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Which song will succeed in Spain?

23 January 2018 at 17:23 CET
OT 2017 finalists rtve.es
The Spanish talent show 'Operación Triunfo' has reached its final stage and the remaining contestants, with the songs that have been assigned to them, are now ready to battle for the honour or representing Spain at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in their neighbouring Portugal.

Only two months ago it was announced by the Spanish braodcaster, TVE, that their ongoing edition of the talent show Operación Triunfo, also known as OT, would be used as the method for selecting their entry for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest to take place in Lisbon. 

The competition has reached its final stage and five contestants have been chosen as the finalists of this edition: Amaia, Miriam, Alfred, Aitana and Ana Guerra. These five artists will participate in Spain's national selection for Eurovision alongside the sixth ranked contestant, Agoney, who has been given a wildcard to participate in one of the duets.

The nine entries

In next week's OT show on Monday 29th January the act and song to represent Spain in Eurovision 2018 will be chosen from among the following nine combinations:

  • Aitana - Arde (Alba Reig / María Peláez)
  • Alfred - Que Nos Sigan Las Luces (Nil Moliner)
  • Amaia - Al Cantar (Rozalén)
  • Ana Guerra - El Remedio (Nabález / Pedro Malaber / Mango)
  • Miriam - Lejos De Tu Piel (Steve Robson / Ina Wroldsen / Diego Cantero 'Funambulista')
  • Aitana & Ana Guerra - Lo Malo (Morgan & Will Simms / Brisa Fenoy)
  • Alfred & Amaia - Tu Canción (Raúl Gómez / Sylvia Santoro)
  • Miriam & Agoney - Magia (David Otero / Diego Cantero 'Funambulista' / Tato Latorre)
  • Aitana, Alfred, Amaia, Ana Guerra & Miriam - Camina (OT 2017 contestants / Manu Guix)

The artists

Six artists made the Spanish selection for Eurovision 2018:

  • Aitana (18) is from Barcelona. She has just finished a bachelor's degree in Arts and plans to study Design. She plays the piano and realised she could sing aged 12, after a school performance of We Are The World. Her favourite artists are: James Blunt, Meghan Trainor, Mecano and One Republic, among others.
  • Alfred (20) is from El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona). He is studying a Higher Degree in Music and the third year of the Audiovisual Communication degree. He is a musician and a cinematographer. He comes from a family of musicians. He has self-published three albums and plans to release a feature film in 2018, of which he has also written the soundtrack. One of his favourite singers is Michael Jackson.
  • Amaia (19) is from Pamplona (Navarra). This year she finished her high school studies and is completing a professional degree in piano but she prefers singing. She also plays the guitar, the ukulele, and drums. Among her favourite artists are Marisol and The Beatles.
  • Ana Guerra (23) is from San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife), but resides with her boyfriend in Madrid. She has studied at the Music Academy for eight years, plays the transverse flute and worked as musical actress. Her favourite artists are Luis Miguel, Juan Luis Guerra and Michael Bublé.
  • Miriam (21) is from Pontedeume (A Coruña). She has completed her bachelor's degree in Performing Arts and began studying Dramatic Art and Interpretation. She has worked as a singer and actress, writes her own songs and plays the guitar. Among her favourite artists are Vanesa Martín, Malú, Tina Turner and Pink.
  • Agoney is 22 years old and is from Adeje (Tenerife), where he lives with his parents. He has played the trumpet since he was six years old and has participated in several music videos. He studied Performing Arts and is currently a singer in a hotel in Tenerife. His favourite artists are Queen, Whitney Houston, Rachelle Ferrell and Muse.

The songwriters

All five finalists have a solo song each:

  • Alfred's song is written by Nil Moliner (25, Barcelona) is a Spanish musician, composer and singer who started doing covers at a young age. His own songs mix Latin trends with Spanish pop, in an original and optimistic way.
  • Alba Reig (25, Alicante) is 1/3 of the Spanish popular girlband Sweet California. She has played the guitar since she was 12 and was determined to be a singer since she was a little child. She has written the solo song of Aitana.
  • Amaia's solo song is written by none other than Rozalén (31, Albacete), one of the most popular Spanish acts in the last five years. She has released three successful albums and is considered to be an influential social activist through her music.
  • Nabález is a young artist from Bogotá, Colombia. He is a singer, songwriter and producer. He lived in the USA for but never lost his love for his roots in Colombia. That's why his romantic songs with flirtatious lyrics are influenced by pop rhythms in Spanish and the poison of Blues. He wrote Ana Guerra's solo song.
  • Miriam's solo song is a team effort. Steve Robson is a songwriter and record producer from United Kingdom who won an Ivor Novello Award for his work on Take That's hit Shine and has worked for Olly Murs, One Direction, Leona Lewis and James Morrison among others. Ina Wroldsen (34) is a is a Norwegian singer and songwriter who was a part in the electropop duo Ask Embla but soon turned to writing music for others. She is most popular for providing vocals in the Calvin Harris/Disciples big hit How Deep Is Your Love. The Spanish adaptation is by Diego Cantero (Molina de Segura, 1982) aka Funambulista.

There are also three duets in competition:

  • Alfred & Amaia's duet is written by singer, songwriter. Raúl Gómez (24, Coria del Río - Sevilla) who was the winner of the talent show El Número Uno and has written songs for Rosa (Spain 2002), It's co-written by Sylvia Santoro.
  • Aitana & Ana Guerra's duet is adapted by Brisa Fenoy an emerging star of Spanish urban music.
  • Miriam & Agoney's duet is written by David Otero, guitarist of El Canto del Loco and with a solid solo career as 'El Pescao'. He has collaborated in this song with Funambulista and with producer Tato Latorre.
  • The 9th song is the group song, Camina, written by all 16 contestants from this edition of OT alongside one of their teachers, Manu Guix. Released in Christmas 2017, Camina will be adapted to three minutes and five voices:

The public decides

It will be the TV viewers who decide, with their votes, who will represent Spain in Eurovision 2018. The final of Operación Triunfo will be broadcast on Monday 29th January at 22:30 CET.

After the the nine songs for Eurovision have been performed, the public will vote for their three favourites. With the scores back to zero, the viewers will vote again in a second round. The performance that receives the most votes will be the one chosen to represent Spain in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.

In the event of a tie, the votes obtained for each performance in the first and second round of votes will be added. In the case of another tie, another round of voting will be opened, with the scoreboards set to zero.