If you thought Spain’s strongest national selection in years would be deprived of eurodrama, you know nothing about this country. The popularity of Benidorm Fest brought some unwanted attention, as many are accusing RTVE and the jury of rigging the contest in favour of Chanel.
In response to the growing criticism of the choice (mostly from non-fans of the contest), Spanish eurofans have started a campaign to buttress and support the “SloMo” hitmaker under the hashtag #ChanelTeQueremos (#ChanelWeLoveYou).
In a heartbreaking testament to just how ugly things have gotten, Chanel recently explained to Mejor Contigo that she had to remove Twitter from her phone to disengage with the wave of hate she received after winning Benidorm Fest.
“Art is subjective, everyone has an opinion and it’s totally comprehensible and respectable. What we cannot accept as a society is to lynch someone for their taste.”
?@ChanelTerrero, ganadora del #BenidormFest y representante de España en @eurovision_tve
— MejorContigoTVE (@MejorContigoTVE) January 31, 2022
? “@rigobandini tiene una carrera brutal y es un ejemplo para mí. Cuando dieron las votaciones nos miramos a los ojos y no hicieron falta palabras”#MejorContigo
?https://t.co/fp02f19y3W pic.twitter.com/spEo73J9HE
In a day full of interviews, RTVE’s Café d’idees hosted an emotional videocall between Chanel and her grandma.
Spain’s representative received a special gift from Gran.
? Aquest és l'emocionant retrobament entre #Chanel i la seva àvia, després del triomf al #BenidormFest!
— RTVE Notícies (@rtvenoticies) January 31, 2022
?? "La meva iaia ho és tot!" | @ChanelTerrero @cafedidees_rtve @RTVECatalunya @radio4_rne #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/wq1naRQBTf
Some of the country’s main media outlets have also got caught up in the issue…and with slightly questionable takes. There’s much talk about long posts in several media criticising Chanel’s victory in which authors allege they already knew the contest was arranged for her.
Surprisingly, though, none of the authors of those posts were actually present in Benidorm. Coincidentally, most of the journalists who were on site have praised Chanel for her victory while still demanding transparency from RTVE.
As we previously explained, the broadcaster has affirmed Chanel’s win and called on people to accept the result.
Benidorm Fest results discussed in Congress
The polemic surrounding Chanel’s victory keeps growing, and it has even reached the Spanish Congress and government.
On Monday, Unidas Podemos (one of the two parties in Spain’s government) and BNG registered questions for RTVE’s president José Manuel Pérez Tornero regarding the issue.
Both questions came from representatives elected from the four Galician provinces. It’s no wonder, as Tanxugueiras‘ participation turned the whole region crazy.
Benidorm Fest’s final was watched by almost 50% of the Galician audience. Many were disappointed after Tanxugueiras won both the demoscopic and the televote, but came fifth in the jury vote.
Despite attempts to belittle Chanel by comparing her to either Tanxugueiras or Rigoberta Bandini, none of the three acts have entered into the orbit of toxicity.
In fact, Rigoberta and Chanel were holding hands during the voting segment and later the “Ay Mamá” singer shared a long post on instagram congratulating the winner. Let there be no doubt: her mother taught her well!
View this post on Instagram
“We’ll hold you by the arms sister — just like we did in our performance. You’re going to smash it,” she wrote.
On Monday, Tanxugueiras shared a TikTok with “SloMo” playing on the background. “We love you Chanel!” they wrote.
CHANEL A TOPE CONTIGO!!!
— T A N X U G U E I R A S (@tanxugueiras) January 31, 2022
?????????
Slo mo-mo-mo-mo…???@ChanelTerrero querémoste!!? pic.twitter.com/8Frrrn0gmO
Clarification of the jury’s votes
RTVE’s statement on Sunday has had barely any effect in calming down the public, and more and more people are demanding transparency with the voting.
In fact, on Monday, RTVE’s CCOO (one of the country’s main unions) demanded to annul Benidorm Fest’s results and Chanel’s victory.
On Tuesday, PP, the main opposition party, took the issue to the Senate, where they demanded the full breakdown of all votes.
RTVE has, however, kept silent. Many raised their voices on Sunday, when Chanel’s press conference after winning turned into a short photoshoot with short interviews.
On a personal note, and as a journalist who was in Benidorm, I was quite shocked to find out that none of RTVE’s main figures would be present at Sunday’s press conference. That meant Chanel had to face the pack of journalists alone — and after what was surely an exhausting whirlwind of a few days. Following a week of extreme exposure, it’s really not understandable.
It is worth noting how RTVE handled other eurodramas during the week — with efficiency and clarity.
For example, their response to Luna Ki’s withdrawal was quite elegant, as they did not want to cause further controversy. They responded on very short notice, as Luna’s announcement came rather quickly. That made it impossible for another artist to perform instead of them, something RTVE would have liked to see happen.
María Eizaguirre from RTVE did come in the end, and journalists were able to talk to her and ask as much as we wanted, although in an ‘off-the-record’ format. Many of us wanted to know about the split results, and whether the televote figures would be published. At the time of writing this article, those facts remain unpublished.
Con respecto a la transparencia en las votaciones del #BenidormFest, solo diré una cosa: Cuando algo está bien hecho, no cuesta nada explicarlo. Si la explicación es difícil es que algo falla.
— Luis Fuster (@luisgfuster) January 31, 2022
Y no, pensar esto no es incompatible con apoyar a Chanel a muerte de aquí a mayo.
What do you make of all this? Are you supporting Chanel as we are? Share some love and let us know in the comment section below!
Can someone explain to me why Spanish people voted for Tanxugueiras? Chanel was by far the best. Tanxugueiras had no chance of being even in the top10 in eurovision.
Slomo is trending in Greek YouTube and in many other balkan countries. When was the last time that this happened for a spanish entry? you guessed it right, NEVER. So dear spaniards, appreciate your girl and stop spreading hate and toxicity
It trends because they want to see the Foureira from Cuba
i have some news for you ilithia, foureira is not the very first lady who sings and dances at the same time. Shock right?
Blah blah blah
Ilithia is your mother
my mother does not have a brain damage like you, skoupidi. Poulo tora
Aisapera lougra
me mperdeveis me ton patera sou vromiara omofoviki kariola. psofa
Thank you to Luis for this article; it really addresses all the aspects I did not understand about the reactions in Spain. As I have previously mentioned, I’m not an expert on Spain, so I appreciate the background information. Since RTVE has backed Chanel’s win (pun intended), I hope that Chanel is able to enjoy the ESC experience and is given the appropriate protections.
Spain finally got an artist and song that can put them top 5 and they are hating on her? If this is the case for fans then they deserve the 0 points they got
Most of those haters don’t even follow Eurovision. They just know it’s a big contest, so they wanted their idol to be chosen. Since it wasn’t the case, they are spreading hate and making too much noise. People shouldn’t judge the eurovision fans of a whole country in a negative way because of that. I feel sad for all the hate Chanel has been receiving. She has a very competitive song, and I’m very proud of her and the way she’s handling this situation. I hope she gets a good place to show all those critics how mistaken they were.
You’re missing the point. Tanxugueiras twitter is also full of comments calling them “screaming farmers go back to the countryside” and I’m not seeing anyone mentioning it. Twitter has always been the kingdom of hate. The issue here is that we’re fed up with spanish corruption reaching even an eurovision song contest, that the jury was rigged was pretty obvious: the televote and the demographic vote was for tanxugueiras, the internatonal jury gave tanxugueiras top points, it was only the 3 spanish members of the jury the ones giving them the lowest points possible, this was recognized by the host… Read more »
So that’s why she had to pull out of social media because of hate mail and death threats. Because people are just pointing fingers on rtve. I see.
And one more thing that is missing in this piece and that I forgot to mention in a previous post:
You didn’t even need to be in Benidorm to hear the booing coming from the arena when the jury results for Tanxugueiras was announced. You don’t need to be in Benidorm to have seen and heard how crazy that arena went for Rigoberta. When so much was filmed, recorded and broadcast, it is a very very silly argument to say that only those who where in the arena can talk.
They just need to use the same voting as in Sanremo. 33% to televoting 33% to demoscopic and 33% to the juries, with the first two having points based on the precents instead of the fixed points, so if an entry got a total of 50% of votes she gets half of the points instead only those fixed points they used.
No. They should just accept the results. Salvador Sobral lost the Televotes in Portugal and won Eurovison for his country for the first time ever. The year after Netta lost the televotes in Israel and won the contest for Israel for the first time in 20 years. In neither places people weren’t spamming hate to their own representing artist because they didn’t like the election system in reterospect.
Stop making it about anything but people being toxic.
Accepting the results and asking for a future change of the voting system is totally consistent.
Not like this.
We we need is to stop being crybabies.
As a spanish boy, I want to let you all know -eurovision fans across Europe and beyond- I feel immensely happy about our entry this year, and about all the positive reaction videos and comments Chanel’s been getting from international fans. After seven bottom 5s in a row, not only do I feel “Slo mo” can easily break that streak, but I really feel this song is top 5 material and is the most competitive entry we’ve sent in decades. I’m so sickened by the behaviour of all these toxic eurofans and non-eurofans from Spain, because it affects our image… Read more »
*Five bottom 5s in a row
Damn bro, you got the whole squad laughing! ._.
Why?
In case you didn’t get this reply (because it’s been downvoted), I realized I made a mistake and I couldn’t edit my first comment. So I just wanted to correct it, even if it was an irrelevant one (that’s why in the reply message I started with an asterisk). I said Spain has come in the bottom 5 seven times in a row. But it has actually come in the bottom 5 five times in a row (2015 was not a bottom 5, and ESC 2020 was cancelled). Anyways, my point was that our last good result was achieved in… Read more »
This sums it up really well :).
Thanks 🙂
Benidorm fest is a reflection of the political situation in Spain. Nothing can thrive without getting hate, toxicity and anger. Benidorm will be cancelled in a few years because of the drama that people create around it.
It’s funny, cause since our delegation for Eurovision was renewed, I was one of the very few spanish eurofans who was keen on the idea of an internal selection. And now I do think it would be the best choice to avoid all this drama (and it could lead us to successfull results too, like it happened for The Netherlands and Switzerland). However, realistically speaking, in the next couple years, I think RTVE will keep on organizing BenidormFest because of all the viewers and attention it got, and they may opt to change the voting system in a way that… Read more »
It’s true that the Spanish fandom is toxic but I think you are missing a point here. In spite of being one of Eurovision’s biggest losers in the last decade interest on the contest here never faded away. When TVE does something right finally the whole country got engaged with it, not just the fans. The audiences skyrocketed and the public debate OUTSIDE the Eurovision bubble has been around BenidormFest and Eurovision for weeks. At the end everyone has been very vocal about this, from media groups, newspapers and magazines to politicians, from trade unions to tv hosts, celebrities and… Read more »
Yes, and that’s the reason why there are many haters outside of the Eurovision Bubble. They either watched BenidormFest because it was a big deal here or because they wanted to support their beloved artist
Spain doesn’t deserve a better position than bottom 5. One thing is going against RTVE and another one is going for Chanel. She has no guilt at all, she did amazingly and gave a SHOW! You’ve been crying for “Lo Malo” and “Muérdeme” not winning their NF, and this year you got a better song, singer and performance. Support her.
I mean, spain fandom doesn’t deerve a better position for their attitude. Chanel does, and i hope she slays so she can shut up mouths
Fun y thing, is that they would’ve had chose any of those songs, it would have been the same thing, saying that the other song was better, I’m thinking the issue is not RTVE but the people
I am saying this as someone who loved Tanxus song, as well as Rayden’s and I’d love to see them in Eurovision and l’m happy for Chanel I understand the issue with the voting system but, would you be having the same issue if the winner act were the Tanxus or Rigorbeta? I don’t think so, you would’ve praising RTVE and the Festival and saying the other fans supporting the NQ acts to move on and accept the decision, just think about it You have the right to want a better festival but, you don’t have the right to treat… Read more »
Chanel was an obvious and very wise choice: strong, powerful and spectacular. Good luck, Spain and Chanel, be proud.
The fact that Chanel is Cuban has apparently motivated some of the hate against her, which is just depressing.
Cuban born, rised in Catalonia since she was 4 I think.
Even like that, there are plenty of comments refering to Chanel in a mean way for her Cuban roots
It’s a bit more complex than that. In Spain, 3rd and 4th waves of feminism are big big issues that dominate public debate (Ay Mamá was about that). Certain people think that Reggaeton and in general Latin American music is patriarcal, body normative and against social progress, so there’s a public debate wether this is racist or not. Some people and media say SloMo objectifies women while some others claim that there are as many views of feminism as there are cultures. As one famous journalist said: “white boobs are no more feminist than black booties”. BenidormFest is just another… Read more »
You’re making assumptions with two different issues. One is the way some of the fans are acting, which is hidious and most of spanish people can agree on this. On the other hand, the lack of transparency we’re used to within TVE, anda why most of us think Chanel was their winner even before she performed. And this is shocking, cause it goes against all they tried to sell us. I know this because of a friend who worked in the televoting lines and understand why they don’t want to publish data. More than 85 % of the votes were… Read more »
The rules were clear, the voting system was public, the jury names were also public. It doesn’t matter if she received 2.3% or 0.5, 3rd place receives 20 points, those were the rules and all the contestans accepted them.
Sure, it’s legit. I don’t want Chanel to be disqualified, I just want the different votes to be public. And let’s see if with the right pressure TVE starts being less obscure. They should improve several things next year if they want the format to be a success, followed by more than eurofans.
I would like to know the details too, but they already explained why the jury vote is not public: to prevent what happened in Objetivo Eurovisión, when the jury received death threats and was physically assaulted because Mirela didn’t win. We can like the reason or not, but it’s not a random excuse they just made up.
People are talking like she came last in televote and then got selected, please: she came second in the semi with televote and third in the final, that is a respectable result and not the first not the last time a selected entry was not the first choice by the public. Spain should be happy they now have two local hits and one song praised by international public so all top 3 songs really benefit from the Benidorm fest.
But televoting only accounts for 25% percent of final result… Even if Tanxu got 100% of the televote, it wouldn’t change the results.
People tend to oversee the fact that Tanxu had a pretty messy performance in SF1, and still had issues in the final… And we knew Rigoberta was a “either you love it or hate” it kind of thing. The fact that Chanel won with an almost flawless performance shouldn’t come as a surprise. You can like it or not, but she didn’t screwed up like Tanxu or was as polarizing as Rigoberta.
Why is this even a discussion. People, especially those Spanish eurofans are disgusting for bringing a person so down, abusing her, sending death threats, because their favourite didn’t win. Her song, her performance is absolutely amazing. I will support her till the end for the fact, that people are acting this way, it’s totally inhumane. I hope, she will reach top10 so that everyone could shut up. Go Chanel. Stay strong.
It’s not her we have a problem with. We have a problem with the MALE writers and composers giving HER sexualized lyrics to sing. We have a problem with them using her and taking advantage of her because she has dreams she wants to make true. And all royalties and all the money to be made is going to go to the MEN behind her, not to her.
This is so not sexist (irony on). So you are saying that since she is a woman she is used, she does not have free will, she does not choose.
I think your kind of feminism is an excuse to attack and abuse hot beautiful ladies. If instead of Chanel, she was a chubby girl I am sure you will see it as inclusive or whatever and hence assuming a round lady cannot arouse sexual thoughts on men.
By the way, is Shakira, Beyonce, Ariadna Grande… also “used”?
Even tho Tanxu had a great song and vocal harmonies,performance itself and camera angles flopped and as for Rigoberta,her staging was a complete mess.
This situation reminds me of Beovizija 2020 where two favourites were Hurricane and Andrija Jo.. Juries gave Andrija only 1 point and his fans went riot…
Somethimes pre favourites don’t deliver and some performes smash it and that’s how it goes…
Whoever Spain picked from four biggest favourites,they would do better then they usually do…
Stepping off topic for a moment: Spanish private broadcaster TEN, which was already set to air the Eesti Laul and UMK finals later this month, has also picked up the rights to air the final of Una Voce per San Marino.
No one is going to mention that “Slo Mo” is a ripoff of serbian song “Ekstravagantno” by Dara Bubamara? She’s actually suing Chanel for copyright. No end of this drama or whatsoever…
So a Serbian nobody with a washed up song is suing Chanel (who literally just debuted) over a song that shares similarities with a few other Reggaeton, Latin-Pop, Dancehall and Moombhatoon songs so she can have her 15-minutes of Fame and make a quick buck?
Seriously, this is like the Good 4 U comparisons all over again
Is is really possible people believe that an unknown singer (Chanel) before Benidrom fest, had a power to rig or influence the voting? Seriously?!
No, she never had that power. The composers, however, did.
Well, apparently SloMo had been sitting with RTVE for a while, and was sent to Chanel by one of the consulting producers of BeniFest (Tony Sánchez-Olsson) who knew Chanel from her work in musical theatre. Leroy Sanchez, who authored both SloMo and last year’s “Voy a quedarme”, has said the song had been written for some time before Chanel came along. SloMo is also backed by BMG (one of the only 2 entries backed by a label in BeniFest, the other being Rayden) as opposed to Rigoberta and Tanxugueiras, who self-publish their work. Interestingly, this is also the first year… Read more »
Not her. She has no power whatsoever. Behind her there are very powerful people using her. And RTVE. I’ll give you the names and you can research further if you want:
Kyle Hanagami (US choreographer)
Leroy Sánchez (ES UK US) composer
Keith Harris (US) producer
Ibere Fortes
Maggie Szabo
Arjen Thonen
BMG record label
If you don’t know them well that’s why they’re even more powerful
I never know what your comments mean, whether you’re supportive or not. I’m not mad, nor am I pleased, just confused.
It’s great to see Rigoberta and Tanxugueiras support Chanel. Some of their so-called fans should learn a lesson from them. Voicing your dissatisfaction is one thing – but threatening someone’s life just for singing a song should never be.
Indeed.
It’s not Chanel’s fault. She delivered an excellent performance that will secure a safe good result in Turin. Even though i love Chanel and her performance, i was disappointed to see Tanxu flopping in the jury while smashing the televoting & demoscopic vote. RTVE should be transparent with the jury voting & televoting. I think they don’t want to reveal the televoting figures because the massive lead of Tanxu will cause further criticism and drama. However, we should know how each jury member voted and if the rumours are true e.,g. that the choreographer tanked Tanxu. Curious to see how… Read more »
This may be somewhat of an unpopular opinion but I think that if the jurors whom had previous associations with Chanel or Rayden (as was mentioned in a previous article) gave them top marks in the final, I still dont get why it would be an issue. Chanel and Rayden and tbh id include Blanca in this all had brilliant concepts when it came to hoe they presented their songs, their stylings and very all vocally great. I think it would make sense for a juror to reward songs that really paid attention to details like stlying,staging etc and how… Read more »
apologies, I meant if they gave them top marks.
The biggest toxicity cames from Rigoterfa and Tanxugueiras fans, which is sad considering the sorority the contestants themselves keep as the most important aspect of their support. What hurts the most about Spanish’s fans is how they were supporting musicians that bring diversity to the contest, and they are attacking a Latina for having Latin music and lyrics that are just about having fun. Chanel is a powerful performer who worked HARD to reach success.
So sad about this situation. Hope Chanel is fine.
I was rooting for Tanxugueiras and I had made my peace with the fact that Chanel was probably going to win as far back as the first semi-final. Their fans should too.
Rigoterfa???
Rigoterfa?!?!
Carla Antonelli, a prominent Spanish trans politician (our 1st trans MP!) said it best when she said that calling Ay Mamá a TERF song was “a quantum leap into deliriant madness”. Her statement read “Do all women bleed? of course not. Can we therefore not speak of those who do? (…) Rigoberta has always supported trans-inclusive feminism.” As for people targeting Chanel for being latina – I’ve genuinely only seen that raised as an issue within this forum. She has grown up in Catalonia since she was 4 years old. I’ve seen quite a few tweets about that one picture… Read more »
Spain and the UK really are wonders in that their countries are perceived as not caring about Eurovision but the most rabid, passionate fans in those countries would make the Swedes and Turks shudder. The most unreasonable of the Spanish Eurofans will, to quote Patton Oswalt, miss everything cool and die angry. (Which is not to say ALL Spanish Eurofans, like every country they have their reasonable and less-reasonable fans, don’t come for me).
It really is just a wonder that RTVE put in this amount of effort and actually listened to fan feedback, to the point where they called it “the contest YOU want” – not what WE want, what YOU want, because we care about YOU – and came up with a contest with great entries and a humongous viewing share, only to STILL get sh*t from fans who’ll never be satisfied with anything.
Downvote me all you want, hardcore Spanish fans have to be the least grateful Eurofans out there. Not that they’ve had much CAUSE to be grateful in recent years, but this year they ought to be.
Actually this is untrue. TVE has been lost and absent for years when it comes to Eurovision, but media and public interest about Eurovision is huge in Spain. Maybe too much and the fuss about BenidormFest confirms it.
I think that the problem is not that they scored Chanel the highest, in fact the discussion is not about Chanel winning. The problem is with the score they gave to Tanxugueiras. Even if this was not the jury’s first option, leaving them as fifth both in their semi final as well as in the final does not reflect what was seen in the show. They definitely have a top 3 performance and it was pretty evident they put them in that position to eliminate their winning option which is totally not ethical or correct.
Some good news: RTVE confirmed that Chanel goes to Eurovision with the same team of dancers, including Kyle Hanagami as the choreographer. That’s a big name, love it or hate it but they’re not going to play this year.
They were excellent, so glad the team from Benidorm stays the same in Torino!
I thought it was a given
Never a given when we talk about RTVE. Sometimes they force their own names. Right now we have to wait and see if they confirm Carmen Farala as the stylist or if they force another name closer to RTVE (they have a reality show about it after all…)
I mean, the choreography (and her managing to dance it well as well as maintain her voice) was a huge reason as to why Chanel won so retaining the team makes the most sense. The slowed down movements timed to the chorus drops are so effective and would be unique compared to the moves we associate with club bangers.
RTVE have a bad habit of staging a song one way and then relying on a ringer to potential gussy it up for the contest (Hans Pannecouke, Fokas Evangelinos, the lady who staged “Rise Like a Phoenix”), only to realize too late that the song doesn’t fit their skill sets.
That’s the biggest thing: making sure the staging is good. Spain focuses way too much usually on how well-known the staging director is versus how well they actually fit the song (hence the absolute trainwreck “La venda” wound up being when it could’ve made the top ten), so keeping the guy from Benidorm is the strongest thing they could do.
Which means they’re not going to try to fix what isn’t broken, which was one of my biggest fears about Chanel going to Turin. If you excuse me, I have a massive sigh of relief to breathe.
That girl offered us one of the best live performances seen in national finals, maybe even in Eurovision. It’s disgusting to treat her like that. I was also a huge fan of Tanxu and Rayden, but Chanel is a phenomenal performer and she deserves respect.
Take your complaints to RTVE who designed the selection and the voting method (and when you do, do so politely as well). Not to her, she won fair and square based on the agreed upon rules.
“In response to the growing criticism of the choice (mostly from non-fans of the contest)”. This is the writer’s personal estimation. It’s not supported by evidence. You are subtly yet rather obviously discrediting the opinion of what you call the “non-fans” without even explaining where you got this demographic assumption from. I have a lot of Spanish esc-loving social media friends who hate this result but I wouldn’t argue this is sufficient evidence to suggest Spanish fans of the contest dislike Chanel. If you want to support her just write an opinion piece and do that.
Whilst you do make a valid point that there are some Spanish fans who are unhappy with the results, there are also plenty of Spanish fans who are happy with the result and are fully backing her in Turin. I think the “non-fans” that this article refers to are the general public who don’t have an interest or much of an interest in eurovision and media outlets who are discrediting her win.
They’re literally treating her like a garbage, which must be sad to her considering how effort she put into everything and how it all looked good. This might not be my favourite Spanish Eurovision song in years, but we finally have Spanish representative who is actually passionate about the contest and who want to have a good result. All other Spanish representatives recently looked so uninterested and unpassionate about the contest that I’m not surprised they ended up in bottom 5 even if I quite like some songs that Spain sent.
Spanish moan for a national selection. They get one, but not just a late late show one, but probably the best one this year and then what do they do? Completely tarnish it by bullying a girl who deserved the win.
Spain are not ready for a National Final. Shame on you all.
Spanish fans love eurodrama and they have proved it multiple times. However, fans are suspicious because RTVE has rigged the voting before (see national final 2017). However, this time we all agree that Chanel is a worthy winner based on the perfect performance she delivered. So yes, one of the best entries from Benidorm won and will represent Spain
I will never respect people that harass artists because of things that are beyond their control. Okay, your favourite artist didn’t win, but grow up and deal with it like a decent human being. Send formal emails to RTVE or stuff like that, but leave the artists alone. I didn’t even follow the Spanish pre-selection so I don’t know how good or bad the other songs were, but I can’t imagine that the current abuse is in any way excusable.
While putting someone who has links to the 2 contestants to a jury of 5 is plain stupid, unless Spanish fans calm down, they will not find one single contestant for Benidorm next year. Who would want to be a part of this toxic environment?
It was too good to be true… I was excited because RTVE was doing amazingly this year, everything looked good and polished and now they are just keeping quiet, letting Chanel get all the hate — mostly from locals, by the way, Spanish Eurovision fans have been supporting her ever since she slayed her semifinal because she is THAT good — not a very good image for future editions, in my opinion. With how things are being handled, if I were a renowned artist I would think twice before taking part in BenidormFest. At least, I hope they take care… Read more »
They thought spanish eurofans were going to riot, just like when Manel Navarro, that’s why some eurovision journalists joined the mess… but the miracle happened, and a lot of spanish eurofans are 100% with Chanel even if she wasn’t their fav.
Yeah, that is the thing, that fans are okay with it (?) She was one of the most voted songs too … everything got weird when politicians started talking about the importance of the “messages in the songs” when they have never cared about the contest in itself ._.
The only good thing about this is: we talk about locals, they react fast, they forget fast. In 2 weeks, national televisions and politicians are not going to talk abot it, that’s how it works. And then Eurovision arrives, and if Chanel comes back with a good result, locals will say she is amazing and they always loved her.
You are right about that. Hopefully, next week everything will be over.
This is more than just criticism, this is also fake news. People saying that Marvin Dietmann, jury, was behind the staging, when it’s Kyle Hanagami. People attacking her cause she has a record label behind her, as if that was something bad. People even saying that the money is going to America because of that record label, as if the money stayed in Spain when Thomas G:son created Quedate Conmigo. They’re even complaining because jury and people didn’t vote the same (imagine that in Eurovision). It’s absurd.
I didn’t see anyone saying that Dietmann was behind her staging.
She was just signed to BMG Spain for this single. Every artist is signed to a record label, it’s normal lol.
I think people left some shade for Chanel because she was born in Cuba, the criticised the song’s lyrics and how misogynistic it is compared to Terra and Mama. Most of them criticised her relationship with the choreographer.
Oh yeah you have people saying that about Dietmann, you even have people sharing the results of a random poll as if it was official.
And about the Cuba thing… what can we say… we had a TV host in a promotional interview saying that he wants to see Ana Mena winning Sanremo cause, that way, a spanish singer can win the competition. He had to clarify his words after saying it cause it was a mess.
FWIW, that same choreographer on the jury worked on “Amanecer”…a song co-written by Thomas G:son, who also had a song in the running.
I think both parties are at fault. The fans are obviously super toxic in this sense and have to just move on. Don’t send hate to an artist. Like how is it her fault that she won? Unless she had bribed the jury, then yes, she is at fault, but there is no evidence of that so just move on. Additionally, I think the Benidorm Festival really messed up in several ways, including giving juries so much weight (while having 2/5 of the members being international) and for not clarifying the votes. It is also very clear that the jury… Read more »
And now this drama with Serbian singer, Dara Bubamara, you could read something on her instagram. My opinion is that she is trying to find way to return her popularity, this woman has no smarter job to do than inventing lies. It is true that chorus has similar rhythm, but that is all. #ChanelTeQueremos
She’s a moron. Pay her no mind.
Do they really expect us to believe that an international team behind SloMo checked the Serbian music and decided they want to copy a chorus from a Serbian song? LMAO.
Return? No man, she never had any popularity. She is trying to gain some fame using chanel and her song
The two songs have nothing to do
I still cannot believe she won. Neither can’t believe I love a spanish song since 2016, lmao.
Dislike me pls. Terra was so overrated for some reasons that I still don’t know, the chorus was too repetitive.
The verses, language and context were good enough to outweigh repetitive chorus at many fans
You have a point. It is very repetitive and they looked very angry which made me thing that their approach on staging was too risky for Eurovision aka they would have been seen as the shouty Spanish witches with 2 half-naked full-of-glitter guys. Remember Tulia stayed out of the final in 2019 and both bands share similarities.
+ Chanel embodies spanish music in general just like Barbara did for France last year. Obviously it won’t come 2nd because “Voilà” is not a sound you hear everyday on radios like latin music.
Voila was more unique than SloMo and more authentic.
I love Chanel but SLoMo is nothing special. Yes, it is a catchy but we’ve heard similar bops. It’s the performance that is stealing the show.
When I think to french music, I think of something that sounds like “Voilà”, and when I think of spanish music, I think of something that sounds like “Slomo” and not like “Terra”, that’s all I meant.
Voilá is to French culture what Terra is to Spanish culture. The problem is that in Europe they believe that SloMo is Spanish, when it is not. Nevermind, now we have a job and it is supporting Chanel as our one and only candidate. Lots of love and support to our queen Chanel!