The first four finalists in Operación Triunfo have been selected last night in Spain.
The first four singers who could represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 have been selected. The finalists last night were selected by a panel in the studio who selected three finalists, while a further singer was saved by the teachers at the Academy.
The first four confirmed acts for the Spanish national final are:
- Amaia
- Miriam
- Alfred
- Aitana
Competing for the fifth spot:
- Ana Guerra
- Agoney
The final artist will be selected by the public. The Spanish public has until next Monday to vote for the singer that they want to see make it through to the final of Operación Triunfo.
Once all of the singers have been selected, each singer will be given the same song to perform in the Eurovision selection process. They will use the time between being given the song and the selection process, to work on their performance and adapt it to suit their style.
The national final will be aired on January 29 at 22:35 CET on TVE 1, TVE International and will be streamed live on rtve.es. Public voting alone will decide who will represent in Lisbon.
Operación Triunfo was previously used to select the Spanish representative for Eurovision from 2002 to 2004. This proved to be successful, as all three selected artists, Rosa, Beth and Ramón, finished in the top 10 in their respective years. Rosa’s performance at the 2002 contest was watched by 13 million people in Spain, a rating of 80%, which was the most watched moment in history on Spanish television at the time. Soraya Arnelas, the runner-up of the fourth edition of the show, also represented Spain in 2009 with “La noche es para mí”.
The show returned to Spanish screens in October, six years after the last edition was aired and thirteen years since it was last aired on TVE. It has proven very popular with audiences, attracting over 2 million spectators on average per gala.
Source: RTVE
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
Spain debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 and has competed annually since. Spain has won the contest on two occasions the first being in 1968 and the second time in 1969. 1969 is the only year where more than one song has won the contest, the 1969 contest saw a four-way tie between Spain, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Since 2000 Spain has only managed to finish in the top.10 on five occasions, the last time being in 2014 with Ruth Lorenzo. However, the country has finished 20th or below on nine occasions, the worst placement being 26th in 2017.
After next week’s show, they won’t be given the same song, but a different song for each contestant.