Spain’s avant-garde pop queen: Ya ea ea! It’s Blanca Paloma!

At Spain’s national final Benidorm Fest, the public and judging panel chose Blanca to represent Spain with Eaea. She competed against 7 other acts in the final, and took the crown. It wasn’t her first time throwing her hat in the ring, as she also competed last year with her song Secreto De Agua, which found fame as the eerie theme music for RTVE’s crime documentary series Lucía en la Telaraña.

Blanca stunned the Eurovision crew with her fierce vocals at her first Eurovision rehearsal on Thursday 4 May. She commanded the stage, wearing sleek white trousers and a red top and supported by 5 dancers, who drew on traditional flamenco styles. Along with black, red, and white lighting and a fringed semi-circle structure, the Elche-born singer delivered her trademark sound to Eurovision. For a few minutes, Liverpool was transported to Spain.

With the Official Eurovision 2023 Live Blog on hand, not a second was missed. They noted: "It's a really clever and dramatic use of the space, making it feel intimate rather than trying to fill the entire stage. Blanca Paloma's voice has a unique and extraordinary clarity, and we pretty much forgot to breathe for three minutes."

Blanca’s Eurovision song is a beautiful lullaby to a child, where she offers to watch over them. It just so happens that when she was a child herself, Blanca mothered an unusual creature. She raised a duck, bathing him every night in the bath, drying his feathers with a hairdryer, and going for walks in the park.

This songstress has a playlist full of Spanish influences, as well as a few songs from across the globe. Blanca loves the vintage Spanish vibes of La Bomba Gitana by Lola Flores and Quien Maneja Mi Barca by Remedios Amaya. The experimental sound of Llamada by Fatima Miranda also gives a good sense of Blanca’s cross-genre taste.

Blanca caught up with the Official Eurovision Song Contest Podcast, and told us how her musical journey began at a young age: “When I was a child, I didn’t have a playroom, but a music room, and I literally played with music with my sister and my parents. So I’ve always been very attached to music. When I was older I found a power in my voice I didn't have in any other professions or jobs.”

There’s more from Blanca on Episode 9 of the Official Eurovision Song Contest Podcast.

You can learn more about Blanca Paloma from Spain right here.