SPAIN

The Spanish Final was held on February 11th in Leganés, Madrid, hosted by Jaime Cantizano. Before the final there was a ‘wildcard round’ broadcast only on the internet where the act with the most votes gained the 6^th place in the final. The winner was chosen by a 50-50 televoting and jury split.  Once all the votes were distributed, there was a two-way tie for first place. The three jurors then voted for the act they wanted to win. Going to Eurovision will be Manel Navarro his self-penned song “Do it for your lover”.

Manel plays the guitar while he sings but is backed by a small band around him. Directly behind him is a small video screen which looks a bit like a digital polaroid frame which projects lots of archetypal instagram selfies, panoramas and pictures. There is also good use of an above camera angle which shows the video floor becoming a beach. The band don’t really do much except slightly mooch around in the shadows. Not quite sure why they are there or how they add anything to the show as they are barely focused on by the camera or by the lighting. Near the end, Manel stops playing and walks around with the microphone in his hand. Manel and the band are dressed in Hawaiian style shirts, vests and tight trousers, mirroring the summer feel of the song.

The song has a very lazy beach bum feel, something akin to Jack Johnson or Bruno Mars. Manel has a very soft voice with not much power but he sings this style of song quite well. The song has Spanish verses and then switches to English in the chorus. This is fine but there are real issues when it comes to pronunciation. He can’t say ‘lover’ and the phrase ‘just do it’ becomes ‘do suet’. It all becomes a bit uncomfortable and cringey very quickly. Moreover the instrumental after the chorus has a vocoder-esque part was being mimed by the backing band. Now they either need to omit this OR they need to get someone to attempt to sing this live. The ending is also very wet and predictable.

There was a lot of controversy regarding the show on the night. Two of the three jurors put Manel as their top song but the televoting had Mirela first. This resulted in a draw. It was only then that the host announced the jury would break the tie. There were 2 issues regarding this:

1) the jury already made their feelings clear that Manel was their fave - so why the revote?

2) for the last couple of years the televote winner has taken precedence in a tie - why the sudden change?

The gasps of horror in the audience and the general dismay at this reveal was audible all over social media but also in the hall. I genuinely felt sorry for both acts who were involved as this now became a show about the opinions of 3 people rather than the will of the televoters OR the talent of the performers.
That all said and done this is an awful choice. It’s wet, dreary, boring, monotonous, generic, weary, uninspiring, lifeless, far too static (visually and aurally) and is possibly the worst song Spain has ever sent to Eurovision.
If this isn’t last on 13^th May I will be very surprised.

ARTIST - Manel Navarro

SONG – Do it for your lover

MUSIC - Manel Navarro

LYRICS - Manel Navarro