Spain, es tu momento! The road to Eurovision takes us to Benidorm this week for the country’s national selection — Benidorm Fest 2025. The competition kicked off tonight with semi-final 1, where eight contestants battled for four spots in the next round: the final this Saturday.
The event unfolded at the iconic Palau Municipal d’Esports l’Illa de Benidorm — the very stage where Chanel (ESC 2022), Blanca Paloma (ESC 2023), and Nebulossa (ESC 2024) secured their Eurovision dreams.
By the end of the night, four acts secured their spot for another shot at winning over Spain and claiming their ticket to Basel this May.
Guiding us through the show were three absolute queens — Eurovision 2014 icon Ruth Lorenzo, joined by Paula Vázquez and Inés Hernand. And they’re not stepping down just ye — they’ll be back to bring the energy on Thursday and Saturday.
Benidorm Fest 2025: Semi-final 1
This year, the full semi-final results were kept secret to avoid influencing the grand final’s voting. During the live show, both the jury (50%) and the public (25% free app vote, 25% televote) selected their top four acts. From there, the hosts announced the final qualifiers after tallying the complete vote.
Results of the jury
The acts are listed in the order of performance:
- Kuve – “LOCA XTI” – top 4 finalist
- David Afonso – “Amor Barato”
- Chica Sobresalto – “Mala Feminista”
- K!ngdom – “Me Gustas Tú”
- Lucas Bun – “Te escribo en el cielo” – top 4 finalist
- Sonia y Selena – “Reinas”
- Lachispa – “Hartita de Llorar” – top 4 finalist
- Daniela Blasco – “Uh Nana” – top 4 finalist
Results of the public
- Kuve – “LOCA XTI” – top 4 finalist
- David Afonso – “Amor Barato”
- Chica Sobresalto – “Mala Feminista”
- K!ngdom – “Me Gustas Tú”
- Lucas Bun – “Te escribo en el cielo”
- Sonia y Selena – “Reinas” – top 4 finalist
- Lachispa – “Hartita de Llorar” – top 4 finalist
- Daniela Blasco – “Uh Nana” – top 4 finalist
Overall result
- Kuve – “LOCA XTI” – qualified for the final
- David Afonso – “Amor Barato”
- Chica Sobresalto – “Mala Feminista”
- K!ngdom – “Me Gustas Tú”
- Lucas Bun – “Te escribo en el cielo” – qualified for the final
- Sonia y Selena – “Reinas”
- Lachispa – “Hartita de Llorar” – qualified for the final
- Daniela Blasco – “Uh Nana” – qualified for the final
The final results reveal that, despite earning a top-four spot in the public vote, Sonia y Selena fell short of making it to Saturday’s grand final. Meanwhile, strong jury support for Lucas Bun likely gave him the edge needed to surpass them and claim his spot in the final.
Rising stars like Lachispa and Daniela Blasco, who have been building momentum in recent weeks, are among the qualifiers. In fact, Lachispa is currently the fan favorite among our readers to win Benidorm Fest this year.
Format
This year, the voting system for Benidorm Fest 2025 has been tweaked – just a bit. While three groups will still decide the outcome of tonight’s semi and the upcoming shows, the demoscopic vote (which previously made up 25% of the results) is being replaced by a free app vote. That means the final verdict now breaks down as follows: 50% jury, 25% free app vote, and 25% televote.
That’s right – history is being made at Benidorm Fest! For the first time ever, you can vote for free through an app. To take part, simply download the RTVE Play app (available for both Android and iOS users) and sign up by creating an account. Need a step-by-step guide? RTVE has all the details ready for you. Remember, you can only vote for free 1 time. Make it count!
Jury members
RTVE unveiled this year’s panel back in January. With members from Spain, Ukraine, and the Netherlands, there’s no shortage of diversity in the mix. Here’s the full line-up:
- Roberto Santamaría (Spain) – Serving as this year’s jury spokesperson, he is the current director of Radio Nacional de España.
- Javier Llano (Spain) – A recognised journalist with over 25 years of experience.
- Jaime Acero (Spain) – A TV producer with a broad career spanning both Spain and international markets.
- Claudia Orellana (Spain) – A music event coordinator with experience working alongside international artists.
- Oksana Skybinska (Ukraine) – Head of Delegation for Ukraine at Eurovision.
- Twan van de Nieuwenhuijzen (the Netherlands) – Responsible in entertainment and music events at NPO (Nederlandse Publieke Omroep).
- Mariangela Borneo (Italy) – Director of International Projects and Festivals at RAI since 2011.
- Maja Tokic (Croatia) – Musical executive producer and of DORA (Croatia’s own Eurovision selection process).
What do you make of Benidorm Fest 2025 semi-final 1? Could any of the acts from this heat go on to win the whole thing? Show us your takes in the comment section… below!
i CANT with yall lachispa didnt sound bad
When I listened to the Lachispa studio cut I found it creative but quite hard on the ears. Whilst I enjoyed the staging, the live version was very hard to listen to, and all the worse because it was so off pitch. I think the average grand final viewer at Eurovision would be very turned off when it comes time to vote.
Tbh we all knew this was the weak semifinal… Yeah the big favorite (La chispa) was in this one but not anymore 🙁
Lachispa’s vocals were AWFUL. If you can even call that singing. She’s basically screaming the whole chorus. What a waste of a good song
She was not pitch perfect but it was not awful. Don’t be offensive!
I’ve been diplomatic this year after what i said about Spain 2023. I see the same thing happening again this year if this song is selected. The vocal is painful to the ear but the song is just poor.
Lachispa 2025. If this wins the same result will happen as in May 2023. Enough said.
Results are for the narrow-minded, EaEa remains a modern classic
But how many votes did it get from the public! This latest staging of 5 girls dancing around the performer is like a copy and paste.
2 very different songs: EAEA was amazing and awefully underated, while this one live is just out of tone screamming
eaearrrr was and is exactly the same as this 2025 song even the copy and paste of the 5 dancers. Sorry but the public will tune out in May.
Lachispa and Lucas Bun had the only convincing entries in a surprisingly weak competition.
Uh Nana ehh… Tu comentario no es necesario… Uh Nana ehh
Lachispa was very disappointing….
oh baby….. yea Lachispa …. that weren’t good. Well, still love the studio track I guess!
The official photo of the scenography of the next sanremo festival in Italy
Can’t wait!
emis killa just withdrew today due to an alleged upcoming legal issue! a lot of drama is expected at sanremo this year.
Drama seems to thrive in southern European countries
if it helps Rai to earn 60 million euros in advertising like last year, it’s fine. this money is used to make the event big and not make it seem like a local TV show like in northern Europe
Two participants withdrew from the competition in Norway and one in Finland. I wouldn’t call it Southern countries.
Lucas Bun is my winner. Sorry but all the other songs are very bad for me.
Spain on their way to secure their first last place finish since 2017…
How come they had one good result and IMMEDIATELY dropped the ball again afterwards? I’ll excuse Eaea since it was very experimental and it was robbed, but Zorra was nothing and whatever comes out of this pile of dung ain’t gonna get more than a pat on the shoulder and a participation medal
Well our “big” artists are scared and despise the contest, the artists who do submit something think too hard on being Eurovision-ish -or the exact opposite- and I assume the selection committee does that as well when choosing the entries. And then of course, when it comes to voting, very few people actually pick up the phone in proportion to the viewers (I bet we’re the same every year since 2023), so 50% of the vote relies on, probably, the bunch of tryhard eurofans that we are. Also the jury has very few people so they can sway somewhat easily… Read more »
How many “Big” artists from other countries go to Eurovision? Why going to Eurovision if you are a Big artist in your country? What for?
Well it’s their choice of course, but it’s a chance of self-promoting yourself even more, not just on your country but internationally as well. I don’t mean a national final with no big names is bad, but it would show more interest and appreciation for the contest imo
But Spanish big artist do not need Eurovision to promote themselves. I live in Belgium and it is not strange to listen to Ana Mena or Lola Indigo in the radio. Not to talk about Rosalia.
And they have naturally the Latinamerican market.
Talking about Ana Mena, she is interested in going to San Remo but not to Benidorm. The question why is something that RTVE should ask itself.
But I dont understand this… Why does Spain need to bring “Big Names” in Spain to Eurovision if Europeans are not going to know them anyway.
If Europeans are told that the Spanish singer is a “Big name” in Spain are they going to vote them like crazy??
But how many big names are there in other NF?
If I were a Big name in my country I would not go to Eurovision… To be judged? To Risk a Bad position?
What do they care in Lithuania (for example) if the Spanish singer is a Big name in Spain if they are not going to know him or her anyway?
Last year we had, for example, Slimane for France. Italians representatives are normally big names in the Italian music industry as well. It is true that in this latter case, sometimes this is not good because they do not prepare the Eurovision participation properly due to other commitments (that was the case of Brividi, for example). In Spain, this is very difficult to get. Big names don’t want to lose time, don’t want to expose themselves to a live performance that may show that maybe their voices are not that good, don’t want to risk having a bad result (which… Read more »
well blas’ career and mental health kinda ruined after eurovision, him alone could be a huge deterrent for big artist
I thought Laura was bad live. Heck, I thought Blanka was bad live… Then there’s Lachispa…
I’m thrilled that Kuve got through. It was my favorite song before the show and I think she performed the it really well. Go Kuve!
Me too!
David Afonso was the best. But basically Spain screams 0 points this year. They are back where they belong.
My favourite is out already… David Afonso, you rocked, and I don’t understand the actual qualifiers…
Should have went to Sonia y Selena or Kingdom. Robbed form the crowd choice. I feel for them. Shows how more stupid benidorm voting system. Not really a 50% public vote promsied but 25% divided public results by method. Should have 100% televote for semis, or 50/50 or 50/60 public Even worse to hide the voting results.
Would you be able to hear Sonya and Selena, because I could only hear the backing vocals. And that jump
With the dancers I got scared for my life
Lucas by far would stand out at Eurovision Lachsipa at Eurovision with this performance and vocals would get guaranteed nil points. If the latter was in the semi final no way would it qualify.
Kuve did fantastically! The fandom had her in the bottom three but she proved them all wrong! Her song could be the Nochentera of this year! Just change the staging slightly and get the vocals a bit better and we’ve got a package for Eurovision!
I thought Nochentera was popular among the fandom.
It was very much slept on outside the Spanish spaces.
Since all my comments praising Kuve are still awaiting approval, hopeful I can voice my support in reply to your comment! Huge surprise for me, she did amazing despite the song being a bit bland. But her performance changed everything.
Kuve really grew on me!
Lachispa need to tune down her vocal especially chorus part and she need more relax because she sounds like stress and too screaming. Like she soo nervous
RTVE, please have some auditions before picking your lucky 16. We are suffering, seriously.
Yeah too many songs were really destroyed by the vocals. I want to believe it was maybe a technical issue and the performers couldn’t hear themselves?
That’s the kind of thing you only hear at Eurovision. Even if you can’t hear yourself, a good singer can sing on key.
You have never really been to anu concert. Have you? That is a general issue ?
I have given concerts as a singer. I know what I’m talking about.
While I like the idea of not knowing how the jury and Televote voted until the grand final is over, I don’t get this separate announcement of the jury and televote top four before the combined Results are known. It’s a bit hard to follow without numbers. Why not just announce the top four immediately, and not drag out with this dance and pony show. Let the audience speculate as the results are officially revealed on Saturday?
It’s also kind of cruel when there’s a discrepancy between the jury table top four when one artist is gonna get screwed over.
100% agree. Just announce the qualifiers and be done with it.
Yep, that’s how I feel too.
Kuve was the best (by far) of the night
Moderators, if there are any human ones, the system sucks and makes no sense. Please investigate, many thanks.
Hallelujah for Lucas Bun! That would be a such disaster with Sonia&Selena who can’t sing a *hit instead of him.
Very sad for David Afonso. Would love to see him in the final instead of oh nana
And yeah, I think Lachispa won it overall
She flopped live. The vocals were horrible. LaChipsa didn’t win the jury vote for sure
Why do the Spaniards always have the weirdest voting system. -.- That’s so annoying…
The absolute best 4 qualifiers and also my favourites from this semi. Very happy with the result!
Haha people downvote me as much as you like. But 3 of the 4 that didn’t qualify really had bad bad vocals. Only David Afonso of those left behind had good vocals – but i dont see anyone asking for him. K!ngdom, S&S and Chica really didn’t hit any notes…
Not everything is about vocals. They are just one ingredient, not even the most important one. Again, this is not American Idol.
Well let’s just say that the songs that didn’t move on, werent that good either though… my top 4 pre semi was the same as the qualifiers. I did though suspect that K!ngdom was to qualify as I felt that song felt closest to “Nochentera” from 2 years ago….and Vicco didn’t hit any notes either, so i am surprised to see that it didn’t go through…
Holy crap, the SILENCE after Lucas passed and Sonia and Selena didn’t was DEAFENING.
Seems Lucas did well enough in the jury to offset a bad televote score, but the juries really really didn’t like Sonia y Selena.
Looks like the juries killed off Sonia y Selena. Crowd not happy.
The juries used their power wisely.
In the battle for being the 4th qualifier, it doesn’t really matter.
It does in terms of recognition, and a chance to perform again. It must be disappointing to go out so early.
they killed us with her vocals
Congratulations qualifiers!
Commiserations non-qualifiers!
wait why Kuve kinda eating the voting…
I actually ranked Loca Xti rather highly in my own ranking which surprised me because I’ve seen it ranked lower and other rankings. I didn’t expect to like it so much, and now I’ve been vindicated tonight
She was my favourite before live because her song was really catchy.
wait why r they doing the separate jury and public vote qualifiers, and then like actual qualifiers
They’re afraid of getting tomatoes thrown at them.
Transparency
I don’t like that they aren’t announcing their points anymore in the semi-finals. They were afraid to get booed live this time so they decided to get booed after the show lol.
It makes the grand final more exciting for us though when not knowing you actually win the semifinals.
…who* actually won* the semifinals.
Fair enough then! 🙂
honestly great Q’s
wait…. wth is happening??!?!?!
I guess they are doing jusr and audience top 4, then giving the final qualifier between S&S and Lukas
Why do I think Lucas is gonna win this????
Well not with the televote ?
Dios…Dio…Dieu…Deus…Deu…GOSH :0
After the Nebulossa fiasco, can’t RTVE find people who can actually sing live? What a disaster of a semi-final.
This is not American idol or The Voice. Vocal does not mtter nor should ever. It is about the song and performance not whether they sing good. People can judge the song itself without performing. Should have went to Sonia y Selena or Kingdom. Robbed form the crowd choice. I feel for them. Shows how more stupid benidorm voting system.
The winner will be in the 2nd semi-final, Melody or DeTeresa. I’m sorry LaChispa’s vocal is not it.
Well hopefully the performers in semi 2 are better vocally then…. but since it is Spain i kinda doubt it. Not known for many great vocalists in this show.
Well Melody is one of the best vocalists Spain has so she will be amazing on Thursday
DeTeresa is a No
Song 8. 5 out of 10.
My full comment is in moderation. 🙁
If Lachispa qualifies she will most probably be my 1st place already before have of the countries competing have even revealed tjeir songs. She has to win Benidorm Fest. Her perfomance was breathtaking, there were some nervous moments in her vocals but overal she killed that.
The vocals were a total disaster. She didn’t hit any note. Did we watch the same performance?
The only thing she killed is peoples ears
I think la chispa is winning this, but I would like to see a different standing more intimate and explosive, with different outfit, this stanging looks cheap and tacky
The ingredients for great staging are there. There are a few places where adjusting the camera angle would go a long way. The dress is well suited to the song (although some color might make it pop more), and the small details tied into the dancers outfits in a nice way.
I’m not sure where you are getting cheap from though. It was well choreographed and used props well. The outfits on everyone were well made and clearly custom. There is room to elevate for eurovision certainly, but this is a solid starting point.
Let’s just ignore the fact she had the worst vocals of the night
There’s no ‘oomph’ either. The staging is too dark behind her and when the trumpets play it’s not a big moment. This is where smoke and pyros come in.
Hmm… what is up with Wiwi? I try to post positive comments about my fave performances…and they all need to be approved…
Anyways… it must be song 5, 7 and 8 for me. And probably 1 as well. The best performances.
I think there has been some glitches with the system recently
I hope David Alfonso can qualify to the final
Afonso* of course, it’s too late for me
I think Lachispa is a smoker, just like Fusa Nocta, hence the weak vocals. She was my fave, welp..
“Uh nana” sounds just a bit dated to me, and is a bit overreliant on the backing track. That said, I would be surprised if it failed to qualify tonight based on that staging.
Well it is not more dated than song 1, song 2 or song 6 at least…
Lachispa’s performance was breathtaking. For me it’s between her and Lucas the whole thing. I hope David Afonso will qualify to the final as well.
I thought her vocals were quite weak and breathy.
Vocals were a total mess
You must be Spanish saying that
Uh Nana is a perfect national selection song. Entertaining and high enough quality to make the show good, won’t win, and wouldn’t make a mark at Eurovision, but it has its place in a national selection.
I mean SlowMo was that kind of song, but Chanel had moves, vocals and charisma enough to make a mark and unfortunately not everything was present for song no. 8
The LEDs weren’t WoW but the rest was. Her vocals need improvement but they were still better than LaChispas ?
Song 7. Without such a strong performer, I don’t think I would like this. Lachispa’s talent and charisma really elevate it. She won me over by the end. 7 out of 10.
It flopped
Great staging weak vocals. Seemed more like nerves than lack of ability. Will inevitably make the final so I look forward to seeing an improved performance. Could win.
I thought her vocals were great. Passion and the thrill of live performance outweigh being note-perfect at all times.
Her voice cracked multiple times in a way that didn’t feel like it was adding to the performance for me. I know she can do better, because you can’t perform how she did if you don’t have the skill in the first place.
She was literally doing nothing on stage and wasn’t able to hit any note
Guys please open up your ears. It was the worst vocal performance of the night. She was constantly off key
Lachispa’s vocals are a bit too all over the place for my taste, but this staging is pretty damn inventive. The mirrors worked so well!