With YouTube views north of 40 million and 17 weeks spent inside the singles chart top ten, “Lo Malo” is the undisputed soundtrack to this year’s Spanish summer. Not bad going for a song that only finished third in the country’s national final for Eurovision 2018.
And included among the song’s millions of fans is Eurovision 2018 runner-up and “Fuego” singer Eleni Foureira. Not only is she a fan, she also thinks Spain should have sent the Aitana and Ana Guerra number to Lisbon.
The most recent Cypriot representative made the revelation on Los 40 radio. There she was challenged to a game whereby the hosts played her some of the biggest Spanish hits of the moment, including tracks from Alvaro Soler, Pablo Alborán and, of course, the Operación Triunfo favourites. The goal was simple — Eleni just had to say whether she would collaborate with the artist, take the song to Eurovision or release it as a single.
When it came to “Lo Malo”, the Greek starlet’s reaction was instant: “Malo! It’s my favourite song”.
“I love this song”, she proclaimed while singing and dancing along. She then proceeded to throw out the rules of the game, declaring “This song, I will collaborate, I will go Eurovision and I will have my next single. All three of them”.
It transpires that Eleni is a long-time fan, supporting the song ever since Operación Triunfo. In fact, she thinks it should have won January’s Eurovision Gala, and consequently represented Spain in Lisbon. “I saw the final (of the Operación Triunfo Eurovision Gala) and this one I was like ‘this is the best song of the night’. And when they didn’t win I was like ‘NO’!”
Always one to see a silver lining, she adds “But it’s a number one hit now and it’s one of my favourite songs in Spanish”.
Poco se habla de Eleni Foureira cantando "Lo Malo"…. Dice que es una de sus canciones favoritas en español. @foureira_eleni @Aitana_ot2017 @AnaG_ot2017 pic.twitter.com/z3Vs0tdyzq
— Foureira Fans Spain (@Foureira_Spain) June 8, 2018
Aitana and Ana Guerra “Lo Malo”
Speaking of silver linings and second chances, Eleni also touched on her repeated attempts to represent her native Greece at Eurovision.
“I was talking with Greece. And I wanted to represent Greece at Eurovision, but that didn’t happen. So, I was a little disappointed and I was like ‘Ok, I’m not going to Eurovision so leave it. This for me is finished. These three, four last years I want to go to Eurovision so I was every year going to ERT and saying like ‘ok maybe I go to Eurovision with this song’.
But they wanted something more in Greek, more ballad, something different. So, this year I say it’s my last year, I’m going to try for a last year. So, I talked with them and they wanted something else, again. And I say Eurovision and me are never going to happen. I’m done.
And finally, Cyprus come this year, and I was like ‘ok’ and I heard the song and I feel that this is my year. And I say ‘ok, I’m going to do it with Cyprus. And it was incredible because everything happened for a reason”.
Now that Eurovision is behind her, Eleni is focused once more on new music. And following the success of the Spanish-language version of “Fuego”, she promises to release more tracks in the language.
Watch the Los 40 interviews HERE (“Lo Malo”) and HERE (representing Greece and new Spanish music).
What do you think? Do you agree that “Lo Malo” should have represented Spain? And do you want to see an Eleni, Aitana and Ana Guerra collaboration? Let us know in the comments below.
Is it just me that thinks that if spain had sent lo malo then everyone would be like: spain should have sent tu cancion
Lo malo is much better than tu cancion.it is a hit now in Spain.But of course there are so many great singers in Spain that could have gone to eurovision but RTVE (spanish tv) wanted a singer picked from OT because it garanteed a tv share of 20% of wiewers as it happened.But it was a mistake to choose almaia overall because alfred is a person that several times have done declarations against spain and supporting cataluña independence and ofending many spaniards.we spanish are silly sending this unpleasant mind and silly singer
OMG SO ELENI HATES AMAIA AND ALFRED
I’m not surprised to hear this, because Talent recognises talent
When she’s right, she’s right… I’m with her on that one…
But nevertheless, I would hope for Spain going back to choosing artists like Pastora Soler, Ruth Lorenzo or ESDM and let them held an open song selection… these casting shows can create a hype, but mostly, they bring inexperienced children to the Contest more than true artists…
Tu Canción was the right choice, “Lo Malo” is such a chavy song, same as “Fuego”
What is a chavy song?
New Ieva Song.
youtube.com/watch?time_continue=228&v=qeQG9H7O5rA
Tu Cancion was my favourite this year, but several things didn’t help them – the staging, the number 2 slot, being so close to Lithuania (that was a bad decision!)…
I mean… she’s not wrong.
Tu Cancion is beautiful… Lo Malo is catchy but nothing special!
Personally, I kind of thinks Tu Cancion is a bit boring, but I can see where people find the appeal.
Aitana and Ana Guerra did not like Lo Malo and they don’t seem to enjoy performing it even after it became a hit. With their attitude and a poor staging, it would have paled in comparison to “Toy”, “Fuego” and “Hvala, ne!”. Less points from the jury than “Tu canción”, maybe some points more from the televote, about the same result overall.
the delusion of Spanish Eurofans is immense. Until May, 12th they thought ”Tu Cancion” was the best song on the planet, right after that they’ve immidiately switched to ”we should have chose Lo Malo” mode. Wake up, with your current staging you would have flopped anyway.
Spain can only win if Enrique Iglesias agrees to sing some ”Despacito’-esque latin pop tune for them.
I think that would have stolen Eleni a lot of points. With her fairly generic, yet engaging Southern Europop song, she had the luck of being rather unique in this year. That was mostly because Eurovision seemed to have developed beyond this kind of song. Seems like it hasn’t.
Maybe Spain should get someone else to choose their entry next year! They can’t be trusted to do it themselves!
Me too!!! I looove lo malo. They sing and look great together. They could have been even ranked higher, than amaia and alferd. A show and song like this, was missing in the eurovision!! Plz spain do the right choice, next year!.
I liked Aitana’s other song more but yeah, Lo Malo was good, too.
Having said that, Lo Malo was never going to win Eurovision if it was picked, whereas, Tu Canción had the potential to do either really well or really badly. I think it was better to take the chance than the safer option.
Let’s not delude ourselves here… everyone has been telling the Spaniards they were going to flop with Tu canción. Lo malo, on the other hand, would’ve joined its fellow bops on the televote podium.
Lo Malo would have flopped like Hvala, Ne. It could have done well only if they added chicken noises or copied Beyonce dance routine.
I voted for this song multiple times, unfortunately Spanish Eurovision fans wanted Alfred and Amaia whereas the average Spaniard wanted Aitana and Ana Guerra/War
a spanish song actually living up to the hype
Lo Malo is worse than Hvala, Ne. Would have been a typical Spanish 20th-21st place and everyone would have been crying ”we should have sent a ballad like Salvador Sobral” and etc.
Spain needs a mega catchy killer song by a well-known act to win the ESC, or at least something as good as ”Antes Muerte Que Sencilla”
But Hvala, Ne is good though.
I want there to be a Fuego/ Lo Malo mashup sooooo bad!
Go make a mix
Lol poor Alfred and Amaia but Eleni is so right…
Wise pelican. No hidden agenda.
She’s officially the Messiah of pop.
I’m not sure if “Lo Malo” would be a winner but you can’t deny that it’s really catchy. I heard it for the first time when I was watching the OT Gala and it was such an earworm.
So far she is doing the best out of all ESC18 entries. So much potential.
Eleni is only doing well in Cyprus and Spain, everywhere else Netta is killing the game, her song Tot was played live on Times Square in NYC a few days ago!
Actually no… Fuego is now higher than Toy in all of Scandinavia.
”Lie To Me” is higher than both in Continental Europe
She is so right. If Spain would’ve sent “Lo malo” they could’ve been in top 5, not bottom 5′
This was an insanely good year, so I don’t think Top Five would be a lock by any means. But with decent staging, definitely a lock for Top Ten, and the potential to be up there with Czech Republic and Cyprus and the rest with a killer live performance.