As day six of rehearsals draws to a close, Spain’s Blas Cantó is last up to the Rotterdam Ahoy stage for his first rehearsal of “Voy a quedarme” ahead of Eurovision 2021.
Spain’s Blas Cantó “Voy a quedarme” — Eurovision 2021 first rehearsal
Oliver: This is perhaps the biggest surprise of the day. Blas Cantó has come out of nowhere with a revamped version of “Voy a quedarme”. He starts out the first verse completely a cappella with the piano joining in during the pre-chorus. Then in the second verse, we hear a thumping drum beat and a staccato passage from the more prominent string section. It adds a modern element of dynamism to this otherwise classic and formulaic ballad. And Blas’ vocal is good throughout — he hits the falsetto notes effortlessly, without sounding screechy. The simplicity of this staging is a bit of a fakeout, too. It starts off as a starry night with a lunar eclipse on the screen, then in the final chorus, just when we thought we’d seen the largest staging prop gimmick of the year in the form of the UK’s trumpets, Spain hits us with an enormous moon descending from the ceiling. For video game fans, think The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. Spain isn’t headed for victory with this song, but that final moment will certainly be memorable.
Padraig: It’s the very last first rehearsal of Eurovision 2021. And while it might not be a case of saving the best for last, Spain have certainly upped their game. Blas live performance is even more emotional than before, and the new acapella intro is a nice touch. The staging is simply splendid. The crooner is bathed in blue as plumes of dry ice slowly envelope the stage. A total eclipse happens behind him, while the stars glitter. The eclipse clear to reveal a gigantic full moon. And it’s not an LED marvel or a digital illusion. They’ve brought an actual moon to Rotterdam and hung it above Blas’ head. The number creates an emotional moment. But the problem is that many others have done so too, and in a much more impactful way.
Reaction to Spain’s first rehearsal at Eurovision 2021
View this post on Instagram
What do you think? Did Blas Cantó live up to the hype? Let us know in the comments below.
Honestly the song is not the most memorable, but Blas Canto has a beautiful voice, a lot of charm, and the cute, very classic but effective staging puts it in the spotlight. I think his direct competitor is Uku Suviste for Estonia, they play in the same court and target the same audience. If Uku goes to the final they risk to cancel each other out by dividing the points.
I’m not a big fan of Spain’s song, but it sure does not deserve to be so low in the odds.
The TVE delegation just doesn’t care, and it shows. Just a rehash of the national final staging. Hopefully the new chairman of TVE will do something, anything, about them for next year. Until then, what we have is this: the talent of one of our greatest male singers right now, squandered. One of our best chances to break our bottom-five streak, blown.
And on that terrible disappointment, I give up on rooting for my country this year. Good night.
How this song is so underrated and mistreated by the fans and the betting odds will always be my biggest mystery of the year. Sure, it is no Arcade or Amar pelos dois, but it’s super emotional and Blas is one of this year’s best performers. Last in the betting odds? Someone has to be, but this song is not the worst by any means. Good Luck Blas, I hope you get the recognition you deserve in the finals.
I really like this, it’s one of my favourites although it doesn’t seem to catch so many people behind it!
Gjon’s: “Tout l’universe”
Blas: Hold mine
I think Spain has a very beautiful staging this year and Blas is super talented. I hope he does well, Spain does not deserve to flop.
Pleasant surprise, I would say!
He is so beautiful.
When it comes to Blas, everything sounds perfect but Marvin Dietmann has fooled the Spanish delegation. There’s no work behind this staging, no concept. It had potential to move the audience but Marvin just decided to put a huge moon there. Also the stars in the background and the supernova exploding is an overused theme. I’m sorry for my fellow Spaniards, because Marvin is just running with our money when he has set up many great performances this year. See Cyprus, see Bulgaria, Austria… I’m completely disappointed and I’ve never been this disappointed before, not even with “Do it for… Read more »
Honestly, Marvin had better songs to work with other countries. Maybe he wasn’t fully into Spain because it’s not in English but Blas’s song is difficult to stage.
Then he shouldn’t have accepted the job, I guess… Better go for some local talent next year. Tired of Sachas and Marvins.
And maybe the fault relies on the people who hired him…
It looks and sounds beautiful. He’s such a handsome guy and the outfit is very elegant. This is in my Top 10.
This is my favourite song from the whole Eurovision 2021. I hope, I will not be downvoted for this, but I love the song very much. Also I am very connected to the personal message of the song.
I NEED to know where he got that outfit or who designed it. Easily the best dressed male this year.
It’s not difficult to make Blas looking great, but I agree, his outfit is pure class and still look super comfortable at the same time.
I think the shirt is from Zara they have this style of clothing.
I’m positively surprised, because I keep getting disappointed by the decisions RTVE’s people keep making over and over and over, but this one actually looks pretty good in the pictures.Though their competition in the ballad lane are France, Switzerland and Bulgaria… and they’re many many levels ahead.
Top 20 despite the pitchfork crew
Well I do! 😉
Hot guy, cute outfit and nice staging but if Miki’s La Venda couldn’t make the top 20 while being last in the running order then I absolutely don’t see any place in the top 20 for this either, especially knowing how strong this year is overall.
Okay, as a Spaniard myself I must admit I’m not overly hopeful with our chances to do well, the song is not very competitive and the staging doesn’t look particularly interesting, but that’s according to my own perception of course. With that being said, Blas has my full support, he has proven time and time again that he is an incredibly sweet and talented artist and I’m thankful that he is representing us. I just wholeheartedly hope RTVE starts prepping things for ESC 2022 as soon as the debacle happens and maybe, just maybe, Spain will be fighting for the… Read more »
We’re both Spaniards and we both know the answer: RTVE won’t move a finger. National selections, when organized, are always a low quality last minute creation, then they promise a lot of things (all lies), Eurovision arrives, they start talking about what they’re going to change cause they had nothing ready. Result: top 20, another artist destroyed, repeat. RTVE is a corrupted corporation and that’s never going to change.
So is france most of the time ( i mean destination eurovision this year was pretty last moment’) but they’re still in it to win it.
What I’m about to say might sound mean, but Spain (at least RTVE) should drop out of Eurovision next year, they’re not willing to do the stuff that has to be done and they’re miserably wasting a lot of money.