Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Televisión Española (TVE) chose its entry through a contest called Eurovisión 2009: El retorno (Eurovision 2009: The Return), similar to Salvemos Eurovisión, which selected the 2008 entry.[1] Soraya was selected on 28 February 2009 to represent Spain at Eurovision with the song "La noche es para mí".[2]

Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Country Spain
National selection
Selection processEurovisión 2009: El retorno
Selection date(s)Online vote
19 December 2008–
20 January 2009
Auditions
31 January 2009
Semi-finals
14 February 2009
21 February 2009
28 February 2009
Final
28 February 2009
Selected entrantSoraya
Selected song"La noche es para mí"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final result24th, 23 points
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2008 • 2009 • 2010►

Before Eurovision

Eurovisión 2009: El retorno

Eurovisión 2009: El retorno was the competition that selected Spain's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.

Format

The competition featured thirty songs. All songs competed throughout four live shows during a two-week period: three semi-finals on 14, 21 and 28 February 2009 and the final on 28 February 2009 (held jointly with the third-semi-final).[3][4] All shows took place at the Casino l'Aliança del Poblenou Theatre in Barcelona, and were hosted by singer Alaska and sports reporter Miguel Serrano.[5][6]

The competition featured thirty songs selected through an online vote, held between 19 December 2008 and 20 January 2009.[7] Each semi-final featured ten songs from which four advanced to the final. Results during the semi-finals and the final were determined by a combination of the votes from a five-member jury panel (50%) and televoting (50%).[8][9] One of the five jury members were selected by the public.[10]

Initially, the final was planned to take place on 7 March 2009, with a Second Chance round being held before the final. Three songs from each semi-final would have directly for the final, and the fourth placed song would qualified for the Second Chance round. In the Second Chance round, televoting would have determined the final qualifiers. However, after the second semi-final, TVE decided to remove the Second Chance round and to jointly hold the third semi-final and the final. As a result, the top four songs from each semi-final qualified directly for the final instead. TVE claimed that the schedule was changed to aid the winning artist in preparing their performance, choreography and preview video for Eurovision, but the Spanish media assumed the decision was taken due to the low ratings the shows were getting.[11][12]

Online vote

TVE opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries from 24 November 2008 until 17 December 2008 through a MySpace platform. More than 978 songs were uploaded to the platform, but only 455 were accepted by TVE because the rest of them did not qualify according to the rules.[13] 10 categories were then allocated to all 455 eligible entries. The ten categories and the number of songs competing were:

An online public vote then took place from 16 February 2008 until 25 February 2008 via TVE's official site, enabling each user to cast 20 votes, five per candidate, each day. The top five from each category then advanced to the next round.[7][14] From the 50 selected songs, the top twenty directly advanced to the national final, while the remaining thirty songs had to compete in an auditions round held on 31 January 2009.[15][16]

Among the artists who had submitted songs to participate and didn't qualify to the televised rounds included some recognizable names like Tontxu and Un Pingüino en mi Ascensor as well as acts that had already participated in past Spanish pre-selections, like Coral (2008), Rebeca (2007), Bizarre (2008), Innata (2008) or Arkaitz (2008). Past participants were chosen for the national final are Santa Fe (2007), Mirela (2007), Yulia (2005) and Dulce (2000).[17] Anabel Conde, who finished second in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 representing Spain, joined Roel's bid and provided the backing vocals for him in the second semi-final.[18]

Auditions

From the remaining 30 songs that failed to qualify from the online vote, ten additional entries were chosen by an "expert" jury to advance to the national final via an auditions round which took place at the Casino l'Aliança del Poblenou in Barcelona on 31 January 2009, reported the auditions live on TVE's official website.[19]

Initially, Sin Tanto and Depresión Post-Parto had the right to participate in the auditions, but they withdrew from the competition and were replaced by Antonio Moreno Bermúdez and José Antonio Santiago Beltrán respectively.[20]

Shows

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 14 February 2009. During the show, Víctor Escudero, one of the five candidates shortlisted in the online vote to become the fifth jury member, was chosen by the four jury members (50%) and televoting (50%). Three songs qualified for the final based on the combination of votes from the five-member jury panel (50%) and televoting (50%), which were Melody y Los Vivancos, La La Love You and Noelia Cano.[21] Gran Baobab was supposed to compete in the Second Chance round, but they also qualified for the final after the Second Chance round being scrapped by TVE, as announced after the second semi-final.

Due to technical difficulties in the performance, Melody y Los Vivancos was allowed to restart their performance.[22][23] However, Los Vivancos later announced their withdrawal from the competition due to the lack of technical and artistic resources in the production of the show, and because their bid was being promoted as Melody even though it was a joint bid.[24][25] Melody later announced that she would go on in the competition with some other dancers.[26]

Guest performers included Tequila and Fangoria. Tequila opened the show performing the 1974 Eurovision winner "Waterloo", and later they sang their hit "Salta". Fangoria performed their latest single "Más es más".[27]

Semi-final 1 – 14 February 2009
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
1 Yulia Valentayn "Uh la la" 6 3 9 8
2 La Red de San Luis "Gracias, Madre Tierra" 8 2 10 5
3 Vicente Casal "Tú me complementas" 1 7 8 9
4 Noelia Cano "Cruza los dedos" 7 4 11 3
5 Carlos Ferrer EAI "El patito" 4 5 9 7
6 La La Love You "Dame un beso" 10 10 20 2
7 Normativa Vigente "Alejandría - The New Generation" 3 6 9 6
8 Atalis "Retrato frontal" 5 1 6 10
9 Melody y Los Vivancos "Amante de la luna" 12 12 24 1
10 Gran Baobab "Despedida de soltero" 2 8 10 4

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 21 February 2009. Three songs qualified for the final based on the combination of votes from the five-member jury panel (50%) and televoting (50%), which were Soraya, Virginia and Jorge González.[21] Salva Ortega was supposed to compete in the Second Chance round, but he also qualified for the final after the Second Chance round being scrapped by TVE, as announced after the second semi-final.

Guest performers included Rosario Flores and Nena Daconte. Rosario opened the show with the 1970 Eurovision Spanish entry "Gwendolyne", and later she performed "No dudaría". Nena Daconte performed the 1965 Eurovision winning song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" and closed the show with their hit single "Tenía tanto que darte".[28][29]

After the criticism received for the production of the first semi-final, TVE enlarged the stage and improved the sound and lighting of the venue.[30]

Semi-final 2 – 21 February 2009
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
1 Diqesi "Subiré" 5 4 9 7
2 Roel "Y ahora dices" 6 3 9 8
3 Salva Ortega "Lujuria" 7 7 14 4
4 Soraya "La noche es para mí" 12 12 24 1
5 Virginia "True Love" 10 10 20 2
6 Calipop "Burbuja" 2 2 4 9
7 Ángeles Vela "Vístete de primavera" 4 5 9 6
8 Jorge González "Si yo vengo a enamorarte" 8 8 16 3
9 Electronikboy "Mon petit oiseau" 1 1 2 10
10 Leather Boys "We're Livin' In A Bar" 3 6 9 5
Semi-final 3

The third semi-final took place on 28 February 2009. Four songs qualified for the final based on the combination of votes from the five-member jury panel (50%) and televoting (50%), which were Santa Fe, Mirela, Isi and Julia Bermejo.[21]

Semi-final 3 – 28 February 2009
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
1 El Secreto de Álex "Por esta vez" 7 6 13 5
2 Beatriz "¿Dónde te metes?" 4 1 5 9
3 Remembrances "Espejismo" 3 4 7 8
4 Biquini "Una chica normal" 2 5 7 7
5 Julia Bermejo "Ya no estás" 6 8 14 4
6 Solydo "Tú" 1 2 3 10
7 Mirela "Nada es comparable a ti" 8 10 18 2
8 Isi "Ahora no" 10 7 17 3
9 Santa Fe "Samba House" 12 12 24 1
10 Dulce "Bésame" 5 3 8 6
Final

The final took place on 28 February 2009, jointly with the third semi-final. The twelve songs that qualified from the previous three semi-finals competed, and the winner was determined based on the combination of votes from the five-member jury panel (50%) and televoting (50%). At the end of voting, there was tie for the first place, with Melody winning the jury vote and Soraya winning the televote. As the results of the televoting took precedence. Soraya was therefore declared the winner.[31]

Guest performers included Carlos Baute, Chipper and Nancys Rubias. They performed the Israeli Eurovision winning entries "A-Ba-Ni-Bi", "Hallelujah" and "Diva".[32]

Final – 28 February 2009
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
1 La La Love You "Dame un beso" 4 5 9 7
2 Noelia Cano "Cruza los dedos" 1 0 1 11
3 Jorge González "Si yo vengo a enamorarte" 3 1 4 9
4 Virginia "True Love" 5 6 11 5
5 Salva Ortega "Lujuria" 0 3 3 10
6 Gran Baobab "Despedida de soltero" 0 0 0 12
7 Santa Fe "Samba House" 8 8 16 3
8 Melody "Amante de la luna" 12 10 22 2
9 Isi "Ahora no" 7 4 11 6
10 Soraya "La noche es para mí" 10 12 22 1
11 Mirela "Nada es comparable a ti" 6 7 13 4
12 Julia Bermejo "Ya no estás" 2 2 4 8

Controversy

In spite of the changes introduced by TVE, the security of the online voting process was put into question once again. On 21 December 2008, the score of the songs that were leading most of the categories, including the songs with the most votes overall, was briefly reduced to zero on the official website's ranking due to technical problems.[33][34] On 24 December 2008, TVE announced that votes would be deducted from entries due to fraudulent voting. 4,300 votes were removed from seven entries online, most of which came from the Hip Hop group.[35][36]

At Eurovision

Spain automatically pre-qualified for the final of the contest as one of the "Big Four". Following a draw in Moscow, Soraya performed last, 25th in the running order.[37] Soraya was accompanied on stage by three female backing vocalists (Noemí Gallego, Verónica Ferreiro and Nora Gallego) and two male dancers (Ukrainian Dima Oleschenko and Russian Alexey Postolovski). A new Eurovision version of the song "La noche es para mí" was revealed at the contest.[38][39] It would finish 24th, scoring 23 points.

Radio presenter Joaquín Guzmán commentated the event for TVE for the first time.[40] TV journalist Iñaki del Moral was the Spanish spokesperson.[41] José Luis Uribarri, historical commentator of the event, was the head of the jury.

Controversies

Due to its commitments to broadcast the Madrid Open tennis tournament, Spain's public broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) broadcast the 2009 Contest second semi-final on a tape delay on its second channel TVE2 approximately 66 minutes after the show began in Moscow,[42] and used a backup jury rather than televoting to decide its votes. Due to this rule violation, it was announced that Spain would eventually face sanctions, although these sanctions would not affect its participation in Moscow.[43][44] Due to another conflict of interest, Spain had already switched to broadcast the second semi-final rather than the first, which also led to criticisms from the delegations of Andorra and Portugal, which stated that they would have experienced an advantage from a Spanish vote due to their similar cultures.[44]

The day after the semifinal, El Mundo speculated that this delay may have been done on purpose in order to prevent Spain from winning and hosting the contest, speculating that RTVE may not actually want to host the contest if Spain were to win.[45] A statement in ABC had cited technical difficulties for the delay.[42]

Points awarded by Spain[46]
Split voting results from Spain (final)
Draw Country Jury points Televoting points Scoreboard (Points)
01  Lithuania
02  Israel 2
03  France 8 3
04  Sweden 1
05  Croatia
06  Portugal 7 7 8
07  Iceland
08  Greece 3 1
09  Armenia 8 4
10  Russia
11  Azerbaijan 3
12  Bosnia and Herzegovina
13  Moldova 5 4 5
14  Malta
15  Estonia
16  Denmark
17  Germany 1 2
18  Turkey 6 2
19  Albania
20  Norway 10 10 12
21  Ukraine 4 6 6
22  Romania 12 7
23  United Kingdom 12 5 10
24  Finland
25  Spain

Points awarded to Spain
Points awarded to Spain (Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

OGAE Second Chance Contest 2009

Despite finishing fourth place in the Spanish national final, Mirela won her chance to represent Spain in the OGAE Second Chance Contest 2009 With 880 votes, beating Melody who finished second, Isi finishing third, and Santa Fe finishing fourth. Mirela represented Spain in the 2009 OGAE with "Nada es comparable a ti", finishing in third place behind Denmark and Sweden.

See also

Notes
  • a. ^ Sante Fe's song competed as "You got me hot" in the online vote, but was retitled "Samba House" for the semi-finals.[47]
  • b. ^ Each member of the jury gave points in the traditional Eurovision style of 12, 10, 8-1 point(s), and when these points were added, both La Red de San Luis and Noelia Cano had 35 points. Later, when these points where translated depending on the ranking in order to be added to the televotes, the tie between La Red de San Luis and Noelia Cano was broken, but it was not announced how.

References
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  46. Eurovision Song Contest 2008
  47. http://www.rtve.es/television/eurovision2009/candidatos/santa-fe.shtml
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