Chanel Benidorm Fest

They’ve got the fire, and ain’t nobody ’bout to put it out. Spain’s RTVE has opened song submissions for Benidorm Fest 2023 — its national selection for Eurovision. The submissions portal will close on 10 October at 23:59 Spanish time.

The call for submissions states that producers will consider singers with songs, but also songs that still don’t have a performer. You may recall that last year the “SloMo” songwriters and RTVE searched far and wide before finding the booty hypnotic Chanel, who took the song all the way to third place. Match-making is part of the challenge!

In addition to this public call, the broadcaster is simultaneously inviting well-known performers and songwriters to submit proposals. It’s a smart move. Sweden’s Melodifestivalen follows a similar playbook, sifting through public submissions while also engaging directly with bright lights who can help build hype with their existing fan bases and, of course, using the talent that helped launch them in the first place.

As specified in the Benidorm Fest 2023 rules, RTVE will select a maximum of sixteen participants and six alternates for the festival. 

You can read the complete rules here.

Chanel: Most-watched Eurovision 2022 performance

The casting call coincides with some very good news for the Spanish delegation. Chanel’s live performance from the grand final now has more than 24 million views, making it the most-watched of all of this year’s performances.

The winners Kalush Orchestra had held the title until now. They still have an impressive 23 million views for their moving performance of “Stefania.”

Back in June globally renowned choreographer Kyle Hanagami and songwriter Leroy Sanchez explained how Chanel came into their orbit in a fantastic YouTube documentary.

It started in 2021 when Leroy shared his song “SloMo” with Kyle and they had a feeling they were on to a good thing.

“We wanted to do the song for a diva,” Leroy says in the documentary. “I showed the song to Kyle and he loved it.”

Sure, the pair had “SloMo”. But they needed a performer who could do it justice both musically and physically, since this is a song that has to move. With Benidorm Fest on their minds, they turned to RTVE for candidates. 

Unfortunately none of those performers had that X factor: They passed on all of the options sent to them from the Spanish broadcaster. Then, at the end of the road, Chanel stepped into the frame.

“She blew our mind, she is so talented,” Kyle says of Chanel, who hadn’t yet released a single or competed in any musical competitions.

“I feel like [Spain] have been sending a lot of the same thing and it hasn’t been well-received,” Kyle remembers. “So I really wanted to come in and try something different this year.”

With Chanel he finally had his muse. And we all know what happened!

Who do you hope to see in Benidorm Fest next year? Let us know down below!

12 Comments
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Thallo
Thallo
1 year ago

Chanel needs to return to Benidorm Fest in a few years, she’s Eurovision winner material.

All she needs is a song that’s better than SloMo and she’s destined to win.

PP77
PP77
1 year ago

We all know that winner of ESC 2023 will be again Ukraine

Benito Camelo
Benito Camelo
1 year ago
Reply to  PP77

The war will be over by then, hopefully

PP77
PP77
1 year ago

I think Spain, UK was so overrated by juries , maybe because EBU wanted that countries to host next ESC instead Ukraine.
Sweden,Spain,Serbia, UK,Moldova,Greece,Portugal,Poland..deserve more esc trophy then Ukraine.

PP77
PP77
1 year ago

Without war in Ukraine, Ukraine song from 2022 would be out of TOP 10 in final .

Spaniard lover
Spaniard lover
1 year ago

Chanel queen!! But she needs a professional manager. She has everything: look, voice, talent, ability to move. But 4 months after Eurovision she still didnt release any now Song to blow her carrere up! She has to find a professional team which put her carrere in a right path!
I wonder who will succeed Chanel as Spain’s representative. Not easy task. Hope it won’t be Chanel 2.0 (like in case of Cyprus and Eleni) but a Completely new quality.

Lorena
Lorena
1 year ago
Reply to  Spaniard lover

Hope so too. I’d love to see some of the talented new voices mixing modern music and flamenco: Guitarricadelafuente, María José Llergó, María Peláe…
As much as I like Lola Índigo, it would be Chanel 2.0, as you say…. we can leaver her for later. Comparisons are not good.
Chanel was great in the Coca Cola Music Experience concert…. singing another version of SloMo though. Nevertheless, she asked for patience. She said that something good is coming… but she didn’t say when.

Henno
Henno
1 year ago

Sorry, but it doesn’t take an expert in analytics to realise why she is the most-watched performance…

James
James
1 year ago
Reply to  Henno

Why is it then?

Sir Stevia
Sir Stevia
1 year ago
Reply to  Henno

Because of the lovely vocal and epic choreo. That’s why.

Sir Stevia
Sir Stevia
1 year ago

Despite how busted this NF was the person who should have won, won. And that’s what matters in the end.
Spain keep making this NF stronger and hopefully this won’t be the last time you’re top tenning this decade : )

Jose
Jose
1 year ago