It was just a matter of time. Just like the domino pieces meme, it all began with Romania selecting wrs with his Spanish titled song “Llámame”. Two months and several dominoes later, he’s performing on prime time television in Spain. He said “Hola mi bebebé” and the whole country replied.
Romania’s representative at Eurovision 2022 may have not fared so well in the final, but he has managed to become a viral sensation in Spain, a country which awarded him 16 points in the Semi-Final and 14 more in the final.
wrs in Spain: From meme to star
It all began with small waves when he first performed in Romania’s Selectia Nationala. Spanish Eurovision Twitter went bananas.
Estoy dentrísimo de esta fantasía hortera de la preselección rumana.
— ? Álvaro Onieva ? (@AlvaroOnieva) February 14, 2022
HOLA MI BEBEBÉ,
LLÁMAME, LLÁMAMEpic.twitter.com/tN9lfYDZ68
Weeks passed and Spain just kept on falling in love with wrs.
It probably didn’t hurt that he became one of Chanel’s besties.
"Hola mi bebebé, hola mi bebebé"
— Eurovisión RTVE (@eurovision_tve) March 25, 2022
¿Qué os parece este baile de @ChanelTerrero y @wrsandrei? ?? #BCNeurovision pic.twitter.com/lY8xhtBWya
And after Eurovision, his song has become massive. It plays at clubs, of course. But you also randomly hear it on the street.
Salir de fiesta y que me pongan dos veces SloMo, una vez Ay Mama y Hola mi bebebé. No nos hemos visto en otra.
— AlejandrU (@AlejandruFR) May 29, 2022
The “bebebé” of Spanish television
wrs is rightly riding this wave of popularity. He’s making the most of his moment by appearing on some of the biggest radio stations and television channels in the country. He’s left behind a trail of iconic moments which Spaniards have been eating up.
To begin with, RTVE interviewed him in Madrid. Standing in Plaza Mayor, he commented that he wanted to have children and live in Tenerife. Life goals, honestly.
¿Eres de los que no te puedes quitar de la cabeza el "Llámame" de @wrsandrei?
— La 1 (@La1_tve) May 23, 2022
El representante de Rumanía en el festival de #Eurovision ha estado con un equipo de #CorazÓNtve paseando por la Plaza Mayor
¡Mañana la entrevista completa! https://t.co/OtYkiJKEf5 pic.twitter.com/GYcWKCdfbW
The day after, he visited “Cuerpos Especiales”, Europa FM’s morning show.
There he made a version of “Llámame” with host Eva Soriano. It added a spicy twist to the original: “I sent you a very hot WhatsApp and you left me on read,” read the new lyrics.
Lo conseguimos: @EvaSoriano90 ha hecho su versión de "Llámame" con @wrsandrei, el representante de Rumanía en #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/7I3RIQrEgJ
— Cuerpos Especiales (@CuerposEspecial) May 23, 2022
He’s made good friends with Eva Soriano, one of the country’s comedians of the moment. He’ll perform on her TV show tonight. (You can watch La Noche D, on La 1, here).
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Hola mi Sálvame
If you’re familiar with Spanish television through Eurovision Twitter, you’ll know about Sálvame. Yes, that show of the lady that appears when you get cancelled by the Spaniards, Belén Esteban.
Well, on Wednesday wrs spent the whole day in Telecinco, and he got his moment of glory by exposing host Jorge Javier Vázquez on Twitter. That was brave of him, knowing he had to perform in the afternoon show and in the evening one — a fashion show in which media personalities acted as models.
During the afternoon show, Jorge Javier and collaborator Lydia Lozano went to meet wrs when he arrived. Lozano was crying as she didn’t like the dress she was going to wear on that night’s program, and wrs went to hug her directly, snubbing Jorge Javier.
Wrs, el representante de Rumania en Eurovision, le da un abrazo a Lydia Lozano. El mejor vídeo que verás hoy #yoveosalvame pic.twitter.com/uA8ZmVLZ3e
— GOSSIP BOY (@JuanjoCotilla) May 25, 2022
Jorge Javier was saying “I love your song”… however that was not the case. And wrs exposed him on social media. He gets the game.
Este tipo es muy indeciso ? pic.twitter.com/FXHdM3dII6
— wrs (@wrsandrei) May 25, 2022
Finally, he performed Llámame at night, in the middle of the media starlets’ fashion show. Benidorm Fest alums Javiera Mena and Varry Brava also joined the party.
Descubrir este vídeo mientras estoy de cervezas ha sido una experiencia extrasensorial pic.twitter.com/JVskw1KhKm
— Luis Fuster (@luisgfuster) May 25, 2022
A whole week of “Hola mi bebebé” on Spanish television has gone by. What’s next for wrs? Will he release music in Spanish? Has any foreign artist got such a reception in your country? Let us know in the comment section below!
There was talk that Romania was going to take a break if he didn’t qualify. He obviously deserved to qualify. Did he just save Romania in Torino?
He is adorable. he’s getting the Eleni Foureira love (on a smaller scale but you get what I mean).
He totally deserves this success past Eurovision. A genuine person and an amazing artist!
So happy for WRS, I love him, he is amazing!!!
wow that’s great for him although i expected it since he sent a Spanish-inspired song and I bet that was his aim as well to gain some recognition in Spain.
By the way, I saw the TV show yesterday night and I just wanna say: Eva Soriano to host Benidorm Fest 2023, please!
I think that there will a spate of entries in 2023 with one or two word titles in Spanish
I made a comment below. It is not that easy as inserting one or two words in Spanish. It didn’t work for the Hurricanes or for Elena Tsagrinou and there is a reason for that.
So happy for him and can’t wait to hear more! This is my biggest grower this year. Did not care too much about the song before the contest but after the rehearsals I was in love!
To think that Serbia and The Netherlands were higher than this.
A TASTE
We only do well with memes and novelty entries (WRS, the yodel, Cezar and so on), our broadcaster tries rigging votes and then cries about getting caught, this is the unfortunate reality of our country in ESC…
“Memes and novelty” entries are very much welcomed in Eurovision and there should be no shame in them.
You are right. How can anyone complaine that is successful, but not with another song. Is like winning the lottery, but you complaine that you wanted to win with another numbers.
Cute comment, not gonna lie, but are meme/joke and novelty entries really THAT welcome in Eurovision tho? Remember Moldova? It was a song with a meaningful message yet, because it was cheerful, people thought that it was a joke entry, the way eurovision fans hated on this song put such a pressure that I had to feel ASHAMED of the country I was born in and wish I was born in one of the Big 5 countries instead, and for months before the GF I tried to despise my culture. So….like I said……cute comment but I am sure that the… Read more »
It must be hard for snobs like you in this world, and the self-hate you inflict upon yourself is appaling. You need to learn that peace and happiness come from inside.
thanks for preaching about peace, happiness and whatnot but I don’t need it
Sure, but other countries’ memes go along with some good entries (Iceland 2020-21, Lithuania 2020-21, Serbia 2022), we just send memes for the sake of memes.
Correct me if I’m wrong. But this song has some kind of Gypsy Kings vibe. So, it’s not just the Spanish lyrics & the chorus.
Everywhere you go all you hear is: Hola Mi BeBeBe Hola Mi BeBeBe LLALLAME LLALLAME. It’s not just in Spain that it is a summer hit.
And everyone will forget in a few months about this song …
I doubt it.
good song and performance
YESSSSS, SO HAPPY FOR WRS, IT’S WHAT HE DESERVES ??????????
I can’t even imagine how many Spanish songs we would get if Eurovision was hosted in Spain, just because of the insane fan reaction it would get.
it’s what he deserves ??
It’s nice to see his picture attached to a HAPPY article for once!
Happy for him!
For Spanish eurofans, it was clear from the very beginning that this was going to be a success in Spain. Spanish televote gave him 12 points in the SF and 10 points in the Final (12 went to Ukraine, like almost everywhere else). I remember answering a foreign eurofan in this site. They could not understand what was so special for Spaniards in this song, apart from some lyrics in Spanish (after all, many other songs had too and were not so succesful in Spain, such as El Diablo or Loco Loco). I will repeat my thoughts: Lyrics are quite… Read more »
Ngl I can see Llámame crossing the pond if it keeps its momentum
I like WRS and his music.. He is an interesting performer. Would love to go to one of his concerts.
Didn’t expect this to become so successful.