The Benidorm Fest 2024 already has its first four finalists. On Tuesday evening, the music festival elected Nebulossa (149 points), Angy Fernández (137 points), Sofia Coll (116 points) and Miss Caffeina (105 points) as the first four candidates to win the Alicante competition.
Their performances were those that received the greatest support in the first semi-final of the competition, which selects the Spanish representative for the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö (Sweden). This Thursday (La 1, 10:50 p.m.) the four singers who will accompany them in the final on Saturday (La 1, 10:00 p.m.) will be decided.
At the end of the first round of performances at the Palau d'Esports l'Illa in Benidorm, María Bas, the singer of Nebulossa, confirmed the trend of 2024 and established on stage a regime of terror typical of radical feminists (and Mariliendres). She was flanked by two muscular dancers in Catwoman-style bras and boots. His song Zorra, which frees and summons the spirit of Fangoria, was the jury's favorite song. “I know I'm just a slut. “That my past devours you,” says the lyrics of the song, the title of which can already be read on many of the festival audience’s T-shirts.
Angy performs “I know who I am” in the first semi-final of Benidorm Fest 2024.RTVE
Angy Fernández had already convinced the trade press in his afternoon essay. And even at night he had the support of the audience as soon as he entered the stage. Infallible as always, as he did with Factor at the age of 16.
Sofia Coll started with Here to Stay as one of the favorites and was the first to win over the Benidorm audience. It was ranked third with a proposal that meets Eurovision standards because of the setting, the choreography, the costume change in the middle of the song and an obligatory dance break in a song performed by, among others, Nacho Canut ( again the spirit of Fangoria) was composed in the room).
Sofia Coll presents “Here to Stay” at Benidorm Fest.RTVE
Miss Caffeina qualified for the final of the Benidorm Fest with “Bla, blah, blah”.RTVE
The surprise came from Miss Caffeina, one of the most interesting groups in the Spanish independent scene. The band, led by Alberto Jiménez, has toured all sorts of music festivals in Spain over the last decade. The trio demonstrated their skills live with the song Blah, blah, blah, which, although not the best in their repertoire, has a catchy chorus suitable for any European language. The fact that they have made themselves known to a wider audience since this Tuesday is already a triumph for them and the Benidorm Fest.
Although Abraham Mateo, the brother of a Lérica member, called for a referendum through his social networks, his Astronauta proposal was left out of the final. It was the duo who introduced the first musical note of the gala live, presented by the singer Ruth Lorenzo – responsible for Cover Night, another music format from La 1 -, Marc Calderó and Ana Prada. The bell rang at 11:07 p.m., perhaps I was thinking of the viewers in Los Angeles (where it was two in the afternoon on Tuesday) or those in Sydney (at nine in the morning on Wednesday), who, who knows, were very attentive Spanish preselections were for Eurovision. The sound was so bad that the Alicante venue could barely understand a single word of what the presenters and jury were saying during the gala. They were also excluded from the final mantra selection despite being the televoting favorite with Me vas a ver; Quique Niza, with Prisoner and Noan with Te echo de -.
As was the case last year, the expert jury's rating for the three galas in this edition is also 50%. The other half goes to the public vote, although in this case it is divided into two: 25% corresponds to the demographic jury – a statistical sample of 350 people representing the Spanish population – and 25% depends on televoting, that is, on the news and Telephone calls from viewers of live galas.
The jury for this edition has as its speaker the singer, composer and actress Beatriz Luengo; who is accompanied by Guille Milkyway (The Blue House), who almost went to Eurovision in 2008 with The Sexual Revolution; the Dominican Ángela Carrasco, the first Mary Magdalene of Jesus Christ Superstar in Spain; and the Venezuelan Carlos Baute. Half of the international and Eurovision experts consist of Lee Smithurst, who has been responsible for leading the UK representation at the festival on several occasions; Davis Tserunyan, head of the Armenian delegation; Marta Pierkarska represents Poland; and set designer Nicole Refsing, who was artistic director of the Copenhagen festival in 2014, the year Ruth Lorenzo attended.
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