Spain already has a representative for Eurovision 2023. Blanca Paloma will travel to Liverpool next May after winning the Benidorm Fest with the song ‘Eaea’, a bulería lullaby loaded with symbolism that has taken victory ahead of Agoney, who was another favorite with the theme ‘I want to burn’.
Blanca Paloma has managed to convince the public and the jury, something that did not happen last year with Chanel and the battle that began then with the Tanxugueiras. On this occasion, Blanca Paloma has managed to be the most voted for by viewers and also by experts. She has only lost the demoscopic vote, that she has gone to Vicco with ‘Nighttime’.
With ‘Eaea’, flamenco returns to Eurovision. The last time was in 1983 with Remedios Amaya, and it didn’t go well: 0 points. “Flamenco is loved outside of Spain. It belongs to everyone, universal and we do it from a very personal place. We drink from flamenco, but we have taken it to our land”, said Blanca Paloma after winning the Benidorm Fest. The artist herself says she is “prepared” to “bring me the Eurovision Song Contest to the earth“. “It was not in my plans to go to Eurovision, but get ready, because these women [sus bailarinas] there are a lot of women.”
This has been the three rankings that have served to choose the representative of Spain in Eurovision:
jury vote
94 White Dove
80 Agoney
59
53 Alice Wonder
50 Megara
37 Jose Otero
35 Carmen
24 Shooting Nights
demoscopic voting
40.
35 White Dove
30 Agoney
28 Megara
25 Shooting Night
22 Jose Otero
20 Carmen
16 Alice Wonder
Televoting
40 Blanca
35 Agoney
30
28 Megara
25 Carmen
22 Shooting Night
20 Alice Wonder
16 Jose Otero
Blanca Paloma: a staging loaded with symbolism
Blanca Paloma arrived at the Benidorm Fest with a low profile after trying it last year with another song. ‘Eaea’ was not, a priori, one of the favourites, but everything changed on Thursday, during the second semifinal. Her spectacular staging, between the traditional and the sophisticated -Blanca Paloma is a set designer, as well as a singer-, and the deep feeling of her song aroused the applause of the public. She managed to be the most voted by the spectators and also by the jury.
Also read: Karmento, the revelation of the Benidorm Fest that the jury, booed, did not understand: “I almost became a Tanxugueiras!”
‘Eaea’, the song that will represent Spain at Eurovision, is a lullaby por bulerías that calls on Blanca Paloma’s roots, her ancestors and her personal evolution. The song is represented through a staging with a lot of meaning. The number begins under an enormous structure of red threads that represent the fringes of her shawl, “yaya Carmen”, a metaphor for the protection she felt in her family. The clapping, the play of lights and the spectacular vocals of Blanca Paloma do the rest.
Who is Blanca Paloma?
Blanca Paloma (Elche, 33 years old) is one of the most unique voices on the national music scene. Despite her long relationship with root music in bands such as De mar a mar or Afalkay, the artist from Elche inaugurates her personal project in 2021 with her first single, ‘Secreto de agua’, a song that was the head of the series ‘Lucía en la telaraña’, by RTVE Play, and with which he participated in the first edition of the Benidorm Fest.
Also read: TVE studies changes in televoting and downplays the drop in audience: “The Benidorm Fest is in top form”
In May 2022, she released her second single, ‘Niña de fuego’, a look at tradition from the most daring sound avant-garde. In June she began a tour of Spain to present what will be her first album.
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