The OGAE Second Chance Contest 2018 is on. This year 27 clubs have fielded songs. None of them made it to Eurovision. But each of them made an impact at home.

The official announcement of his year’s winner won’t take place until October 13. But ahead of that we asked our readers to let us know which of the 27 tracks they think deserves a second shot at glory. After counting a total of 15,421 votes, we can now reveal that Spain’s Ana Guerra & Aitana have come out on top with “Lo Malo”.

The fiery duo earned 2,120 votes — or nearly 14% of all those cast — to snatch the crown.

One of the candidate songs during the OT Eurovision gala, “Lo malo” comes with an easy-to-remember and hard-to-forget chorus, fierce rhythm and plenty of heat. It ultimately finished third in Spain’s selection show.

But that didn’t stop this sizzling track from topping the Spanish Singles Chart and receiving double platinum certification. The fiery song, born in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement, became a torch song for International Women’s Day demonstrations in Spain. But it isn’t just a song of female empowerment. It’s an empowering song for us all.

It was close at the top. Finishing in second, just 95 votes behind, is San Marino’s Sara de Blue. She earned 2,025 votes — or more than 13% of all those cast.

Many fans still feel that Sara, who is actually Austrian, should have won San Marino’s 1 in 360 talent competition. Her ballad “Out of the Twilight” started quietly but soon swelled with the power and drama of Sara’s voice.

Surely Miss de Blue should be in the mix to sing for her home country Austria in the years ahead.

In our interview back in November, she revealed her long-held ambitions for Eurovision, telling us: “I’ve been watching the Eurovision Song Contest since I was a little girl and I’ve always dreamed about performing on that huge stage. It has always been a big dream and a lifetime goal for me.”

Armenia’s Nemra band finished in third in our poll, followed by France’s Emmy Liyanna and the UK’s Asanda.

Saara Aalto — who sang “Monsters” at Eurovision 2018 — makes an appearance here, too. “Domino” — her runner-up song at UMK 2018 — came sixth with our readers.

OGAE Second Chance Contest 2018: Who should win? (Poll results)

1. SPAIN: “LO MALO” — ANA & AITANA 13.75% (2,120 VOTES)

2. SAN MARINO: “OUT OF THE TWILIGHT” — SARA DE BLUE 13.13% (2,025 VOTES)

3. ARMENIA: “I’M A LIAR” — NEMRA 12.74% (1,964 VOTES)

4. FRANCE: “OK OU KO” — EMMY LIYANA 7.87% (1,213 VOTES)

5. UNITED KINGDOM: “LEGENDS” — ASANDA 6.4% (987 VOTES)

6. FINLAND: “DOMINO” — SAARA AALTO 6.14% (947 VOTES)

7. ITALY: “IL MONDO PRIMA DI TE” — ANNALISA 4.4% (679 VOTES)

8. NORWAY: “WHO WE ARE” — REBECCA 3.77% (581 VOTES)

9. ALBANIA: “PIEDESTAL” — INIS NEZIRI 3.11% (480 VOTES)

10. ROMANIA: “ROYALTY” — FELI 2.96% (456 VOTES)

11. HUNGARY: “RUN AWAY” — YESYES 2.91% (449 VOTES)

12. ESTONIA: “HOME” — STIG RÄSTA 2.74% (423 VOTES)

13. POLAND: “LOVE IS STRONGE” — IFI UDE 2.21% (340 VOTES)

14. LITHUANIA: “1 2 3″ — PAULA 2% (308 VOTES)

15. UKRAINE: “BEAT OF THE UNIVERSE” — KADNAY 1.89% (291 VOTES)

16. CZECH REPUBLIC: “FLY” — EVA BURESOVA 1.82% (280 VOTES)

17.SWEDEN: “MY TURN” — JOHN LUNDVIK 1.72% (265 VOTES)

18. PORTUGAL: “PARA SORRIR EU NÃO PRECISO DE NADA” — CATARINA MIRANDA 1.54% (237 VOTES)

19. GERMANY: “I MOG DI SO” — VOXXCLUB 1.39% (215 VOTES)

20. SWITZERLAND: “COMPASS” — ALEJANDRO REYES 1.37% (211 VOTES)

21. LATVIA: “YOUNGER DAYS” — EDGARS KREILIS 1.28% (197 VOTES)

22. MALTA: “SONG FOR DAD” — RICHARD & JOE 1.1% (169 VOTES)

23. DENMARK: “MUSIC FOR THE ROAD” — ALBIN FREDY 0.93% (143 VOTES)

24. BELARUS: “I WON’T CRY” — GUNESH 0.91% (141 VOTES)

25. SERBIA: “PESMA ZA TEBE” — SAŠKA JANKS 0.73% (113 VOTES)

26. SLOVENIA: “NE ZAPUSTI ME ZDAJ” — NUŠKA DRAŠČEK 0.62% (95 VOTES)

27. ICELAND: “Í STORMI” — DAGUR SIGURÐSSON 0.56%  (90 VOTES)

How did your favourite do in our unofficial poll? Do you think Spain and San Marino have a shot with the OGAE fan clubs? Let us know down below!

15 Comments
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KRL
KRL
5 years ago

Obviously it’s just Spanish fans being themselves, so not surprised at all

AngieP
AngieP
5 years ago

To be honest, “Lo Malo” is like a guilty pleasure for me. I didn’t quite like it in the beginning, but now I’m enjoying listening to it.
For me, Italy, France and Norway are my top 3! Great songs!

Jo.
Jo.
5 years ago

Better than Fuego, to be very honest.

impressiveinstants
impressiveinstants
5 years ago

Ridiculous how UNDERRATED Inis Neziri’s song is. The build up in Piedestal is amazing. I realy like the Top 2 though.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
5 years ago

Wow, that was closer than I thought it would be! The love for Sara De Blue is amazing, considering San Marino’s contest was a brand new experimental production.
Personally, I adore “OK ou KO”, so I’m very happy Emmy got 4th in this poll. 🙂
Congratulations to “Lo Malo” – this was the obvious winner, but wow that result was close.

Polegend Godgarina
5 years ago

I mean they have no competition. The song is the ultimate bop.

Andrea
Andrea
5 years ago

I’m a Spanish fan and I think that it’s true that some Spanish fans come here again and again to vote their countrie and the fans that don’t do that a por of the I don’t know why they didn’t vote anyone.
Of this songs my prefeer is the song of Italy

Rasmus
Rasmus
5 years ago

There are a LOT of spanish ESC fans registrered here so when there is a poll ,Spain is ALWAYS on top. but when the real deal comes they finish in the bottom. So im not suprised

Cec
Cec
5 years ago

Out of the twilight sounds old-fashioned and “a heard-before” song. Sara deserves better songs

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
5 years ago
Reply to  Cec

She had one. It is just that Jenifer Brening was the one singing it in the 1in360 final instead.

Paul
Paul
5 years ago

Is there ever a poll where Spain don’t come top???

Rasmus
Rasmus
5 years ago
Reply to  Paul

The spainsh fans are very nationlistic. I dont think they care of other songs then their own. Most of them, Not ALL of them.

Francisco
Francisco
5 years ago

I personally think Portugal should be higher, but as the song never reached it’s full potential, I get it…

Roy Moreno
Roy Moreno
5 years ago

Sara’s song is called Out of the Twilight, not Into the Twilight xD

Mario
Mario
5 years ago

Lo Malo is three times platinum in fact