The third edition of the Benidorm Fest has now kicked off. Although the participants had already known each other for a few weeks, it was this Thursday from Studio 4 in Prado del Rey when we were able to hear for the first time the 16 songs that will compete for the bronze microphone of the Spanish competition and the possibility of traveling to Malmö to represent our country in Eurovision.
Between Tuesday, January 30 and Saturday, February 3, we will see them compete in Benidorm, although all the artists agree that participating in the festival is an achievement in itself.
“We have very good artists and very good songs. We are working hard to make everything shine on stage,” said Ana María Bordás, current head of the RTVE Eurovision delegation and co-director of the Benidorm Fest. Now public television is working to bring these songs to the stage in the best possible way: “This year there is a very great diversity. There will be minimalist proposals so that the voice shines to larger ones.”
“There are 16 good proposals. Behind these songs there are great lyricists and producers, who help make the Benidorm Fest bigger,” stressed César Vallejo, the other co-director of the musical contest. “There is much more work than it seems. Many songs have had many versions and in some cases we have suggested things or helped enhance them. The versions you hear now may not be the final ones you hear at the gala, since we will try to enhance the Show”.
All the songs can be heard now on RTVE Play, and will appear on the rest of the digital platforms throughout the evening.
The group Miss Caffeina, which is now touring Mexico, was the first to present its candidacy. “When we decided to present a song to the Benidorm Fest, we had several options but we decided that this was the best. Then we looked for someone to help us give it the final touch, which was Stefano Maccarone,” said singer Alberto Jiménez. “To the people who follow us it will sound like the usual Miss Caffeina, but to those who don’t, we believe it can fit into the universe of Benidorm Fest.”
Yoly Saa has also connected from Mexico, who assures that “the only way to present yourself to this is to believe that this is your best song.” She is the composer of the song, which she produced with Alejandro Acosta of the group Fuel Fandango. “I’m very proud, to be honest. It’s an important song for me because it marks a new Yoly in my career. I’m excited that this starts with the Benidorm Fest.”
“I was leaving a Harry Styles concert, the energy I had was enormous and I wanted to capture it,” recalled the urban artist Almácor. Her song Brillos platino, she says, “doesn’t just talk about the glitter you put on your face or in a top, but about an attitude of breaking through. I think it’s very energetic, very me, and that it’s going to make people move and dance. I contribute my grain of sand to the urban genre to give a little joy.”
Angy Fernández, who started in music on the talent show Factor I am clearer, although it has been difficult for me,” he says, “I always try to be truthful and I wanted to write lyrics that demonstrate what I have gone through in music and the profession, which I think many people may have felt that way. I overcome the fears and I show up at the Benidorm Fest. I think there was no better place to return to music because they are committed to the artists, the stage design and it is a place where I can be who I am.
Another urban proposal is that of Dellacruz and Beso in the morning. “I hope it transmits incredible energy and makes you as happy as I am,” says this 21-year-old Canarian musician, and explains how he prepared his candidacy: “I knew I wanted to present myself and I had another song, but my roommate He told me that this one had something, so we chose it and I started working with my producer.”
Jorge González is one of the oldest in the contest, not only because of his age but because he has already tried to go to Eurovision twice. Coming out of Operación Triunfo on the Telecinco stage and also participating in Tu cara me sona, he arrives with a song with a Latin air that, he assures, has everything he was looking for.
About his new opportunity to go to Eurovision, he comments: “I have always wanted to go. I have tried twice more, but this is the first time that I have the feeling that I come with everything. I think I am in my best moment physically and mentally to try.” Furthermore, he says: “Whoever wins, Eurovision will be won this year.”
Tony and Juan Carlos, from Lérica, have warned that we have never taken two boys to Eurovision. It’s about time, they think. They are also one of the artists this year with the most listens on Spotify. “We are incredibly excited to present the song. We have been working for so many months, focused, and it is a proposal that came from the heart,” says Tony Mateo, Abraham Mateo’s brother.
“It combines electronic sound, pop, dance… it seemed interesting to us to mix electronic music with what we had been doing before.” His partner, Juan Carlos Arauzo, adds: “This song has given us a lot of headaches, there have been 17 versions. We really want to see people’s reactions, I’m looking forward to getting on Twitter.”
Carlos Marco, former member of the Auryn group, already has experience at the Benidorm Fest: the first year he was behind Xeinn’s candidacy and the second, behind Aritz’s. This time, however, he will be the one who takes the stage alongside Paula Pérez and Charly, who form the group Mantra.
“It was a song for our album, but we sent it dreaming that it could enter, and it did. It is the most important song we have done, but we did not write it with the pressure of Benidorm or Eurovision,” said Charly. Carlos Marco adds: “We are in a very sweet moment. We are starting to play on the radio and people are starting to know us. And this song represents well what we are.”
María Peláe’s song is not in line with her more carefree songs like La Niña, but with more profound ones like Que Ven A Por Mi. This, Remitente, is a song in the form of a letter that includes phrases and experiences from her grandparents and is intended to be a space for reflection.
“This year if I’m here it’s because of the song. And since they’re going to listen to you, say something. And I wanted to say many things,” he commented. “It’s a song between knot and emotion. There are people who wanted my more danceable version, but this is my other version, and there were little things that I wanted to release.”
The duo Marlena starts with the advantage of being the most listened to on Spotify at the time the Benidorm Fest artist list was announced. They arrive with a song about summer loves that is linked to another of their singles: “Everyone has had summer loves and then September comes and you don’t know what to do. I chose to move on and it ended up in Red flags. This song is the “said Ana, “We really like to tell about our private life and for it to reach people, captured through music.” They have said that the song was not expressly intended for the contest.
María Bas and Mark Dasousa form the electronic pop duo Nebulossa, with a sound that takes them to the dance floors of the 80s. They come with a strong title: Zorra. “It’s a very powerful song. It’s autobiographical. I’ve been called a bitch many times,” Bas said, “many women have felt that way and it’s a way of transforming that word into something beautiful. Why does it have to be the “The good fox and the bad bitch? A bitch is knowing what you want and not caring what others think. We hope that the message reaches everyone and that they have fun with the song.”
Born in the Basque Country 25 years ago, Noan, in addition to singing, plays several instruments and is the composer of his song, about which he explained: “Missing is something universal, you can miss a sunset or a family member. It is a song , like anyone I have written in recent years, written from the heart and that represents an experience of mine. Missing is a feeling that can be very much about love and very about heartbreak.” Noan appeared at the Benidorm Fest last year with Me Matas, but he didn’t get in. This year he gets rid of the thorn.
We have seen Quique Niza in the series UPA Next or on stage in the musical Grease, but now he is making his debut as a singer. As was the case with Chanel, the Benidorm Fest song will be her first published song.
“We composed it one morning in the countryside and I couldn’t imagine how much joy it was going to give me. I think it turned out to be a very beautiful song that conveys what I wanted: a person who feels imprisoned because he has something he wants to tell. and he can’t. The idea is to get out of that prison and express yourself without any type of fear.”
Roger Padrós states that he wants to “reclaim the figure of the singer-songwriter, give value to the messages and the lyrics” and he does so with an intimate song sung in Catalan. “I intended with this topic to present myself as an external narrator, even if I tell it in the first person, and to tell how I see relationships like those of my parents or my grandparents, who sometimes do not treat each other well even though they love and care for each other.”
His voice will be supported on stage by the main instrument that we heard in El Temps: “For me it was unimaginable to go to Benidorm Fest without a piano. The song was born with the piano and then the production and the string arrangement were added.”
From the TV3 talent show Eufòria to the Benidorm Fest, Sofía Coll comes with “a banger”, as she has defined it, in a good way. She is supported by heavyweights in composition and production: Mario Canut, Nacho Canut and Juan Sueiro, who sought out this singer to propose that they come up with something together for Eurovision.
“It is a theme that we created by imagining what that moment would be like, going to Eurovision and being at the Benidorm Fest. I imagine it feeling good; I want to honor that moment, thank all my past, the decisions I have made and everything I have done. “worked”.
“I am a shy boy,” declared St. Pedro, proud of his origins: “I am a boy from Tenerife, from Tejina, I have it as my flag and it is what has made me who I am.” About his delicate song, he commented: “I don’t want to explain what it means, I want people to listen to it and feel it as their own. It comes from a place deep within, very honest. I was returning from living abroad and I was rediscovering myself. It’s my favorite song. of the ones I’ve done lately and my most beautiful writing”.
