Barei threatened RTVE to quit Eurovision
Barei threatened to quit Eurovision

Barei — Spain’s Eurovision 2016 singer — is busying preparing for a string of live concerts across Europe. But that doesn’t mean the Spanish songstress has forgotten her time at Eurovision. In fact, distance has given her time to vent — and to reveal the drama that unfolded behind-the-scenes between her and Spain’s embattled Head of Delegation Federico Llano and other members of the delegation.

Barei: “I felt sad”

Weeks after Barei’s unfortunate 22nd place finish in the grand final, the “Say Yay!” singer sat down with Spanish newspaper ABC. With time she’s realized that she feels more confident about herself as an artist and is grateful the contest helped her promote her musical career. However, she admits that she felt sad and somewhat overwhelmed following the grand final.

“That night I felt sad, ashamed and I could only apologise to the people that expected me to get a better place with my performance,” she said. But, channeling Sweden’s Frans, Spanish fans were not sorry, and they actually congratulated and thanked her for the astonishing performance. It wasn’t about the result, but the work behind it.

She threatened to quit

Surely y’all remember the “twisted-ankle” fall that Barei staged during her performance. It was so real that the first time we saw it we thought she’d actually hurt herself. But it looks like that was just the tip of the iceberg of what could’ve been a much more elaborate performance. During the pre-Eurovision party in Riga, the team from RTVE notified her that they would throw out many of her suggested staging ideas, including triangle designs and steps and stairs on stage.

“By the time I was in Latvia, all I had was a pile of NOs to my requests, so I asked them to please keep the fall, which best showed the will to get over our problems, which was the message behind the song. So I stood my ground and told them I wouldn’t do Eurovision if they didn’t let me fall on stage. You can’t let me do nothing on a TV show like this.”

Barei: Not enough contact with the host broadcaster

She also complained about the lack of communication between her choreographers and SVT. “I asked for direct contact with the Swedish broadcaster but I never had it,” she said.

Barei doesn’t believe that RTVE doesn’t want to win. But she points out that the “middle man” — aka, the Spanish Head of Delegation — is responsible for setting limits and communicating with the host broadcaster. He should have communicated the situation with staging to her as soon as possible “to avoid a lot of last-minute changes.”

When asked about the future of the delegation, she pointed out that “many delegations that are doing very well are led by young people, fresh blood,” including France.

And what of the rumours that her partner Rubén Villanueva had an argument with Federico Llano in the green room?

She explained that, at the very end of the contest, after she received only 10 points from the audience, she wanted some space.

“I only wanted to cry and hug my whole team. He [Rubén] just asked Federico to give them a couple of minutes and show some sympathy to all of us.”

The Spanish señorita is already looking to the future and working on an third album. Perhaps she’ll write another competing song in 2017, perhaps for Brequette? As she tells the newspaper: “Me and Rubén would love to write something for her!”

WATCH THE VIDEO INTERVIEW (IN SPANISH)

Do you think Spain’s delegation needs to reboot and bring in new blood like France and Italy have in recent years? Or are there bigger changes that need to take place inside RTVE? Let us know in the comments below!

READ ALL OF OUR SPAIN Eurovision NEWS

33 Comments
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NL
NL
7 years ago

Brequette can change the Spanish results, with a powerful song

El Rosario de Raquel
7 years ago

Los nacionalismos llevaron a Europa a la segunda, guerra mundial

Michel Sennett
Michel Sennett
7 years ago

I agree with ESC Greece and mad-professor. Both of you summed up my feelings for a mediocre song. Her song lacked a melody and I was there at the family final and the public just gasped when she ‘fell’. Bad staging and that ‘fall’ interrupted the energy of her song. As for SVT, I strongly believe that Christer Bjorkman and Co. would have bent over backwards to accommodate her wishes. Maybe there is some truth with her complaints with RTVE, but in the end, just sour grapes. Funny how her song was a top 5 on many YouTube sites and… Read more »

ESC Greece
ESC Greece
7 years ago

@Ziveo***

I was pretty close 🙂

Živeo***
Živeo***
7 years ago

@esc greece
Yes you are right they are worse than animals.Most of them are racists and its really disgusting. Your guess was wrong i am from Serbia

MirkoJoshua
MirkoJoshua
7 years ago

Bastards

ESC Greece
ESC Greece
7 years ago

@Ziveo*** Well, animals are much better than those people. I have a dog that is very cute and lovely and the only thing it (she?) offers me is love. Those people who beat you are disgusting. I have some Greek friends and I would like to tell you that some of them are not racists. I used to have a Greek friend who hates Albanians, I never understood why. He used to say that they are scums and things like that. Of course, after hearing that I stopped talking to him. Also, when I traveled there I heard a Greek… Read more »

Živeo***
Živeo***
7 years ago

@esc greece
They are very nationalist people which disgusts me, i am beaten there by a nationalist group of animals. Also they are the reason why EU is falling down, they are the reason why in my country the life conditions getting more expensive.

ESC Greece
ESC Greece
7 years ago

@Ziveo***

I’m glad you realized your mistake 🙂
And sorry for misspelling your nickname, I don’t know how to type that Z.
But why all that hate towards Greece? I have been there and it’s a lovely country. Greeks are very hospitable too.

Živeo***
Živeo***
7 years ago

@esc greece
Im sorry then sweetheart but i am full of grudge against to greece, when i saw your nickname i thought you were one of them, my mistake.

George
7 years ago

@ Živeo***

Seriously? Seriously? I mean, SERIOUSLY???

mad-professor
mad-professor
7 years ago

The song wasn’t great, the staging was poor and the vocals were, quite often, off – sometimes you have to take responsibility for your own mistakes.

ESC Greece
ESC Greece
7 years ago

@Ziveo*** (or whatever your silly nickname is)

1. You are probably in the wrong post, “sweetheart”!
2. I didn’t give any advice in this post.
3. You need to meet an English teacher soon.
4. When you see somebody with the nickname “ESC Greece” you immediately guess that this person is from Greece, right? Have you ever thought that Greece might be my favorite country at Eurovision? I’m sure you haven’t. And I wouldn’t call Germany “a bankrupted country”, “sweetheart”!

Živeo***
Živeo***
7 years ago

@esc greece if we ll need any advises from a bankrupted country, i will let you know sweetheart:*

logixc
logixc
7 years ago

It seems that she tried to complain about others but her staging wasnt strong and special. (Also that dress ????)

Alex
Alex
7 years ago

Spain was overshadowed by Russia unfortunately but also Barei’s staging was poor.

ESC Greece
ESC Greece
7 years ago

I think that Spain didn’t do well probably because Bulgaria overshadowed them. They were two similar songs and Poli did the same dance moves with Barei. The public must have thought that Barei is copying Poli, since Bulgaria performed earlier (the same happened with Iceland, they were overshadowed by Russia). Also, the Bulgarian lyric of “If Love Was A Crime” probably got stuck in people’s minds in a good and catchy way, while this “Say yay yay yay” was actually annoying. Finally, performing after Russia must have hurt them. The staging and the infamous fall didn’t help either. I thought… Read more »

Tony KuKo
7 years ago

Setting aside the song and the falling, she was right. The Spanish delegation needs young people who have a better contact with SVT and the EBU. Maybe a show of lightning like the one from Lithuania would have given Spain a better place.

The only thing that surprised me was that despite the reaction of the public in the arena, she only scored 10 points from the televoting. Maybe performing right after Russia did hurt.

Maclaren
Maclaren
7 years ago

Can she just got the worst diva award and finally move on? So tired of her nagging on any possible subject…

Saule Riet
Saule Riet
7 years ago

The only problem here was the song. It was rubbish!

Ben Rafter
Ben Rafter
7 years ago

She was actually loved by the audience – well the people that were in my house did anyway. It was just she went after Russia or Ukraine (I forget which) who both got the 2 highest televotes – meaning she was forgotten.

Glorious
Glorious
7 years ago

Why don’t the last ones appear, wiwibloggs?

@panda

Jesus Christ!

Glorious
Glorious
7 years ago

🙂 🙁 😉 😮 :p >:) >:( :'(
Any other emoticons I can use here?

panda
panda
7 years ago

I wonder if they had sex with Amir?

Pete
Pete
7 years ago

she’s so annoying. Quit it now, lady. Such a bad loser.

Daan
Daan
7 years ago

Tbh, I guess what happened to Barei was sort of what happend to Trijntje last year. Netherlands 2015 had all sorts of promises and epic stage designs, at least, thats what they told the Dutch people. But the Austrian broadcaster wouldnt allow pretty much anything of it and there was a lot of miscommunication. I don’t understand this though, Edurne had an epic staging and stuff, why were stairs too much for Barei’s act?

EUROFAN MEXICO
7 years ago

ESPAÑA DEBE CORREGIR 3 COSAS SI QUIERE GANAR
1.- INOVAR EN SUS PERFORMANCE, HAY TANTO TALENTO (DUET FLAME)
2.- APOSTARLE A SUS DIVAS CRISTINA RAMOS O MARIA MENDOZA, Malu
3.- DEJAR DE CRITICAR DRAMATICOS FANS QUE SOLO RESTAN LA BUENA IMPRESION CON QUE EUROPA RECIBE SUS CANCIONES PERO NOS ARTAMOS DE VER POR DOQUIER COMENTARIOS NEGATIVOS SOLO DE ESPAÑOLES. BYE POR ESO LO ESCRIBI EN ESPAÑOL ENTIENDAN.

Marco
Marco
7 years ago

Barei did great, given the circumstances, and was a big improvement for Spain!
The song was so happy and upbeat, so I just don’t understand why they staged it so dark. I’m sure that with brighter colours and more “action” (oh oh RTVE, why did you let go of all of this?) just like Belgium this could have done better.
Anyway, Barei got lots of sympathies and I hope the best for her!

Stan
Stan
7 years ago

It’s a very dynamic song, but the performance wasn’t… In my opinion, the fall took away the build up of the song, it just fell flat musically and didn’t recover. Better staging might have given her a few votes more, but not enough for the left hand side of the board.

Cutie
Cutie
7 years ago

That’s so terrible that Barei but a lot of thought and effort into her performance and the Spaniards but rejected her ideas:(, Spanish performers should be informed that their performance and staging will never be the best it can be because they just don’t want to win (same with the U.K .)

Adam
Adam
7 years ago

I definitely don’t doubt her staging and vocal abilities even though she only finished 22nd. She DEFINITELY deserved the left-hand side of the board. But i completely understand why she only got 10 televoting points. “Her” staging wasn’t that memorable or entertaining.

I actually saw somewhere her own ideas for the staging and it was so chic and sophisticated and awesome. 100000x better than her actual staging.

Jonas
Jonas
7 years ago

I loved the fall, and who knows – maybe the song would have done better if they had used Barei’s suggestions.

It certainly deserved a better result, in my opinion. A mystery!

James
James
7 years ago

It definately needed more, but IMO the fall was the worst part. If you were new to the song and actually thought she had hurt herself, you would likely stop listening to the song from that point. It was distracting and a silly gimmick, so altho I can understand the frustration of having NO’s , if her best idea was to fall over, and also to put stairs on stage then maybe RTVE did the right thing by not following her suggestions. I can’t imagine triangles and stairs would have made any difference , her live vocal wasn’t amazing and… Read more »