In spite of Edurneâs unjustifiably low placing at Eurovision 2015, Spain has delivered some of the highest quality entries of recent years. In fact, many Eurofans believe that Pastora Soler and Ruth Lorenzo deservered better than their 10th place finishes in 2012 and 2014. I agree. But who deserved the Top 5 more? Letâs assess their lyrics, vocals, stage performance and song to find out…
THE LYRICS
Pastora begged us to stay with her. “Quedate Conmigo” is a compelling song with emotional, albeit repetitive lyrics, tying together personal pleas with the metaphorical claim that âno sale el solâ (the sun wonât rise) if her lover leaves. It was all rather nicely done. Plus she sang entirely in Spanish, which always deserves praise.
Ruth, on the other hand, went for a more universal theme with “Dancing in the Rain”, telling us to keep on dancing no matter what life throws at us. She sang in both Spanish and English, which I didnât like. Trying to please the home crowd and Anglophiles at the same time ends up leaving both disappointed. Pastora steals this one.
Pastora: 7.5/10
Ruth: 6/10
THE VOCALS
Ruth was clearly nervous. Her opening notes were shaky. She was slightly out of time. Thankfully her stunning second half made up for it, and she ultimately delivered one of the best vocal performances of the night. Not quite good enough to beat Pastora, though. She was nothing short of flawless the whole way through.
Pastora: 10/10
Ruth: 8/10
THE PERFORMANCE
Pastora kept it classy. It was sophisticated, but somewhat static and contained. Ruthâs performance had a bit more personality. The rain effect was probably overdone: by the end she looked like she needed a towel. However, Ruth’s performance was passionate and her slamming down of the microphone stand was splendid. Go Ruth!
Ruth: 8.5/10
Pastora: 6/10
THE SONG
Up until 2:15, Pastoraâs song is spellbinding. It starts softly and builds with palpable tension. But then the key change kicks in. An utterly unnecessary key change that gives away the songâs Eurovision-by-numbers core. Itâs a real shame. Without that key change I honestly think the song would have challenged for the Top 5. “Dancing in the Rain” never quite reaches the intensity of “Quedate Conmigo”. Itâs a pleasant, steady song with a solid chorus that unfortunately lacks progression in the final parts. Still deserved better than 10th, though.
Pastora: 8/10
Ruth: 7/10
TOTALS
Pastora: 34/40
Ruth: 29.5/40
So there we have it. Pastora walks away quite comfortably with the win. But who do you think was better on the night? You can vote below and then sound off in our comments section.
[polldaddy poll=”8936301″]
ruth was my second favourite in 2014 and is my fave in this poll go ruth!!!!!!
Sorry, but Brequette stays the best đ
Quedate comigo and Dancing in the rain were 2 bad songs compared to mas. Though i liked both songs.
I voted for both but I like Pastora’s song more. I remember it standing out to me more than year, where as Ruth’s was beautiful but didn’t go anywhere.
I also disagree with ‘the key changed ruined ‘quedate conmigo’. To me it made the song, that line and that note is THE moment of the song that I’d remembered and replayed. I doubt it stopped people from voting for the song.
I’ll vote both because I think they both deserve the top 5. Nevertheless, I like Ruth Lorenzo more
I vote for both.
The managed to reach the top 10, which is Spanishly translated into the first place.
These 2 are my all time favourite entries of Eurovision. But I put Ruth first đ
Pastora must win!
Well, QuĂ©date Conmigo is my favourite spanish eurovision entry of all times, so I think you can guess my answer đ
Also, even though I also loved Dancing in the Rain, I think Amanecer deserved more that 10th place.
Pastora was robbed, clearly robbed, her voice is outstanding.
I fell goosebumps.
Both Quedate conmigo and Dancing in the rain are outdated songs, and Quedate conmigo is totally overrated. Pastora has a more educated voice, but i prefer the personality in Ruth’s voice. The performance of Pastora was elegant but so 80’s and her face expression was really hard, like if she were mad. Ruth on the other hand had some “wacky” expressions thats i didn’t like but her performance was more authentic, passionate and overall intense… so my vote is for Ruth
Pastora is perfection made flesh. I love her and her music. Quedate conmigo is my favourite spanish entry of all times.
Ruth is an amazing singer too, but I didn’t like her song much.
PASTORA
I love Ruth, but QuĂ©date conmigo was an amazing song and her voice… wowwww
Both were beyond amazing! At the very least Pastora should have finished 3rd behind Sweden and Russia. Likewise, at the very least Ruth should have finished 3rd behind Austria and Netherlands. Pastora was my 5th favorite in 2012, Ruth was my 2nd favorite in 2014. In a rather awkward side note, Lucia Perez was my favorite in 2011. Lol
Cant stand Pastora, love Ruth.
I loved Pastora and couldn’t stand Ruth….unpopular opinion I’m sure
I hope Spain continues this direction! They have been sending really impressive and beautiful entries the past few years. Are they not doing well in results due to the stigma of being in the Big 5?
Pastora deserved more than 10th! She was amazing! Ruth did it too, but Pastora was better and her song it’s so beautiful
They both did.
Pastora is miles better than Ruth. Ruth herself was great but I thought the song was mediocre at best TBH.
Pastora all the way. I wish she didn’t wear that super-ugly dress though.
I think Pastora deserved it more, but I think tenth was a good placing for both of them.
Ruth is the better singer but Pastora had by far the better song. Ruth’s song did not deserve to finish any higher than it did….she did the best with it that she could.
Pastora has one of the most beautiful ballads ever on eurovision. There’s no competition here.
Pastora Soler and Quedate conmigo are way better than Dancing in the rain. I do feel Pastora was robbed. Top3 material there.
Pastora Of course! The best entry for Spain ever! Love Pastora
Pastora was better in every category. She should have been Top 5.
Ruth did not deserve Top 10. Her song had cliched lyrics. Dancing in the rain is so corny. Yeah, yeah, we get it. Musically the song was dull too. It had a very weak hook. Dancing in the Rain was my least favourite song of 2014.
Both deserved top 5 but Pastora did more. Ruth was great but the emotion conveyed through Pastoras performance was amazing and the song was slightly better. If Spain would’ve sent Brequette in 2014, they would’ve been my winners (joint with Israel). I have Pastora 2nd out of 42 in my top and Ruth 4th out of 37. They were both terrific entries but Pastora is just slightly better
1st Pastora
2nd Edurne
3rd Ruth
Mas segura ruth? Lo dices xq no se inmuta las innumerables veces q gallea? Jaja
PASTORA NUMBER 1 BY FAR
AMBAS son grandes artistas,personalmente me emociona mas Pastora,pero Rhut compone sus letras y es mas segura en el escenario.
I picked both. I loved both songs, both performances were great too. Even though I prefer Pastora slightly, I think Ruth was more deserving of a Top 5 place, because the quality of songs in Baku was much higher than in Copenhagen.
@ Troll clone of mine…
You realy have serious issues…And u know that..
Well i chose *BOTH*..
Pastora’s song was winning material..
Ruth’s was very good song & top10 material but in a weak year with not high competition deserved to even finish in top5.. {was better song than Armenia’s & Hungary’s that finished 4th & 5th}
They both were robbed big time!
I love both of these songs. They both had excellent vocals on the night and delivered smashing performances. I feel that Pastora is more justified for Top 5 than Ruth but personally I just love Ruth’s song better. She was my favourite in 2014 while Pastora was my second favourite in 2012 (obviously behind Loreen).
i like more the GreAtY hot babe Rodolfo Chikilicuatre from our 53rd Vision in Belgrade… <3 đ
Pastora Soler – QuĂ©date Conmigo stands as one of the best Eurovision songs of all time (that I know of), her vocal performance was also flawless on the night. Don’t get me started on her only reaching 10th position! Ruth is OK but this is no match for me.