Today the Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — extended our stay in Lillehammer for a day of cross-country skiing. After making up for every single leg day we’ve missed, we settled down to review the ten acts competing in Norway’s national final, Melodi Grand Prix 2018. Next up, we look at Alejandro Fuentes and his song “Tengo Otra”. Do we think this song has more Spanish flavour than a giant pan of paella? Read on to find out!
Alejandro Fuentes – “Tengo Otra”
“Tengo Otra” reviews
Jonathan: This song has me slightly torn. Musically, it’s a great piece of reggaetón and wouldn’t be out of place on the radios of South and North America, as well as Europe. However, it would feel slightly odd if Norway were to send this to Eurovision as a representation of their music industry. If it were a Spanish entry there would be no questions asked. But despite its danceability, it’s probably best if it became yet another national final “Despacito”-copy reject.
Score: 7.5/10
Robyn: I’m not going to mention the D-word, but of all the national final entries following in the steps of the Puerto Rican song, this isn’t bad at all. The biggest weakness of “Tengo Otra” is the chorus — it never quite gets going and the song loses energy. The result is a number that would be more suited as background music in a beachside cafe, rather than on stage in Lisbon.
Score: 6.5/10
Antranig: Norway’s “Despacito” knockoff is one of the weakest ones in all the national finals around Europe this year. If you’re going to be the token Spanish act in your national final, at least do it well. Norway should stick to doing what they do best, and if they’re desperate to send a bit of Spanish to Eurovision, they should probably forget Alejandro and give Adelén a call.
Score: 3/10
Sebastian: Across all corners of the European continent, 2018 has created its own music genre – ‘the poor man’s reggaeton’. And “Tengo Otra” could honestly not be more fitting as a song title. But don’t be mistaken – Alejandro is the real deal, with both a look and an accent to match the genre. While this is a great bop to dance your Saturday night fiestas to, it’s not a deserved Eurovision entry.
Score: 6.5/10
Kristin: Oh joy! Another “Despacito”-inspired number. Unlike other copy and paste songs, this is actually great. It’s not quite an “OMG this is going to win Melodi Grand Prix” good, but rather an “I’m dancing, I’m enjoying myself and yes I’ll have another Margarita” kind of good. Alejandro oozes that Latino heartthrob vibe with the right amount of Nordic coolness. I accept this entry without hesitation.
Score: 7.5/10
Our jury for 2018 consists of 15 jurors, but we only have room for 5 reviews. The remaining 10 scores are listed below.
Antony: 9/10
Bernardo: 7.5/10
Bogdan: 8/10
Chris: 6.5/10
Cinan: 8.5/10
Deban: 5/10
Josh: 6.5/10
Lukas: 7/10
Rezo: 5/10
Steinunn: 5.5/10
The highest and lowest scores are dropped prior to calculating the average score. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 3 and a high of 8.5.
This year I’m not a fan of songs similar to “Despacito”. Though I love “Despacito” it’s like saying “This song was a hit in summer, so let’s make a song like it”. No, it doesn’t work like that in Eurovision. I would only accept that kind of song from ex. Spain, because it’s in their cilture.
4/10
Very Mean of you Antranig… as a spanish speaker this is one of my guilty pleasures from this year!!!
I would love to hear this in the final. The lyrics are not overtly-sexual (as usually reggaetón has) and Alejandro’s voice is actually good. Even though I also love Scandilove, this would be my second choice for Norway and I don’t care that’s it’s in Spanish because we have almost half the songs in English and only ONE in Spanish so stop complaining about it. And please, stop the comparisons with Despacito.
I love it!! Hopping for this song to win.
12 points from Israel!!! with a lot of love!
We need pop reggeaton like this song in the eurovision. Please Norway do the right thing, and choose alejandro!!!!
Here in Israel we listen a lot to latin music.
It is a great song!!! ?
Oh, please! Stop with all these “Despacito” comparisons. This is song is actually cool. And for a rare occasion in reggaeton, Alejandro can actually sing – there is an acoustic snippet in his Instagram account and he sings GREAT! The only reason this is sung in Spanish is because Alejandro specifically requested to be allowed to sing in Spanish. He is Norwegian, but was born in Chile and unlike all other singers outside Spain attemtping with Spanish-language songs, he can speak the language fuidly, so no akwardness involved during the performance. This came as a surprise for me as well… Read more »
Here’s a suggestion Norway, and this goes for Sweden too actually….Stop nicking other Cultures/Languages/Music and be proud of your own stuff. I get that we are all liberal but logically, A Norwegian or Swedish entry in Spanish is absurd! As was Austria 2016. English I can just about understand due to its universability but c’mon!!! Why is it a bad thing to be proud of your own culture/language/music for once. This is exactly what Salvador Sobral meant about fast food music without heart. I get Alejandro Fuentes wants to sing in his native tongue so why not try sing for… Read more »
We dont know what we will choose this year in Norway, but if Norwegians choose an entry in Spanish, it´s a sign our culture. We have no ethnic songs this year, the closest is Vidar Villa with “Moren din”. Its not ethnic but a typical youth “after skiing party song” that gets heavy rotation on Spotify. I am Norwegian, and I don’t understand all this hostility about us choosing a song in Spanish compared to English. Yes, English is our first foreign language, but for the kids today they choose Spanish as their second foreign language. And this may sound… Read more »
Moren din is Danish-wannabe, the more Norwegian way is MORA DI!
It’s not hostility, I love norway, I love Norwegian people and I usually like what they send to Eurovision.
I’m also ALL for multiculturalism but in my opinion if you want to represent a particular country, flag etc you are adhearing to the national identity of said country. Not some hybrid.
Singing in English would suffice too, as it would be most Norwegian’s second language atleast.
Hardly demanding a monoculture…just mere representation of your own.
Because Alejandro is a Norwegian citizen. Born in Chile, but raised and living in Norway, in a multicultural environment and he has shown his excellence in perfoming in English, Norwegian and Spanish through the years. Why should we Latin Americans abroad limit us to attempt to represent Spain when there are 40 more countries where we could be allowed to participate? In Eurovision terms, Spain is actually kinda xenophobic towards us Latin Americans, and almost everyone else who wasn’t born and raised in Spain. If we wanted to represent a country, we would give France, Romania, Germany or Italy a… Read more »
This is the one from MGP that I play the most after repeat listening. Agree it is maybe not instant like enough for Eurovision, but it is a good song. The language issue I don’t care about, in Norway most kids today select Spanish as their second foreign language. About 80 percent.
Much better than that Kamilian Portorico song
I think it’s really annoying that everyone was comparing this to “Despacito”; there are a million reggaeton songs out there and they usually sound similar. Yet, it’s not his fault that Despacito gained international fame before his song would be released. He is singing in his native language and to people who don’t listen to Spanish language music from Latin America, every song like this will sound like Despacito unfortunately…
I knew even before clicking on this article that you guys would compare this to Despacito, I mean you’ve been doing that for every spanish or latin-inspired song, from “Dance in Flames” to “Puerto Rico” haha, but oh well.
I love you guys, but please 😛 not every song with a latin rhythm is reggaeton, and not every reggaeton song is a Despacito knockoff.
As a Colombian, I can tell you that this sounds like actual reggaetón right out of Medellín or Puerto Rico, not like a lame attempt at a Despacito knock-off. In fact the only resemblance between both songs is that they’re the same genre.
I don’t know if this would win because Europe is a different market, but I’d be glad if it did.
If we consider music is somehow art, no reggeaton song should have any changes. There are really few in this genre which could be considered art.
Hahaha people comparing this to despacito clearly don’t understand Reggaeton. Yes this is reggaeton but its more subdued and this is more of the likes of CNCO’s “Hey DJ”
Nope I don’t find it fun at all. I don’t think it sounds current either and I liked Puerto Rico way better.
A 5/10
*Yawn* Why bother including it? Most of the national finals have put in token Latin songs this year (Sweden went overboard but, oh well) and none of their publics have fell for it, yet. I can’t see Norway being the first. Last place in the national final. Next.
Top 10 materials
Yes it will totally be Top 10 in MVP this year
I live for these rihplies.
This is a lame 2012 rihject.
Better than Sara Farto
Quite enjoyable and chill! 6/10
And controversial statement is controversial. If you don’t think this should represent Norway cuz it’s in Spanish, but you’re rooting for an Italian song in Estonia… well, enough said.
Opera is not “an italian song”. Opera is played all around the world and happens to be generally sung in italian cuase some of the most known opera pieces come from there.
Just add the fact that nobody finds it out of place when countries aside from UK, Malta, Ireland and Australia send a song in English. But when it’s Spanish, French, Italian, ect. suddenly everyone finds it odd. I don’t care about the language used as long as the singer has the accent for it.
Honestly, I’m rooting for this.
This is not a copy of that song. It sure exists because of the song, but this feels like a true and honest single of a Miami rising star (it does have Miami-residing composers). This has to win for me and show other countries how you do it. 8.5/10
P.S: you removed a high of 8.5 when the highest is really a 9.
This musical genre existed before and will exist after Despacito, just so you know
No way this is something special and worthy to be compared with Despacito. This would be low-level music here in Spain, not to say in latin america where they do this much, much better than us.
I would expect this from Italy, maybe Greece, but Norway? Would be a big surprise and wouldn’t look norwegian at all. A true stripping of someone’s roots.
Have you heard, that there are other reggaeton songs in the world than Despacito. This is better than Despacito. It’s catchy and memorable. Alejandro’s voice is smooth and emotional. 9/10