Chanel has just won the first edition of Benidorm Fest and will represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. She will perform the song SloMo at the Grand Finale on May 14th in Turin, Italy.
This year’s Spanish representative was selected from a completely new format of national selection after a few years of unsuccessful results. Benidorm Fest was made up of an open call for songs, and three live shows broadcast live from the city located on the east coast. A total of thirteen candidates competed at the semifinals, but only eight of them managed to reach the final show which has been aired today:
- Rayden – “Calle de la llorería” (David Martínez Álvarez, François Le Goffic)
- Tanxugueiras “Terra” (Olaia Maneiro Argibay, Sabela Maneiro Argibay, Aida Tarrío Torrado, Iago Pico Freire)
- Varry Brava – “Raffaella” (Óscar Ferrer, Aaron Sáez, Vicente Illescas)
- Chanel – “SloMo” (Leroy Sanchez, Keith Harris, Ibere Fortes, Maggie Szabo, Arjen Thonen)
- Rigoberta Bandini “Ay mamá” (Rigoberta Bandini, Esteban Navarro Dordal, Stefano Maccarrone)
- Xeinn – “Eco” (Carlos Marco, Jimmy Jansson, Marcus Winther-John, Thomas G:son)
- Gonzalo Hermida – “Quién lo diría” (Gonzalo Hermida, David Santisteban)
- Blanca Paloma – “Secreto de agua” (Blanca Paloma, Antón Serrats, Tomás Virgós, Pablo Serrano)
The results were decided after a combination of votes from two panels of experts, national (60%) and international (40%), and the public, televote (50%) and demoscopic jury made up of 350 members (50%). The jury members were: singer Natalia Calderón, who was the vocal trainer of Melani, Soleá and Levi Díaz at Junior Eurovision, choreographer Miryam Benedicted and Coordinator of RTVE’s Orchestra and Choir Estefanía García making the national panel, and Austrian scenographer Marvin Dietmann and Iceland’s Head of Delegation, Félix Bergsson as the international judges.
You can check the final scoreboard below:
So, Benidorm Fest has come to an end. What do you think about this new selection format from Spain? Do you like the winner?
