Tonight’s the night! Following hundreds of submissions, a Eurocasting 30 vote and a Eurocasting 10 jury deliberation — Spain will finally pick its wildcard for Objetivo Eurovisión 2017. LeKlein, Javián or Fruela will win the hearts of Internet voters and head to the grand final, where he or she will face a number of internally selected acts handpicked by RTVE.
And, as always, the Wiwi Jury has been busy reviewing the songs and giving our take. For Spain’s Eurocasting, The Wiwi Jury consisted of 18 jurors from Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Bulgaria, Morocco, Ireland, Spain, Serbia, Austria, Portugal, the UK and the USA. We are truly international, y’all!
Below you can watch our video reviews of each song, and you’ll also find links to and excerpts from our written reviews.
The show will be streamed live on RTVE’s Eurovision website tonight at 20:00 CET.
Spain’s Eurocasting top 3
1. Javián – “No somos héroes” (6.84)
The positive: (Jovana, 8.5/10) “No somos héroes” has a radio-friendly, non-Eurovision sound — but that’s its biggest weakness. This is not a typical ESC track and therefore fans might not appreciate it enough. But it’s still a decent song and I can see it doing either really well or really badly in Kyiv. It reminds me of France 2016’s entry “J’ai cherché” and of Álvaro Soler’s hit “Sofia” – but both of those songs did well with audiences. I’m not crazy about it, but I can imagine myself dancing to it and singing to it while driving. An extra half point goes for singing in Spanish.
The negative: (Deban, 6.5/10) Javián exudes a relatable quality that spans all ages. This is an asset when trying to court a wide demographic of listeners. Furthermore, this track is so sing-a-long, yet undeniably Spanish in flavour. The fact it’s a tad familiar in presentation may be its downfall, but also its strength.
2. LeKlein – “Ouch!!” (6.38)
The positive: (William, 8/10) This electro ballad about perseverance is catchy, on-trend and well-produced. LeKlein’s smokey vocals carry power and vulnerability so well and the inclusion of horns — so often disastrous — comes off as contemporary rather than throwback. I’m still not convinced you can build a song around the rather clunky word “Ouch!” — it kind of kills the mood. But with a few teaks this could take Spain back to the Top 10 at Eurovision. There ain’t no pain when LeKlein is singing.
The negative: (Jason, 1/10) I don’t get this at all, unless the overall aim of “Ouch” is to inflict actual physical pain on the listener. It is unbearable. The mild Latin beat of the verses shows some initial promise, but the noisy and annoying track, the questionable lyrics and the unbearable cries of pain overshadow the positives. In all seriousness, the average ESC viewer would welcomingly mute this after the first chorus and go make themselves another cocktail. Ouch indeed.
3. Fruela – “Live it up” (5.25)
The positive: (Bernardo, 7.5/10) The Spanish version of “Live It Up” surprised me — I found it better than the English one. Despite its generic pop/EDM song qualities, Fruela brings up the fire and the looks. Bring the staging and this will clearly be the best of the three finalists. *Guilty pleasure alert!*
The negative: (Chris, 3/10) I enjoy maybe the first minute of “Live It Up”, but then the song practically repeats it for the next two. It all feels very generic and I fail to see why the Spanish jurors opted to send this through over much better options in the web casting.
Bernando seems to be answering questions at the bottom of my screen? How do I ask him my questions?
Best live performance of the night won: LeKlein.
I found the app pretty easy to use……..Leklein won 🙂
Too late. Thank you RTVE.es (sarcastic) for sharing such an EASY app for voting.
Can someone please tell me HOW TO VOTE? I installed that app and all it does it connects me with live sound transmitions of all their channels… It is WAY to complex for a simple task it should do.
LeKlein or Javián ftw.
I’m sorry, but I absolutely hate Javian’s song…
After listening all three songs, I can safely say that while there was no single bad track out of all of them, the best song to send to Objetivo would definitely be “No somos heroes”.
Javian!!!
After careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that no other word could replace ‘ouch’ unless changing that part completely. Come on, ooohs and aaaahs can’t replace ‘ouch’. So perhaps a slight revamp there plus good staging (not 2016 plz) will make this a good Eurovision track for sure.
I will have no problem, as long as Fruela doesn’t win.
GO JAVIÁN!!!
Please watch and listen the rehearsals and then give your opinion accordingly. LeKlein’s performance is solid and consistent, huge voice. In Javian’s one, he and chorus (no band nowhere) stand all in a row and remain mostly static, lack of scenic force and energy, boring performance.
LeKlein would’ve been the best one without the word “Ouch”. What did they think when they made the song? “Let’s put “ouch” there and they will love it!”
No we don’t. Revamp the song and remove the word Ouch.
I’m with the jury on this one. Javian is by far the best option for Spain.