I come to what might be one my most challenging or controversial placings – given that Spain is riding high in betting odds and fan polls and Chanel has become a real icon for many eurofans. Yes, it’s always a risk not putting a heavily “stanned” entry and artist to the top of my rankings, but I have to be honest to my own personal rankings. Plus, this is NOT a low placing – it’s mid-table and in my grand final, and as I have said before, I like vast majority of songs this year. That all said, will the hype around Spain this year actually lead to a great result?
After the internal selections of 2020 and 2021, Spain brought back a (new format) national final. Cue the drama of the song that got a huge public vote being given few votes from the small jury, who favoured “SloMo” which ultimately won (despite getting just 4% of public vote). However, while many Spanish fans at the time were furious, the song and artist have gone on to be extremely popular with the wider fandom. Chanel (Terroro) is Cuban-Spanish and the song has a largely US or US based song writing team behind it; apparently it was written for J-Lo who didn’t pick it up. Even if that is not true, there is definitely a western hemisphere Latin pop feel to this.
The song itself is, in my view anyway, nothing that special. I’ve heard Spanish flavoured uptempo pop that I much prefer to this, and it does feel like it’s been imported from Florida rather than being grown in Spain. What really brings this entry to life though and has made it a fan favourite is the performance Chanel (and her dancers give) – it’s overall extremely impressive, but the main dance break is a standout dance routine.
This performance has definitely got the “yaas queen” brigade very excited, though to be fair, the appeal seems to have gone more broad given the fan polls and there are signs that this is the sort of track and performance that will appeal outside of the fandom. Certainly this should give Spain one of their best results since 2014 when they last finished in the top 10. I’m just quite not on board with the bandwagon – I acknowledge the performance and think it’s a very listenable/danceable song, but it’s still a fairly basic track with an average vocal masked by the bells and whistles of choreography and spectacle.
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
First entered: 1961
Appearances (excluding this year): 60
Best result: Winner 1968, 1969
Last year’s result: 24th
