Today, in the latest press conference in the Eurovisión, el festival que quieres (“Eurovision: The Festival You Want”) series from RTVE in the run-up to Benidorm Fest, Head of Communications Amalia Martínez de Velasco revealed some more highly-anticipated details: the dates and the hosts.

The festival, based on the former Festival Internacional de la Canción de Benidorm which ran from 1961 to 2003, will be held at the Palacio de Deportes l’Illa de Benidorm, on the week of the 24th January 2022, with both semi-finals taking place on Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th, and the final on Saturday 29th.

Each semi-final will contain 7 participants, from which 4 will be selected to go through to the final. The vote will be 50% professional jury (60% Spanish, 40% international) and 50% public (comprised of a televote and a Sanremo-style demoscopic jury, selected by RTVE to represent Spanish society).

The three hosts will be Inés Hernand (host of RTVE’s Gen Playz), Màxim Huerta (Valenciano daytime TV host on RTVE) and Alaska (lead singer of Fangoria and icon of La Movida Madrileña). It is not yet clear whether each will host one individual show or all will host together.

Today’s press conference also gave hosts a first opportunity for host Eva Mora to ask questions to the 14 competing artists about their reasons for competing at Benidorm Fest, their song and Eurovision.

The 14 competing acts and songs, hoping for the place on the bill for Spain in Turin, are:

Azúcar Moreno – Postureo
Blanca Paloma – Secreto de agua
Chanel – Slo mo
Gonzalo Hermida – Quién lo diría
Javiera Mena – Culpa
Luna Ki – Voy a morir
Marta Sango – Sigues en mi mente
Rayden – Calle de la llorería
Rigoberta Bandini – Ay mamá
Sara Deop – Make You Say
Tanxugueiras – Terra
Unique – Mejores
Varry Brava – Raffaella
Xeinn – Eco

Benidorm Fest is was created for 2022 as a new national final format that will act as a celebration of Spanish musical diversity. Also, Spain’s recent history at Eurovision has not been especially glowing, having not won for 52 years, only come in the top 10 twice in the 2010s, and coming off the back of a 0 points from the public, with Blas Cantó’s Voy a quedarme.

What’s your favourite song in this year’s Benidorm Fest? Is it the “festival you want”? Who would you like to see represent Spain in Turin? Let us know in the comments and on social media.

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