Barei is not swiming up the river on her own anymore. After signing a contract with Universal Music, she’s been working hard for her imminent journey to Eurovision 2016 and with the support of tens of thousands of Eurofans. We now have two milestones to celebrate. The first is the official video clip, which will be out next Thursday, March 10 at 10:00 CET and available on a live stream at RTVE.es. The second is the news that she will bring five backing vocalists with her to Stockholm.
And if you’re a Eurofan, you may recognise some of those singers, who have previously served as backing vocalists or attempted to sing at Eurovision on their own. Among them are Rebeca Rods (2007 and 2012), Portuguese sisters Awinnie Mybaby & Alana Sinkëy (2014) and Ukrainian singer and violinist Milena Brody (2013). Perhaps the biggest name is a woman who is ready to “run, run, run…” — yes, it’s 2014 contender Brequette Cassie, who narrowly lost out (on a tiebreak!) to Ruth Lorenzo back in 2014 in a very heated and ultimately controversial selection.
It’s been over a month since Barei won Spain’s NF Objetivo Eurovisión. After her victory, several record labels approached her and she ultimately decided on Universal.
The first stop on her European promotional tour was Ukraine, where Barei performed her Eurovision entry “Say Yay!” in the country’s second semi-final. She demonstrated major improvements, both vocally and visually. She also had the chance to meet her favorite Ukrainian Eurovision performer, Andriy Danilko (widely known for representing Ukraine as Verka Serduchka back in 2007).
Her energy and enthusiasm remain in tact despite her busy schedule. We felt her passion here on wiwibloggs in a series of interviews ahead of the national final. In case you missed them, you can catch up below.
WIWIBLOGGS INTERVIEWS BAREI PART 1
WIWIBLOGGS INTERVIEWS BAREI PART 2
How do feel about Spain’s chances in Stockholm? Do you feel she’s in to win it or are you saying nay? Let us know in the comments below!
I personally don’t care too much about Barei. Having Brequette in her team’s a clever move since she had one of the best Spanish preselection entries ever.
Better vocals, sorted. Backing singers, sorted. New video, sorted. Record deal, sorted. New choreography… maybe? 🙂
Sort out something more interesting than a shoe shuffle, and Spain may be a contender this year.
That’s exactly what I think @Redalert
When I see some representant is spending their efforts in little details I sense that act is gonna look weak on stage
I mean you just have to look at the recent winners, what they hide behind their songs
World’s full of good songs
But strong meanings come as drops from a dropper
It’s crystal clear what it takes to win
But it’s the most difficult thing to translate on stage
And that “difficulty” is what gives fairness to those victories
The music of Spain is too much energy, it turns something negative. The chorus is repetitive and tiring! I will support Spain, to stay among the top 5-10!
Anyway I really like the voice of Barei, the best so far of the ESC in 2016, but the song is OK.
Marcos your explanation is very generic. That’s quite a free interpretation. It’s about how you translate those words into a scenography, producing that mental tweak effect on the audience. Spaniards are always very “take it as you want”. That’s when incoherency and inconsistency comes. “Amanecer” scenography came with a diffuse message (lots of mixed elements with no coherency whatsoever) “Dancing in the rain” was a poor scenography just about raining and light flashes…(take the message as you want) It’s a shame because they put the effort sending great voices and their fans are very passionate, but some of them are… Read more »
come on xd Barei ALREADY SAID that the dance have a meaning that goes with the whole song. But of course she said it in Spain and not in an Euroforum so everyone automatically knows what is the meaning. She said it was all about about setting yourself free to do whatever you want.
And come on, Spain racist? Probably one of the most tolerant countries in Europe, not just with races but with other kind of discrimination in Europe.
Most mysterious entry this year.
Unclear meaning. That’s why it’s not a huge favorite.
I guess they are saving it for Stockholm. Good strategy this one of coming from behind.
Eurovision has to be won in may, not in february/march.
@ Aloka what are saying??? What do you know about spanish people?? On the contrary Spain is probably the less racist country in Europe, come on¡ some european people here is always looking on to Spain¡¡ And probably they feel superior for that??? Arrogants, haughty¡¡ I understand now why so much people in Spain answer badly to some comments here and in tops, they feel attacked too much often.
To me this sounds as trascendental
But all I’ve seen until now is triviality
I also think she’s intelligently bluffing us
Ok, so five (5) backup performers means that there’ll be six (6) people on stage during the performance!!!
@ct_greece I really have no problem with her dancings. But this dance has to have a MEANING. A reason of existance. Why-are-you-dancing? It has to be shown clear and connected with the rest of the staging elements. That’s what I was saying “for no reason” and that’s why I was remarking “coherency”. I want to think Barei is fooling us with this simple dance and she’s going to come up with something big (hiding it for now) on may, because this song really hides a strong unknown message from its free interpretative nature. I want this to do well on… Read more »
Really? Are you serious? If Spain were really that ‘extremely racist’ as you said, Brequette would have ended sixth but not second in televote. Remember that the other four singers were also spanish. xD Following your reasoning, should I say, for example, that Poland is ‘extremely machist’ because people voted for Michal Szpak instead of Margaret, the favorite? Simply, that has no sense. Polish people made their decision, the same as we did in 2014, and you have to respect it. Unfortunately, racists are in all countries, and I can tell you that almost every spaniard wouldn’t have minded if… Read more »
@RedAlert You are exactly right, I agree with you 100%. But from what I’ve seen so far, the vibe I’m getting is that Spain feels bathed in so much eurofan love at the moment (“their song sounds modern!” “they sing in english!”), that all their staging ideas consist of Barei repeating her stupid boot dance in Stockholm (she even said she is going to wear the very same ugly boots – obviously if she wants to do that there is no one credible around her to consult with). Which is why I don’t believe Spain will make it high up… Read more »
Brequette didn’t win in 2014 because Spain is an extremely racist country. She was much better then the others, her song was amazing and her voice is a sound of heaven. The national jury gave her first place but televote not, seems like spanish people didn’t want a black woman representing their country. Disgusting.
Spain is seriously looking to win.
Backing vocalists have an specific weight in this song, but they are just another element in the staging “mixture”. This does not decide the song’s fate. What really makes the difference is how you sell the message of your song. And you have to do it clearly, coherently, spectacularly. Say Yay! has this hidden message, ready to surprise everyone. It sure has. Now you can go to Stockholm, just make some stupid “eye-flash” feet dance for no reason and get back to top 20-25. Or you can tell a beautiful graphic/poetic story and “go all the way”, as this song… Read more »
Based on the lyrics, the staging concept could be about coming back to life.
she will most likely fails miserably in Stockholm. She is not a great singer.. and she has no stage presence….
i think it is more likely that she receives 0 points than winning… to be fair..
Diego has forgotten to say that Barei’s team will be working with the German coreographer Fritz Mensch and the stage designer Florian Boje.
To be clear I’m surprised that after Margaret’s defat in polish selections Barei lost the lead in escstats ranking. I think she targets similar.
Haters gonna hate, this is a very cool song.
I’m not generally a fan of Spain’s entries, but this year Say Yay is my favorite song in the contest. And of course the backup vocalist choice matters for this song due to the chorus. There’s a lot of things they have to get right for this one, but these are things like audio mixing and choreography which they will probably spend time figuring out (unlike last year where they never figured out that the song was in too high of a key for Edurne to hit the important high notes). Moreover, while she has one of the hardest songs… Read more »
Anything can happen with Spain, as usual, but I wonder what craps have you countries presented, you haters.
Spain is hopeless with this lax song.
Never a good idea to choose a backing vocalist who’s a better live singer than you.
I’m spanish and I’m aware this it’s gonna flop. Maybe between 21th and 17th (hopefully)
It is a catchy song but i am scared that it will be lost among the various uptempos this year. They should have sent it last year….
She needs a miracle in May, but the Spanish eurofans are always living another reality.
I’m sick and tired of hearing “she’s gonna win”
and if you are not agree “u bastard, u hate Spain”. Boooooring.
Brequette ? Yay, yay, yay !
I’m getting the same feeling I had with songs like ‘Amanecer’ where this will flop on the night. Who knows, but she’ll have decent baking vocals unlike at Objectivo Eurovision.
greath choice this is a music contest, not a perfonmance contest i hope the people an jury comprend the importance to came back to the important thinks in music.
@ goodnightmoon
Yes a negative surprise for people rooting for this. I don’t see her in the top-10.
Spain is gonna be the big surprise of this year.
after so many weeks I still love Say Yay! its energy, its fabulous rhythm, and powerfull lyrcis still make me wanna sing and dance- and I love Brequette being part o f the backing singers. I loved her song back in 2014 and though it was pitty for her not to be able to performance on the eurovision stage because she is just a great siner. well, now she has the chance 🙂
Of course she does. One of the rare songs where the backing vocalists are more important than the singer…