Just a few moments ago, Eva Mora, the Spanish Head of Delegation, and María Eizaguirre, RTVE’S Head of Communications, announced in the latest of the Eurovisión: El festival que quieres series of press conferences (“Eurovision: The Festival You Want”) which 14 acts will be competing for Spain’s ticket to Turin at the revived Benidorm Fest.

In the 43 days since RTVE opened applications, they received 886 songs, 692 via the web sign-up document, and 194 by invitation from the broadcaster.

They were selected with the help of three music experts: J Cruz, a trap artist who has performed with, among others, Omar Montes and Ana Mena, Tony Sánchez-Ohlsson, the co-writer of Pastora Soler’s 2012 hit Quédate conmigo and Edurne’s Amanecer from 2015, and Zahara, an indie music expert and coach on Spanish reality TV show Operación Triunfo in 2020 (a show that has, in the past, been used to select Spain’s representative at Eurovision).

The 14 artists and songs that have been selected to compete 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

Eurofans of old may recognise the name “Azúcar Moreno” (“Brown Sugar”), the Sálazar sisters from Bádajoz, Extremadura, who are part of a long line of flamenco-pop singers in their family, and who sang Bandido for Spain in 1990 in Zagreb, former Yugoslavia, to finish 5th, despite a technical fault that forced them to restart their song in fairly awkward fashion.

The selection also features a notable appearance from Tanxugueiras, who sing in Galego, the municipal language of Galicia in North-West Spain.

The festival itself will begin at the end of January, and will consist of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Mora stated that it was in the interest of the broadcaster not just to have a diversity of genres, but of languages, of which Spain has at least four recognised other than Castillian Spanish.

It was originally planned that 12 songs would compete for the title, but, in the interest of this diversity of genres, and the fact that so many had applied, it was decided by RTVE to add another two candidates to the selection.

The pressure is on Spain, a country that has not won the Contest for 52 years, and has just come off the back of a decade where their best result was 10th place, to produce the goods with this hyped national selection.

The full press conference can be viewed here.

Which of these would you like to see represent Spain in Turin? Is there anyone you’re surprised to see on the list? Let us know in the comments and on social media.