In Operación Triunfo, halfway through the program, unavoidable phrases appear. “The level is very high,” they repeated several times to justify that anyone could take to the streets. So “someone” that our stay at the academy was jeopardized by favoritism and we said goodbye to one of the sensations of the first gala.
It was Blue Monday, the saddest Monday – according to a travel agency advertising campaign that was given a pseudoscientific veneer and is still there – and the melancholy was countered with the energy of Just Can't Get Enough, Depeche's first big success Fashion. The group performance served to take a look at the outfits and confirm that they could be made for another week using the microplastic balls scattered along the Cantabrian coast. The passion for synthetics in the wardrobe is not going away.
In the big duel of the evening, Chiara and Violeta competed, favorites from the start and the first dream folder of the format. There is no evidence that the romance that the most passionate fandom suspected had any real basis, but it served to talk about lesbians, something unusual, no matter how accustomed we are to the L being silent in LGTBIQ+. Chiara interpreted “Climb” by Miley Cyrus the way the best singer in a music competition would interpret it, but the way its author would never interpret it, because Chiara is the kind of person you can't imagine being with you Throwing ball loses her hair or loses her hair in general. However, Violeta completed an imperfect but soulful performance of Jorja Smith's very delicate Blue Lights, which was reminiscent of the flawless Crazy from her Gala Cero. It's not hard to imagine him having a future in music outside of academia, and that's more than can be said for most of those who remain there.
Losing focus
Judging by the percentage, which is almost sixty percent, the public had less doubts than would have been expected given the level of the two and decided that Chiara was the one who would stay in the competition for another week, the last one in which there will be a Nomad. , so a favorite without us yet understanding why ING hasn't created a sedentary account more in line with what is considered the Oscars to stay where they are for a while longer. However, we have to admit that “nomadic account” sounds a lot more glamorous than “precarious account”. The account does not count for those who have money or money.
If last week was a “comfort zone” week, then it was the week of “not losing focus,” not even a gala without her catchphrase. The teachers say it and the participants repeat it to please them. It is true that it is easy to get distracted and “lose focus” when you see the finish line so close and the guests approaching the Academy confront you with your future. Will you be a Bisbal or a Miguel Nández? Do you expect the careers of Aitana or Esther Aranda? Everyone knows that winning doesn't guarantee a career, but everyone wants to win.
Among those who seem to have all the makings of a guaranteed career at this point are Paul and Ruslana, who reprized Bizarrap after Quédate last week. This time they had to tame more than 400 words in fiendish Music Sessions Vol. 45 that tested the retention of Funes el Memorioso, and they rapped and danced as if it posed no difficulties. And saying it has more value.
The program's time machine spun further than usual so we could hear Juanjo defending La nave del olvido against Mexico's José José. One of those songs that can only be heard in a New Year's Eve special Cachitos. So that nothing distracted us from the master's vocal abilities, the production was sober when he asked for images a la Valerio Lazarov and Ballet Zoom, which appear in the form of a polyhedron above his head.
Naiara as Bellingham
In a total and very unflattering pink, Bea and Naiara faced Ava Max's “Sweet But Psycho.” It happens to Naiara like Bellingham, she started off so strong that by the end of the season she can let herself go and everyone will continue to believe that she is the best in the series. Bea, completely “out of focus,” seemed to be rehearsing what face she would put on in response to Buika's assessment, praying that Rozalen, always in a state of light, would be her fate.
And then came what we can call “The Curse of Mai Meneses,” basically because he pulled something grand out of our sleeves. The ever-brilliant Martín, most popular last week thanks to Stromae's pool-dance version of Alors on Dance, tumbled from the papier-mâché asteroid towering over the stage with the falsely simple “Had so much to give.” A song that everyone tries to associate with abortion because jokes are not unique to modern times, although, as its composer recognized, it is about a breakup, in this case Martin with the mood.
Joy returned to everyone's hearts thanks to the enthusiasm of Álvaro Mayo, the unborn son of Marc Almod and Jimmy Somerville, the star we knew we needed and who hadn't quite materialized yet. He peppered KC and the Sunshine Band's energetic “Please Don't Go” with trendy moves and Chenoa, who despite experience doesn't see where the danger lies, wanted to inquire about his knowledge on the subject. Of course, as Cris Regatero from the jury pointed out, Mayo did not refer to his origins in the New York clubs of the eighties, he did not even mention Madonna, but Ariadna Grande! It was the real version of Jamie Lee Curtis who looks into the mirror in “Put Yourself in My Shoes” and screams “I'm old!”, although that reference is as old as the workers walking out of the Lumière brothers factory .
The standout performance of the evening came from Chanel, who, a few weeks before the Benidorm festival, performed the song that would have won the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 and even the European Cup in Germany if she had been allowed to train for fifteen days.
Cris and Lucas ended the evening to the rhythm of “Todo de ti” by Rauw Alejandro and both secured a place on the nominees’ couch next to Bea and Martin, who went from favorite to nominee, while “their” Juanjo took the position of Nómada of the nominees took week. That the Jotalent seller, who has an album entitled “Con Jota de Juanjo”, has won the public's favor shows that far from falling apart, Spain is unyielding. What the public's voices did not prevent was that Buika dedicated a disturbing “I will eat all your black things”, because at the moment Buika's job on the show is to utter sentences that call for marble. “Tasty for the head and pleasure for the body” was his buikonsejo of the evening and you don’t have to understand it to agree with him.
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