIED!!! 22 points each, and in the end, it would be Soraya going to ESC due to the tie-breaking rule… televote would prevail.

It was probably the wise choice for Spain; since Saturday I have been following reactions in different websites, and most eurofans seem to agree that La noche es para mí (The night is for me) is the best entry from Spain in years and that for the first time Spaniards actually stand a good chance to return the whole thing to the peninsula in over forty years… Can it be??? Do we really have the chance for a Madrid 2010???