She placed third at Gala Eurovisión with her duet with eventual winner Miki.
But now months after that show, Natalia is back in the Eurovision headlines.
That’s because the songwriter of Natalia’s other national final song – “La Clave” – Merche says none of the Operación Triunfo acts wanted to go to Eurovision.
Speaking to El Confidencial Merche says the experience felt like a “waste of time”:
“I had a great time composing, but when we got there we realized that none of the kids wanted to go to Eurovision. They made a kind of boycott of all the songs. What started as an exciting thing, ended up being a ‘plof’ for everyone. None of the artists had the slightest intention of going to the festival.
“I thought: why have I wasted my time? I do not understand anything. We were excited that our song was going to Eurovision, but our singer did not … She (Natalia) told us that she was going to sing the song, but that she did not want to go to the festival, that she felt it, and she asked her fans to vote for another one. When I arrived, I was surprised.”
Now Natalia has hit back in her own interview.
Speaking in Je Ne Sais Pop, Natalia says Merche’s comments have left her feeling “unnecessarily attacked”.
“There was never any intention of boycott on our part. I’m very sorry that you think that. There was no such intention on our part.”
Speaking for herself, she said she was reluctant to go to Eurovision because of her lack of experience.
“It seems to me a responsibility, and I think you have to have a foundation as an artist, a career, something to back you up, for which I do not feel prepared. I am a Girl. I have never worked. I’m the most amateur in the world. I would prefer that the Eurovision act was a more prepared person than me, that they knew what they were doing and that it was with their own song.”
Unsurprisingly she also says she won’t sing “La Clave” again.
What do you think? Do you think there was a boycott or do you think like Natalia the other acts felt they lacked experience? Let us know in the comments below!
I think she is right. In Germany there is a discussion about “Freshtorge”. He is an Comedian and want to represent San Marino. In my oppinon i wish that only participats should start when they have a good voice and are ready for the show – not only just for fun! What do you think?
OT: Miki has a new song called Celébrate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgB056Q-HIs
I’m glad Natalia stood up for herself. I think it’s wrong for merche to go after the performers, where they could many reasons they feel the way they do, and it could be more a flow in their eurovision selection process, and not in the performers themselves.
Dear Natalia and everyone else, without a good song everyone feels insecure. That’s why it’s called Eurovision SONG Contest. Now go and tell that to Miki, Alfred y Amaia, Manel and so on!
this is exactly the reason why Spain fails time and time again. they use the wrong format to select songs and artists as the OT participants take part with totally other interests than going to Eurovision.
btw no problem, not to hear La Clave probably never again.
And this is the problem with how they’re selecting their act. Eurovision is like a booby prize in OT and no one signs up for it with the idea of going to Eurovision. It either needs to be part of the prize for the winner and OT needs to be advertised as “also you go to Eurovision!!” or they need to pick a new format entirely.
Rosalía enters the room
Both arguments are valid. They really need to change the format imo.
Can we just be happy that Spain is joining JESC?! 🙂
It seems Natalia is not boycotting only singing the song, it is clear she is boycotting shaving her arms too
Leaving out all the drama, the story shows at least 3 of the many reasons why the format Spain is using to pick their entry is problematic: – The singer may think OT is the right move for their career, but have a different opinion on Eurovision. – The songwriter picks someone to defend their song, but the singer has no say on it, they can always hate the song. – Some singers had 2 competing songs. Campaigning equally for both of them could hurt their chances. Being more attached to one of them and putting more effort on it… Read more »
All of this ^^^^
Spain should lay off the drama and start focusing on giving time to the composers to write descent songs. Nothing good can come when the singers receive the songs one week before the show
Sure. Unless you’re tangled up in a scandal like Manel, singers, ESPECIALLY new ones who are just starting their careers, would kill for the amount of publicity and press participants get from competing in the contest. The truth is they don’t want their careers to be over before they’ve even started with a finish at the bottom of the scoreboard, which (undeservedly at times) seems to be the norm for Spain. I’m not a fan of any of the acts that have come from OT but imo Spain did has not sent a bad entry between 2011-2017, 2017 not being… Read more »
Lets hope they wont bring such drama to JESC XD.
Why even brother with this contest anymore its all politics and europe hates us because of brexit we could send Adele and Elton John and we would still finish last this year we should of won and in 2010 too but its difficult not to finish last because all the eastern countries votes for each others bad songs, i never seen a singer from Albania or Ukraine have a hit in the UK so stop this contest its all gimmicks and politics anyway xoxo
Era Istrefi and Dua Lipa enter the room …
Don’t forget rita ora and ava max
You didn’t come last because of Brexit, you came last because your song and performance lacked originality. And Europe doesn’t hate you, they probably see you as this big music industry which has potential to do great things, but the UK is so ashamed with their risk taking (I’ll include myself in that one) that you just play it safe. You need something to stand out from everyone else and not be too formulaic.
imagine thinking uk 2010 deserved anything higher than last place lmao, gj troll
Hilarious that people are actually down voting this and there are even serious replies.
bruh you did bad even before brexit lol
Isn’t this the same fool who commented that “MACEDONIA IS GREEK” the other day. Begone troll.
Her loss. “La Clave” is much better than her newer songs (like “Tarantula”) which are simply Billie Eilish rip-offs.
This is the danger of using an unrelated talent show to select your artist and (in the case of Spain) song for Eurovision. Just stage a normal national final- because otherwise the Spanish televote will most likely be more of a personality contest than a genuine appraisal of what songs are genuinely popular with the masses.
Seems like a hard way to slay off Merche but also a subtle way to tell that she has passion on writing her own song if it were for Eurovision.
And it shades a problem with doing selections in OT which have been in discussion before. OT would be better to strengthen contestant’s career foundations, so I can see where Natalia’s heading at.
I would not want to go to Eurovision either with a bad song like La Clave. Merche should stop wasting her time with songwriting indeed, she aint good. Natalia did just fine with Nadine se salva