The national final to pick the Spanish song for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest took place tonight where three songs were competing for the win. After a very entertaining show, the decision was made by a mixed system of televoting and jurors and Contigo Hasta El Final was their choice.
Three songs made it to the grand final which was held tonight, but only one would be the winner. The choice was between Atrévete, which was the one chosen by the public through the online voting and Contigo Hasta El Final and Dame Tu Voz which were chosen internally. All of them have been composed by the three members of the well-known and established band El Sueño de Morfeo (Raquel del Rosario, David Feito and Juan Luis Suárez) that was internally selected in late December to represent Spain at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest.
The songs:
1. Dame Tu Voz (Give Me Your Voice)
We start with a pop-rock song.
The electronic influences are strong during the first verses and the
Celtic sound arrives with the chorus which is the best part of the song.
Raquel’s voice fits perfectly in this style, it has a positive feeling
and the message is very optimistic since it talks about unity and sends
an optimistic message to the world but this is probably the weakest song
of the bunch. There were six more people on stage: a bagpiper, two female backing singers, a drummer, a keyboard player and a violinst. In fact, it is not bad but it is not great and that is
why this would do nothing in Eurovision.
2. Atrévete (Dare)
Anyone who has heard a few tracks from El Sueño de Morfeo just has to hear the first notes of this song to realize that this is one of their songs. This song was the winner of the online voting and it is the song that best shows the style that has characterized the group throughout their career. It is an up-tempo pop-rock song with strong Celtic influences. It is maybe the strongest song among the three candidates and they did an energetic performance tonight, full of happiness everywhere, something that would be great to be repeated on the Eurovision stage. The staging was very similar to the previous song adding the presence of an original instrument, the banjo. Also worth mentioning that it is something different from everything that Spain has already sent to the Eurovision Song Contest and maybe it could please both Spanish and European fans. The message of the song is very beautiful and the melody is nice but despite this, it is not a potential Eurovision winner.
3. Contigo Hasta El Final (With You All The Way)
That epic intro does not fit at all with what comes soon after that is no less than a romantic pop ballad which that talks about two people who decide to live the rest of their lives together. The first verse is quite intimate but after the chorus it gets much more energetic. The sound of the bagpipe combines very well in the construction of the melody with the other instruments and also with Raquel’s voice. The chorus is very catchy and powerful. This song seems to be the favourite in the polls with lots of positive opinions and good ratings and the truth is that in terms of quality this is probably the best one. We’ll see.
The show:
The show called El Sueño de Morfeo: Destino Eurovisión was broadcast this evening from the TVE studios in Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) starting at 22:30 CET and it was hosted by Carolina Ferre.
The televoting was opened at the beginning of the show and then the three members of the professional jury were introduced. They were Marco Mengoni, the Italian representative at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest and winner of the last edition of Sanremo festival who was asked about the song that he is going to perform in Malmö but he answered (making an effort to speak Spanish) that he does not know yet but it will probably be one from his upcoming album which is about to be released. Whith him there were Rosa López who, after winning the talent show Operación Triunfo, represented Spain at the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest with Europe’s Living A Celebration, and the journalist José María Iñigo, who has an extensive experience in television and radio having been the Eurovision commentator for the Spanish broadcaster the past two years.
The three members of the band appeared on stage and they stated that they were nervous but eager to know what is the song they will sing in Malmö. They have been working very hard and now they are ready to start working on a great staging for the Eurovision Song Contest.
The stage looked exactly the same that the one used for the national selection shows two years ago with a bunch of LED screens in the back that had a semicircular shape.
The staging for the three songs was very similar. Raquel was dressed in a red dress and David and Juan Luis were dressed very casual wearing dark jackets and jeans. For all the performances they were accompanied by four musicians and two backing singers (which breaks the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest that only allow six people on stage). Basically, Raquel was at the center stage and walked around with complicit looks to her colleagues who were playing the guitar located on either side of the stage. The two female singers dressed in black were located on the left side of the stage, the drummer was in the background and on the left side there were the violinist, the bagpiper and the keyboardist.
The first guest to perform tonight was Pastora Soler (2012 Spanish representative) who sang in a duet with Raquel an acoustic version of Nunca Volverá which has never been recorded. Pastora said that she has tried to convey to them all the positive things from her Eurovision experience and she said that one of the best things were the support that she received from all the Eurovision fans.
The next guest artist on stage was Nek (who participated in the Sanremo festival in 1997 with the song Laura Non C’è) singing Chocar with the band. Then they were singing a song entitled Cuatro Elementos with another popular Spanish group, La Musicalité. Álex Ubago was the last guest of the evening who brought chocolate cakes for each of the band members and sang with them one of their most popular hits Ojos De Cielo.
During the show we could also watch a recap of the Spanish artists that have been on the Eurovision stage and also some of the groups who have participated throughout the history of the competition.
Some celebrities also wanted to show their support sending a special video with a message for the members of El Sueño de Morfeo such as Luca Barbarossa, who participated with Raquel del Rosario in the Sanremo Festival last year with the song Fino In Fondo or the Spanish footballer David Villa who also sent them some of his shirts.
The televoting was closed one hour after the start of the show and then Pastora Soler was back on stage to perform her Eurovision entry Quédate Conmigo.
The results:
A 50/50 combination of jury votes and televoting would select this year’s Spanish Eurovision entry (in the event of a tie, the public vote would prevail).
The three-member jury individually awarded the three possible entries with twelve, ten and eight points. Moreover, the song which achieved most votes from the audience by phone calls and text messages, received a total of thirty-six points, the second favourite got thirty points, and the least voted got twenty-four points.
The results were as follow:
Rosa López: 8 points for Dame Tu Voz, 10 points for Atrévete and 12 points for Contigo Hasta El Final
Marco Mengoni: 8 points for Dame Tu Voz, 10 points for Atrévete and 12 points for Contigo Hasta El Final
José María Iñigo: 8 points for Dame Tu Voz, 10 points for Atrévete and 12 points for Contigo Hasta El Final
Televoting: 24 points for Dame Tu Voz, 30 points for Atrévete and 36 points for Contigo Hasta El Final.
And the winner song which El Sueño de Morfeo will be singing at the final of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö is Contigo Hasta El Final.
Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest:
Spain debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 and it has been ever present having won it twice, first in 1968 with the song La, La, La by Massiel and again one year later when Salomé‘s song Vivo Cantando was involved in a four way tie. Since 1999, it is one of the Big Five countries and therefore it is automatically allowed to participate in the final. In recent years the position of Spain on the scoreboard has been quite irregular and to find the latest Spanish artist who entered the top 3 we must go back to 1995 when Anabel Conde reached the second position with Vuelve Conmigo. After a disappointing result in 2011 (23rd), TVE decided to send an established artist, Pastora Soler, who achieved a top ten result for the first time since 2004.
