It looks like La Academia is back. Operación Triunfo’s official Twitter has just hinted that a new edition of the talent show is in the works. And with that will, no doubt, come the livestream, the drama in the galas, the nominees and the constant social media buzz.
OT has been used as the Eurovision national final for Spain over the last two years. And while we live for the show and its personalities, after two disappointing results in the contest we have to ask a very important question: Should Spain keep using the talent show as their Eurovision selection?
??¡¡¡La Academia de @OT_Oficial volverá a abrir sus puertas!!! ???
?Atentos: MUY PRONTO os contaremos NOVEDADES sobre la nueva edición del talent musical de más éxito de la televisión @La1_tve @Gestmusic @rtve pic.twitter.com/jCLRCBdxek
— RTVE Comunicación (@RTVE_Com) June 11, 2019
Let’s get to the figures: in 2018 and 2019 Spain finished 23rd and 22nd. Both Amaia & Alfred and Miki were somewhere between 10th and 15th in the betting odds before arriving at the contest. But then, (mainly) staging let them down and that led to those discouraging results.
Results aside, there was plenty of upside. The show helped to invigorate the Spanish fandom, and even put a larger audience outside of it under the spell of ESC.
In both 2018 and 2019 the contest rewarded RTVE with higher audiences than usual, and both of them were above average in Spain. Moreover, the Lisbon edition was the most-watched edition of Eurovision in Spain since 2008, when Rodolfo Chilikicuatre took the stage in Belgrade. It was also the fourth most-watched in history.
This may not say anything to fans, but it’s actually something RTVE has to take into account. As a public service broadcaster it must serve the public — and high ratings are a direct indication of whether the audience feels served by a particular programme.
In years when Spain picked a relatively unknown act in a national selection, as in 2016 or 2017, the Eurovision viewing figures fell significantly. For example, the 2018 contest almost doubled the number of viewers over 2017 when Manel Navarro sang for the country.
What if the OT contestants don’t want to go to Eurovision… again?
We have to point to the situation we had this year: the contestants in OT had close to zero interest in going to Eurovision, and they weren’t particularly enthusiastic about the idea, even in the live show. (Miki, of course, was an exception and approached the entire process with an enthusiasm we simply love).
The song selection method has also been a bit off over the last two years, with the singers having very little time to prepare their performance. And next to no chance of tweaking the songs to make it theirs and to make it fit their style (besides Alfred, that is).
Spain’s broadcaster hasn’t officially confirmed their plans for 2020. They’ll be there, but who knows who will be flying the Spanish flag and how he or she will earn that honour.
What’s your take on this issue? Do you think Spain should scrap OT and go for a new selection method? Would you go for an internal selection? Should RTVE do like Israel or Malta and get the winner of OT a song after the contest has ended? Tell us in the comment section below!
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Maybe the next season won’t be with new artists. Last year people in TVE were talking about choosing former contestants that weren’t lucky in the past when there wasn’t any social media and put them again into contest.
YA DEBERIA DE CREARSE UN FESTIVAL DE LA CANCION ESPAÑOLA Y DEJARSE DE COSAS, EL TALENTO ESPAÑOL NO ES CUESTIONABLE QUE ESPERAN PARA DAR TODO LO QUE TIENEN
I think you said “create a Spanish song contest (=national final) with Spanish talents and not questionable newcomers who aren’t known”. Is this right? 😀
The comment says: “It’s already time to create a Spanish Song Contest and stop fooling around. The Spanish talent is unquestionable, what are they waiting to give all they got?”
Thanks a lot!
It doesn’t matter. It’s all about the songs.
I think they could definitely use OT again, but it needs to be done differently. After the regular season is over, RTVE should actually see which of the contestants are interested. Aside from contestant interest, they should also change the song writing/selection system. Once they have the artists secured, they should give the artist some more free reign to work with producers so they’ll get a song that is truly theirs.
This way we won’t get a Famous (Wants to go, didn’t like his song) orMaría (Didn’t want to go, good song) situation.
This year’s Eurovision gala was a mess. Bad songs, unwilling singers. I have a clue for you, Spain: Just send Rosalía and be the winner of 2020.
Spain won’t send Rosalía for the same reason the UK won’t send Coldplay, Adele, Dua Lipa…
No. People go on reality shows to get famous not to win Eurovision.
Unless the show in question is revamped where they can be both of those things.
Much like what happened with X-Factor Malta and Michela Pace.
I wouldn’t consider X Factor a reality show like OT. I’d say XF is a talent show (which can be good for Eurovision).
Assuming that local stars aren’t interested, I would pick a former OT contestant (one that really wants to do it, like Famous) and pair them with promising songwriters until they find the right song. But if they want to stick to the current formula, they need to work on a proper timeline. Last year, they selected during the reality, making the public choice about the singers and not the songs. This year it was after the season ended, but the performers had just a couple of weeks working on their tracks. They should stop seeing Eurovision as a “performance of… Read more »
But aside of the OT thing, what’s the issue with Spanish entries 2015-2019?
I’m not sure with 2015. But their recent non-OT national selections were never short of drama. 2017 was the height of it when there was clear conflict of interest when they brought in a juror who have already been playing Manel Navarro’s song in his show in Los40. The actual live show, which took place on the same night as the final of Sanremo, was quite chaotic, at least towards the end. Mirela won the televote and was tied in a deadlock with Manel., with the jury serving as a tie-breaker Two out of the three jurors voted in favor… Read more »
Spain and Eurovision 2017 was a MESS. So much drama
How successful has that been? The fluke win, a last place as host and complete non qualification.
Putting aside their success, FdC is the most trustful national final ever in the contest.
I wish more countries tried FdC’s approach. First because it makes more sense for a songwriter to find the right person to defend their track (sometimes, they do it themselves) than to pick a singer and then try to find a song for them. Second before talented people are much more inclined to participate if they were invited to write something than if a broadcaster does an open selection where their songs could just be ignored.
Mind you. Salvador Sobral is by no means a fluke win – he has swept the Contest.
And O Jardim and Telemóveis were SABOTAGED
The problem with using OT when selecting Eurovision comes in three dilemas First, it has come by the fact that most viewers fall in love with the contestants so by the time Eurovision gala is on, people vote for the singers rather than the songs (for me, either Carlos Right, María, or Miki/Natalia should’ve gone to Eurovision) Second, many OT contestants are in the competition to be the next David Bisbal/Pablo Lopez/Aitana so Eurovision is just an alternative option. As seen in the latest edition, where Natalia, Alba, and Maria all didn’t wanna go to Eurovision up to the point… Read more »
Personally I don’t like the idea to choose the artist first and then write a song for them. I know that it works sometimes (look at Netta) but I feel that songs written especially for Eurovision often feel overproduced and not very genuine. As a Eurovision fan, I think that talent shows like Operacion Triunfo are far less interesting than contests when we actually get to hear different songs. Choosing and artist is important but it’s the song that counts. Most of Eurovision participants are talented singers. But it’s not enough. No one can win without a great song.
1. They should have sent Lo Malo
2.The stagings for both entries were awful
3. Bring back Ruth Lorenzo
No this selection so messy and dont make a lot of sense, yes i like Tu Cancion ay nd La Venda but this clearly dont work, 2 almost button 5 result, Spain need to come back with a strong entry and show us what they can do like they did in 2010-2014!
NO. this method clearly doesn’t work, pairing singers with songs they have little to zero control on seldom works. spain’s broadcaster should make an open call to artists, and set up a national final with at least ten diverse songs. this ain’t the 00s anymore, people would rather hear something with substance and personality.
Barei! Spanish TV managed to screw it up anyway, so it’s kinda whatever…
I don’t think the selection method is the issue. OT was used in 2018 and 2019, and both entries failed to make the top 20. Objetivo Eurovision was used in 2016 and 2017, and both entries failed to make the top 20. An internal selection was made in 2015, which failed to get Spain into the top 20. Four of those five entries were fan-favorites, and were expected to get Spain into the top 10. They’ve sent a range of entries, from ballads to bops, in Spanish and in English. And the fact that their highest position in the last… Read more »
I think spain should go with a internalselection spain got such a good music indrustie
As long as they have gems like aitana then yes. It’s a better option than having a low quality separate eurovision selection.
Yes. I like the drama and the spectacularly wrong decisions.
There is an issue with Spanish songs and how the broadcaster chooses the songs. Lo Malo has more than 80 millions views but the public chose the fake romantic love story.
Unless you were watching the live feeds.
I wouldn’t be surprised if TVE goes with it again in the name of ratings (because theirs are currently at an all-time low), but let’s keep it real: it shouldn’t. The results just aren’t there, and it wouldn’t be smart to risk the possibility of having another talent pool plagued with contenders who don’t actually want to win. It’s time to let OT contestants move on with their careers and either have a national final with people who actually want to go and allow them to have a say in what they are performing, or just go internal again.
What would be the point? Instead of sending Famous (a great voice) and OT winner, they’ve picked Miki with that awful gimmick song. Well then, Spain deserves last spot in the final… literally
When was the last time that Spain did well? Was it 2012?
Ruth Lorenzo finished 10th in 2014 and it’s all downhill from there.
Just send Aitana 🙂
Stop selecting the song via OT. Very often, people will vote based on the person they like most instead of the best song. I don’t really know what went wrong with Miki (although the giant robot was definitely a bad decision), but this is exactly what happened with Amaia & Alfred. OT was a step in the right direction — they have mainstream attention for Eurovision now, but they must capitalise on it. Stage a new national final entirely or pick the winner of OT and then develop their entry as an internal selection with their input like they did… Read more »
I don’t know. Of course Operación Triunfo is back for season 11, but I don’t know if La 1 should continue to use that show as the national selection or if RTVE should use a different selection format while Operación Triunfo continues as it was whenever it didn’t serve as the Eurovision selection.
Maybe send a fairly mainstream star, like Rosalia. Experience, will have the song, just need to get the vocals and staging right. My 2c.
she’d never do eurovision, she’s too huge in latin america now (and she’s sold out to commercial music)
Rosalía sold out? Have you heard her last album? It’s one of the best of the decade…
The best approach as far using it as a song/artist selection show would be to have the contestants get their hands dirty in songwriting. Cast those who are singer-songwriters so they’ll be able to have a say in getting involved in the whole process of putting their creations out there for people to enjoy. I know it’s important for TVE to not necessarily shift the focus of OT as a totally expanded Eurovision national selection, hence having its own separate live show to select a song/artist. They did the first step by airing it after the second season ended. Now,… Read more »
Yas! Last year, we had a small group of fans on our German fanblog who watched OT every week and chatted about it. This was SO MUCH FUN to have a music event every week and talking about it – even if I don’t know a single word in Spain XD I wanna do this again this year 😀
This year they should just send the winner (famous) with a decent song. Miki who didn’t make the finale got 3 songs and famous who’s dream is to go to Eurovision got 1. Just let the rightful winner go or separate Eurovision from OT.
Also OT is an extremely intense selection so maybe they should let us (and the production) breath for a year or two. Don’t overdo it like drag race.
Maybe they should go back to using established artists who know what they’re doing..not maybe, 100% they should.
I love Miki, and he was robbed, but OT is very limitative. Big stars like Pastora Soler maybe want to go to esc, but they will not go to OT.
They should ask Eleni Foureira to represent them.She is a big star now in Spain and Spain has many decades to win.Spain can host and Eleni will win if she participates again.
Except she doesn’t even speak Spanish so no
Actually, her boyfriend is Spanish…so there’s a bit of a connection.
I’m pretty sure she’s learning. She was on a YT video by Netflix España.
Just because it worked for you in the early 2000s, doesn’t mean that fate will return.
I think Spain should just go back choosing internally like with Pastora and Edurne