The fourth time was the charm. There is a lot of battle left before entering the academy, yes, but this time at least they will let him fight it. Around 10 minutes past 10 in the morning when the Satellite Pavilion of the Casa de Campo in Madrid bursts into applause. “First sticker!” The lines of applicants are shaking, things are serious.
No one could see the end, heads crossed the horizon. Police sources say that the line reaches Madrid Río; For those outside the capital, that is more than four kilometers of artists looking for an opportunity. Yesterday Madrid surrendered to the last casting of OT 2023, which will land on Prime Video at the end of the year. And the first in line, Pablo Campillo, was also the first to receive the precious pass to the next round.
«That one who sings is my friend. “They’re going to catch him,” Ada points out to the tall, thin boy dressed in a gray sweatshirt who shouts loudly in the chorus of Nochentera. They met in Valencia this summer when they were both trying their luck without success. Today she repeats the negative, but when she hears the applause she knows that he, Pablo, has achieved it.
«I showed up in 2017 and in 2018, in 2020 they caught me outside of Spain and I couldn’t, and in Valencia they gave two stickers before me and they threw me away. “I thought it couldn’t happen again, so I came to the door at two in the morning.” Pablo speaks to the press as if he had done it a thousand times. Casting professional, much to his chagrin, he has tried with all the musical talent on television. Today he received his first yes. And from Noemí Galera, no less.
OT is not just singing, you have to endure 24 hours for three months and the public has to fall in love with them, and that depends on a set of things
The casting director of Gestmusic Endemol, supreme head of the academy and founding partner of Operación Triunfo in that historic 2001 in Chenoa, who will close the circle by presenting this new edition, tells us that she has followed the very long queue with the taxi that brought her from the hotel and has felt a little overwhelmed: “There are at least 2,000, 2,500 people,” she sighs. She hasn’t made any plans, “she’s coming here to die.” “We don’t look for anything, we find,” she summarizes her task for the day.
What they will find, among the 10,000 auditions that have been distributed over two and a half months and nine cities, will be the 16 new inhabitants of the academy. «The first thing that has to hook you is the voice, of course, but then you talk to them, you see how they react, there is a writing team that is recording them all day…», he describes, «OT is not just singing, “You have to endure 24 hours for three months and the public has to fall in love with them, and that depends on a set of things.”
For now, he confesses that he has already seen a few “brutal” candidates, who look like they are going to succeed in style, but he gives the last word to the audience: “She is the one who has the last word and also the one who has than to consume their music and go to their concerts.
In Valencia they gave two stickers before me and they threw me away. I thought it couldn’t happen again, so I came to the door at two in the morning
Galera will not be the only historical face in the new edition of Operación Triunfo, the first format that Prime Video will offer live to more than 30 Latin American countries. Manu Guix will resume his role as musical director, along with two of the names most loved by the program’s followers, vocal technique teacher Mamen Márquez and choreographer Vicky Gómez.
The weekly 90-minute galas focused on musical performances will be followed by interviews with participants and teachers. Xuso Jones will launch a daily magazine show in which he will review, with the help of collaborators, the minute by minute of the academy and the key moments of the week, such as the distribution of songs, rehearsals, the bus pass and, of course, the coexistence of the contestants. In addition, the format will have a 24-hour channel that can be followed through YouTube.
Noemí Galera acknowledges that she has never faced a situation in which everything is at stake in one minute, but remembers that the casting is only the first test: «They are going to have to get on a stage full of cameras and undergo the pressure to be judged every week. “That is tremendous.” The director of the academy has not yet visited what will be her new home for the new year, that room that she affectionately calls Guantánamo, and that welcomes her on gala days: “It’s a metal bunk bed from Ikea, nothing more. And the bathroom is outside, so every morning I have to walk past all the technicians in my pajamas,” she says.
Outside, in the very long queue, Borja and Juan liven up the scene with a guitar. “I go, walking through life, without pause but without hurry,” everyone around him chants. Borja comes prepared and nervous, with his favorite Mecano song worn out from rehearsing so much. Juan, on the other hand, comes from a troupe: “But since I’m here, I’ll try my luck.” He hasn’t chosen a song yet. He has a few hours left to think about it.
