After an intense week of disqualifications, quarantines and musings from extremely passionate Eurofans, we finally know our 8 Spanish finalists for Saturday night. And that means it’s time to ask a very important question: Who should win Benidorm Fest and represent Spain at Eurovision Song Contest 2022?
Benidorm Fest has been highly praised for bringing quality back to the Spanish national selection, offering a great variety of songs and artists, all hoping to end the country’s recent poor performance at Eurovision.
Before the live shows it seemed to be a two horse race – one of the favourites being the Galician ethno trio, Tanxugueiras. Their entry, “Terra” has racked up the most views on Youtube of any competing entry, although they only finished second in their respective semi-final. Instead, we saw dark horse Chanel steal first place with her explosive performance of the her latin bop “SloMo”.
Rigoberta Bandini was the other pre-contest favourite for gold with her ode to breasts, “Ay mamá“, becoming the most streamed competing song on Spotify. And on Thursday night she maintained this status, topping leader board in the second semi-final – although, as we know, anything could change in the Saturday night. Click the links below to see the performances of all 8 finalists:
- Vary Brava “Rafaella”
- Blanca Paloma “Secreto de agua”
- Tanxugueiras “Terra”
- Chanel “SloMo”
- Xeinn “Eco”
- Rigoberta Bandini “Ay mamá”
- Rayden “Calle de la llorería”
- Gonzalo Hermida “Quién lo diría”
Poll: Who should win Spain’s Benidorm Fest 2022?
The moment has come! It is time to watch all 8 competing songs in the the playlist embedded below and then vote for your favourites. Remember to choose wisely. You can vote for as many songs as you like, but you can only vote ONE time. Voting will close just before the live shows take place.
Who do you think should win Benidorm Fest? Could any of the finalists bring Spain back to the top of the leaderboard? Let us know in the comments below!
1) Tanxugueiras “Terra”
2) Chanel “SloMo”
3) Blanca Paloma “Secreto de agua”
Terra – tanxugueiras
A really strong selection and lots to like, but my favorites are possibly the most unique songs, Terra and Ay mama, and if I had to choose it would probably be Ay mama, which is really charming. It has a certain vibe that reminds me of Russia’s fabulous entry last year, although the song is very different. Excited!
I am in Benidorm and I can tell you that, whatever I think, the home crowd only want one song to win and that is ‘Ay, Mamà’ . If it were up to me though, my choice would be Rayden as his song is interesting and engaging
Tits 4 Turin!!! Tetas por Torino!!!
My personal favourite is Gonzalo Hermida with Quién lo diría. It’s a very beautiful song.
I go for Chanel, Rigoberta, Tanxu and Rayden. Any of those four will make a good Job in May.
And all can and will improve vocals (Rigoberta and Rayden back vocales) or improve the staging (Tanxu).
And stop bullying other entries Just because u think ur opinion or Taste are more important than others.
My favorites are Rayden and Tanxugueiras. Chanel is not my cup of tea, but it looks professional, while Rigoberta’s performance reminds of one of these weird Moldovan entries.
I agree with all your opinions, thank you !
voted for terra against all odds but i am shocked how far behind ay,mama is.
TANXU should win if the voices are important. Blanca Paloma is better than her son.
Scrap Benidorm, send Averno
For me, Blanca Paloma should win. I love the song, it’s artistic, authentic, magical and so Spanish. I think she would totally stand out in Turin, we have not had such a characteristic entry from Spain in years.
well Spanish people do not like ballads
What about last year?
that song flopped on the charts
Chanel has the best Eurovision ready pack but the song is rather average. Rigoberta’s staging is a hot mess. Tanxugueiras were a bit disappointing and the Spanish jury seems to be against them we don’t know why (the three national jurors placed them last). Rayden live performance was also disappointing. Blanca Paloma was almost perfect though the staging would need to be revamped and people won’t back her. Well, we’ll see. Anyway, I’m very happy we are finally getting a good NF. If I had to choose I’d go for Tanxu, Chanel or Blanca Paloma. Rayden could do well but… Read more »
My mind hasn’t changed, I still believe Rayden and Tanxugueiras have the best songs and that the issues in their performances are quite easy to fix. Could see both reaching my personal top 10. What changed is that Chanel replaced Varry Brava in my 2nd tier, along with Rigoberta, which I like as a song, but no so much as a performance (by the way, the exact opposite from “SloMo”). So, I won’t be mad when one of these 2 takes the crown, though I won’t be excited either. I just hope Spain gets behind their winner without much drama,… Read more »
If Terra wins i will be happy but i think that terra is not their best song, and their perfomance was messy all the way… They seem like they are lost on stage. If Rigoberda wins I will be happy because i like the lyrics, i like the message of the song and the staging really captivated me. But I can understand how its not everyone’s piece of cake and the juries maybe are not going to approve it, and i don’t want one song i really like to fail in the contest. If rayden wins i am gonna feel… Read more »
I’m rooting for Tanxugueiras, Rayden, Blanca Paloma, and Chanel!
I like Varry Brava and Gonzalo Hermidas’s songs too, but unfortunately I can’t see them doing well at Eurovision. Xeinn’s is probably weakest for me, and Rigoberta’s could go either way, heavily dependent on staging alterations / the marketing of the song to international audiences.
My (extremely controversial, I know) ranking is:
1. Chanel
2. Blanca Paloma
3. Rayden
4. Rigoberta Bandini
5. Gonzalo Hermida (if the staging is right and he sounds good live)
6. Tanxugueiras
7. Xeinn
8. Varry Brava
Good luck Chanel !!
SloMo is a weak, ridiculous wannabefuego2.0, Rigoberta’s entry a mess, Sounds like cats. Only good entry that needs to get polished though is “Terra” by the TANXUGUEIRAS. Austrian here.
Spanish here: I agree with you in the fact that Tanxugueiras are stronger, but the jury positioned them 5th out of 7 in their semifinal. They cannot win, even if they get 95% of televoting.
5th out of 7th yeah, but also they placed 5th with 38 points and Blanca placed #2nd with 41 points… so they were only 3 tiny points away from second place. It was super close.
Yes, but Blanca Paloma and Varry Brava are still there and it would be weird that all of a sudden, they consider Tanxugueiras to be better than them from one day to the other.
Considering the big criticism about Tanxugueiras was concerning how the entry was staged, why can’t they make some changes (camera angles and repositioning the dancers alone would solve practically everything) and end up getting a better result than Blanca and Varry Brava?
El problema de Tanxugueiras es que cantan en gallego, y eso tve no lo va a permitir. Todo es política!!
Slo Mo is better than Fuego lmao also Chanel is better than Eleni
Main problem with Ay Mama is that it is suposed to represent Spain and needs a very specific out of the box staging to be understood the right way and we all know how Spain can be shaky with their stagings..
If Ukraine was doing it,I would say yeah sure because they always slay the staging but I am not sure wheter Spain is capable of doing it because what we saw yesterday was not it..
Tanx,Rayden and Chanel have an amazing potential and I feel are bit easier to figure out the staging for…
Why do people say that Ay Mama won’t translate well on eurovision and then complain that there aren’t enough songs in other languages then english? It’s a fun & catchy song even without getting the lyrics. If Spain decides to select it then good for them choosing the song they want and not listening to eurofans online.
Also the title of the post is Who SHOULD win? Not Who SHOULDN’T win. So maybe just tell us your favorites and why they’re your favorites lol.
I agree about native languages 100%. Terra sang in native language feels and sounds unique and many eurofans will appreciate but in contrary, Ay mama sounds like a mess and it looks like a mess. I can only see a gimmicky song as a non Spanish speaker. I’m rooting for Chanel but ultimately the Spanish will vote for their favourite. I have an opinion because at the end of the day my vote counts at ESC.
As someone who always wants to see as many national-language songs as possible: it’s because the song relies heavily on people being able to understand the message, or else people will get weirded out, confused, or see it as a joke act.
That’s also a weird thing to point out when none of the finalists have English songs; so clearly there’s a reason other than “it’s in Spanish” as to why people aren’t feeling it.
“Secreto de agua”, “Terra”, “SloMo” or “Calle de la llorería” please.
I almost have the same ranking order….
Muchas gracias….
The whole point for me is that Eurovision is a tv show in which Vision has one, if not the most important factors. So for me although SloMo is not the best song I have ever heard, Chanel’s visual performance absolutely slays and could well be considered to be one of the best Eurovision dance performances of all time. For this reason alone Chanel deserves to be seen by millions on tv at the Grand Final. Well done Spain make the right choice.
For me this is among Terra, Rayden or SloMo. Tanxugueiras and Rayden have been great discoveries, I’ve been listening to a lot of their stuff and I’m obsessed! SloMo is not my kind of song, but that performance was breathtaking.
I have no idea what will happen to any of these 3 if they go to Eurovision, but I do think they would be great additions to the line-up. In any case, great job Spain for putting together the national final no one saw coming!
I would love Rayden or Tanxugueiras in Turin, it would be a big big chance for Spain, but I would not be upset to see Ay Mama in the grand final. Bravo Spain, So much quality !!!
My heart is still with Rayden but… it’s very difficult (he is also going to be opening the final, and Tanxugueiras are performing right after). Here in Spain the talk has moved from “Ay Mama/Terra” to literally everyone hyping “Ay Mama” so I guess, she will be the one taking it in the end.
I want everything except Rigoberta!!
I want everything except Chanel and Xeinn….
taste!
tanxugueiras would give spain the best result, but my heart is with chanel
I would suggest that Rigoberta and Tanxugueiras are the best two options for Spain.
One is a cheeky little mover with an incredibly powerful message and the other is a stirring ethnic powerhouse.
When you have these veritable feasts on your table, you don’t go for the bread and water.
I don’t want to hate, just to ask why you like SloMo, when we saw much better songs like this in ESC.
SloMo for me, is nothing. Yes it was GREAT performance, sexy, dirty, and for me much better then fuego.
But the song is nothing, it is like Spain 2016, just ok, nothing more then that.
For me SloMo is not for top 10, or even higher.
Spain is already in the final, and they deserve to be on the left side of board, but I think that SloMo will get Say Yay! 2016 destiny.
You can’t compare slomo and Say yay. Slomo brings latin vibe with an incredible charismatic performer. It is not only the song although the song is good enough. Again I bring the example with Foureira. Very average song performed by an incredible personality.
slomo the song isn’t incredible, slomo the performance on the other hand is fantastic
agree
I think you underestimate the value of a live performance compared to the value of the song.
You can have a great song, if the staging is nothing special it won’t get much points. On the contrary we already saw many times that average pop songs can finish really high with a great staging. I think it’s the case here with Chanel. I hope Spain will do the right choice if they want to finish in the top 10.
Here, people exalt individual songs and performers too much. For example, Finland 2018, I didn’t like anything at all, but here it was declared the winner, or I’m among the top, and I came to terms with it, seeing how much people love everything about that song, that it will end up in the top 10. But then the shock ..not because in my opinion it did not deserve to be among the last, but because it was extremely quoted here. Let Spain represent whoever they want, let them choose what they want, but I’m sorry, SloMo will not be… Read more »
SloMo will be in top 10 wheter you like it or not
SloMo is top10 for sure, the performanfe of that girl is just AMAZING.
Tanxungueiras of course
I see the Galician voters woke up.
If someone read the comments, immediately understands why Rigoberta is a good choice for eurovision… Gays the song literally say “why are you afraid of my boob” and you are proving her point by the whole reaction you are having right now…
Reminds me of Portugal’s own fado although I know Spain has their own musical style that bears that sense of longing. I just can’t put a finger on what they’d call it but “Secreto de agua” sounded similar to a modernized fado, at least to my foreign ears, it does. 😀
Terra for me
They need to work a bit on their staging and choreography. They got the top vote from the public and that gives them a fair chance.
I personnally agree with you. I know my tastes are really common but like you I often predict really well the result at Eurovision and I also think that Ay Mama would finish in the bottom 5.
It topped the charts in Spain. That’s not a good measurement of success when the Spanish can’t vote their own song at ESC. I still stand by what I say that if Ay mama is chosen, they will do poorly at ESC.
I’m right most of the times. The past few years it is so easy to predict the winner. I’m happy to be wrong and have Spain winning but I highly doubt it with Aymama. Probably bottom 5.
I didn’t say that any of the Spanish songs will win. More like their chance of success or failure at ESC. I predicted the winners since 2012 except Portugal’s win but not before listening to all songs.
We will pay lots of attention to you and spend all our money at the odds. I think you must be rich by now.
oh please let’s get out of reggaeton, well I have to admit that pop is very catchy but that’s it, one more…
So something authentic #tanxugueiras
Rayden had my favorite song but the backing vocalists are dragging the whole performance down with their screeching. If they don’t improve on that Tanxugueiras are my favorites to win. Chanel has an average song but by far the best performance so I wouldn’t be mad if she won. Xeinn is a little boring but alright so I would be fine with him too. Just ANYTHING but Rigoberta. I didn’t like the song in the first place but the staging makes it absolutely ridiculous. The message is great and I’m all for it but really? A boob globe? Guys in… Read more »
Ok mansplain us the reason you have problems with the boob globes…
I’m a woman so it’s kinda hard to “mansplain”
Chanel is the best imo, Rayden would be a great choice too. Both of them could end up in top 10, perhaps top 5 for Chanel (still imo). Tanxugueiras and Blanca Paloma are good too but clearly not my first choice.
rayden, but they will pick rigoberta or chanel
When you say they, I guess you are talking about national and international juries, which put Tanxu 5th in the 1st semi and Rayden 3rd in the 2nd. Spanish televote put them 1st and 2nd… It is therefore not the public choosing badly.
Weil Chanel was also 2nd in televote in 1st semifinal and Rigoberta was the winner of the televote in the 2nd semifinal. So its also the public who choose them.
Tanxugueiras whitout doubts. They’re de best! Your art on the stage its awesome! Love them!
Considering that the jury did not really appreciate the exhibition of Tanxugueiras (for right reasons I would add) the final is between Chanel and Rigoberta.
I have repeated this so many times. Thank you! Lots of people here saying that Spanish people have no taste because we are not taking Tanxugueiras. They cannot get a higher televoting than the one they are going to get. But the jury set them 5th out of 7 in their semifinals, what can we do? And, listen, there are 3 Spaniards and 2 foreigners in that jury, it’s not a matter of Spanish people not chosing all right.
All of them are pretty ok. But Tanxu will stand out, so I’d pick this one.
OMG. The Tanxugueiras colab. w/ Rayden “Avierno” is so much better and accessible than Terra
My top suggestions: Chanel or Tanxu. If Rayden improves on the backing vocals, he’s also in the running
Tanxugueiras son las mejores. Hay música ,hay calidad ,hay estilo propio, musica folk con raices célticas que pone en evidencia las raices comunes de muchos pueblos europeos ,y aún por encima ,moderno y actual. Puede haber más razones?
Ay Mamá should go for sure! It’s an anthem!
Tanxugueiras
Tanxugueiras !!!