With the Spanish talent show Operación Triunfo 2018 due to start in just five days times, the show’s producers have confirmed something long suspected. OT 2018 will also serve as the national selection to pick Spain‘s act for Eurovision 2019
The news was confirmed this morning at a press conference. The official OT Twitter account broke the news to fans, saying, “CONFIRMED: This year’s Eurovision representative will also come from Operción Triunfo.”
?CONFIRMADO: El representante de Eurovisión de este año, también saldrá de Operación Triunfo ? ?? https://t.co/muSsyZnjyT #LlegaOT2018 pic.twitter.com/cSmzfDy3M0
— OT 2018 (@OT_Oficial) September 14, 2018
The news also confirms that Spain intends to participate in Eurovision 2018. This leaves the UK and Italy as the only remaining members of the Big Five still to officially confirm for Tel Aviv.
The OT 2018/Eurovision 2019 connection had been suspected ever since May. Back then, fans noted a clause in the contract that aspiring contestants had to agree to. The clause noted that contestants may be picked to represent Spain at Eurovision 2018.
The advanced warning will ensure there isn’t a repeat of this iconic moment from OT 2017, when the contestants discovered that one (or more) of them would be representing Spain at Eurovision 2018. Fortunately, Alfred and Amaia got over their initial reservations around Eurovision and gave Spain a performance to be proud of. (Also, Agoney a Eurovisión!)
There may be more changes coming to the Eurovision Gala of OT 2018. Toni Sevilla — TVE’s director of content, channels and programmes — told the press conference that the structure of the Eurovision selection process has not yet been decided and that the network is considering many possibilities.
But one point was clear. The show producers will give songwriters a longer time to create the songs, aiming to create the best possible entries.
Spain’s song for Lisbon was selected at the OT 2017 Eurovision Gala. Amaia and Alfred’s touching love song “Tu canción” won with 43% of the vote. However, that success was not repeated in Lisbon, where it only placed 23rd.
The Eurovision Gala also produced “Lo malo”, a sassy duet performed by Ana Guerra and Aitana. The song spent five weeks at No.1 in the Spanish singles chart and is considered to be the huge hit of the 2018 summer.
The new series of Operación Triunfo 2018 will begin next Wednesday, September 19. In the first episode, viewers will meet the 18 candidates who are hoping for admission to the famous academy. And one or more of those acts may very well end up on stage in Tel Aviv next May.
What do you think? Should Spain use OT as its national selection? Sound off below!
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Tu cancion wasn’t actually that good but a load of Spaniards made out like it was great.
Spain usually sends mediocre songs and has bad staging.
I think Spain should use a normal national selection like 2016 and not a rigged one like 2017.
It was shown this year that having a reality show with amateur singers to select a eurovision entry isn’t great because people tend to vote for the personality of the contestants (and their fake romance)
At eurovision you have 3 minutes to convince 200 million people to vote for your song not your personality.
Well amaia and alfred are still together so i dont see how that is a fake romance, but whatever
They’re a country with huge potential that rarely gets expressed… hopefully by next year they’ll realize what the world expects from them.
Thanks for thinking that way but as i Spaniard i can tell you our music scene is hardly something to write home about. Very few good artists and their songs are not really suited for Eurovision, i’m afraid.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we need a good song (we’ve had plenty of good songs for Spain in recent years, hell, even Tu canción felt like it could have had a shot if handled properly), but also a good staging, which is our Achilles’ heel. I’m guessing an extended submission deadline and 16 potential singers to see evolve will make it easier to bring in high-profile, or at least talented, songwriters, but if we fail to stage the song properly in Tel Aviv all will be for nothing once again.
They also said that the 16 contestants that make it into the show will be candidates to represent Spain in Eurovision.
Oh, no. Spain was my favourite last year, but I don’t like the show and I want to see famous artist from Spain on Eurovision
Here we go again, Spain chooses young people as their representatives for Eurovision from a crappy reality TV show. Once the song is chosen, the rest of Europe has to endure abuse from the Spanish fans for 3 months, if we don’t like the song they’ve sent.
Looks like Spain is the only big 5 country unwilling to make any effort at getting a better result!
Have you blocked comments on the announcement of host city (article published yesterday)?
They HAVE to hire new songwriter’s! It was a very dreadful show to watch because most of the songs just sounded like nobody cared. Actually my favourite was ,,Al cantar”, but I guess I’m alone with that. Also: I strongly dislike ,,Lo Malo” but I have to admit that they were probably the best choice and would have gotten a far better result.
My favorite was “Arde”, but I agree with you about “Al Cantar”, which I think it was the best song to showcase Amaia’s voice and personality. I also agree that “Lo Malo” would probably give them the best result. So they had at least 3 better songs than “Tu Canción”, though they opted for celebrating Almaya’s love. They were very cute together, but Eurovision nowadays is a much more complex game than that.
I agree with both of you. Arde and Al cantar were pleasant. I would not put either one on my playlist but both really let their respective singers shine. And musically, Amaia probably would have done better solo than with Alfred together. In hindsight, I certainly think so even if found them and their song quite charming at first, I was exhausted of the entry way before Eurovision even happened. Add the Spanish “talent” for staging (lack thereof), it was bound to tank.
I felt the same about “Tu Canción”. It was sweet and cute when I’ve listened to it for the first time, but it became “too sweet” as time went by. It didn’t help that the staging and the running order made it disappear when compared to Lithuania’s and Ireland’s entries, who had the same kind of vibe going on.
Not to mention that Lithuania 100% killed Spain in the department of extorting emotions from the viewers. The Lithuanian song was too weak and bland for my taste but so very well staged. And that scene with her real-life husband got me good. It was heart-warming. With Spain’s Alfred on the other hand (who is a really cute guy in my opinion), i thought: “Man, love sure makes people look dumb.”
Justice for “Lejos de tu piel”
I must say this one really grew on me with time. Miriam deserved more attention, but Almaia and Aitana stole all the spotlights. By the way, the new kids on OT will have huge shoes to fill this season.
Send a bop like Lo Malo finally pls <3