Eaea by Blanca Paloma.
One way to stand out from the crowd is to sing the only song of its type in the Contest. Blanca Paloma takes this to a new level with her modern flamenco song Eaea.
The song is a tribute to her grandmother, from whom Paloma inherited her love of this music. It’s delivered via a hugely impressive vocal performance. Paloma has the chops. She’s sung some acapella moments during various press events and interviews and boy can she bring it.
Her talents aren’t limited to the vocals; the performance in the Spanish selection show demonstrated she can bring the visuals to this too. This is stunning!
You can’t say the Spanish fans didn’t back this. It went HUGE in the newly revived Benidorm Fest, now in its second year. Benny has quickly established itself as a highlight of the national finals season with a beautifully diverse and high-quality line up. I couldn’t love this revival more.
Of course, when the Spanish fans get behind their entry, they do it with some gusto, even when the entry doesn’t always deserve it. I loved Alfred and Amaia as much as el hombre proximo, but it wasn’t deserving of a level of support that couldn’t be differentiated from that for, say, Pastora Soler. As such, domestic adoration can’t be taken as a useful barometer for international success. But there’s a quality to Blanca Paloma’s talent that can’t be denied.
It’s similarly impossible to deny this is dividing Eurovision fans from those who love it to those who think it’s like a bag of cats being drowned. But that’s not a bad thing at Eurovision where the public can only vote for a song they like, not against. Standing out as first and last in a field of one could be exactly what this classy little song Paloma needs. If you like this, it’s getting your vote.
My marks: DOUZE POINTS!