OT 2018 Reviews and Rankings!

Spain, the land of divas and passionate fans is gearing up to choose who will represent them in Lisbon at Eurovision 2018. After last years debacle they have returned with their old national final OPERACION TRIUNFO! There are the nine songs that are going to battle it out to win the ticket to Lisbon!

I sat down to review and rank the entries and hopefully find a new Spanish Eurovision winner! Read my reviews below!

Camina – OT Five – The song is a feel-good pop song, but I feel there is way too much going on in the song. All of the five singers seem to be screaming over the top of each other or trying to outshine each other. I must say this song has a very distinct Spanish feeling to it though! Would have to see how they perform it live to be able to write it off completely!

Miriam & Agoney – Magia – The song has a country twinge to it I feel, the song feels like a duet with Shania Twaine and some other country star. I also feel that a lot is left to be desired with this song, both Miriam and Agoney are competent singers, but they have been let down with the choice of song here I am sorry to say! Their harmonies are nice though!

Miriam – Lejos De Tu Piel – Here we go! Spain has found their spamnish diva! Miriam has a set of pipes on her and is capable of belting out a powerful and emotional ballad, showing off her vocal range and technique. Along with looking good in the process, this feels very, Edurne, Ruth Lorenzo and Pastora Soler, I believe is Miriam can pull this off live she could take this out and fly the Spanish flag in Portugal! Like Jamala says Miriam “I belive in YOUUUUU”!!

Amaia – Al Cantar – This song is very much riding on the ‘Sobral’ wave of music for the ESC. Amaia’s song is very jazzy and smooth. Amaia sounds beautiful over the track, but I somegow feel that this song could get lost if she was chosen. No offense at all to Amai who is an amazing vocalist but I feel she got shafted a not-so competitive song.

Ana Guerra – El Remedio – YES! Here is a fun and up-tempo number from Ana she is taking us to the beaches of Barcelona and making us shake our hips in the process. I must admit it does feel a bit flat compared to the others but, the staging possibilities are endless for this song. Ana has shown she can kill it when it comes to choreography, so I do hope she brings it for this song!

Ana Guerra & Aitana – Lo Malo – These girls have come to win. The girls are riding on the trend that the Spanish ‘Euro-fans’ do tend to favour female singers who can serve them some sass, which these two have ample amounts of. I can see the stage filled with female dancers and these two girls, strutting their stuff and shaking their hips to the rhythm a good choice!

Aitana – Arde - Another well produced ballad comes courtesy of Aitana, this track could do super well, as the instrumental is quite pared back and raw which allows Aitana’s vocals to shine! This could lend itself to some dramatic staging! This I feel is a bit better than Miriam’s ballad and I do feel like it could do better in the same right!

Alfred – Que Nos Sigan Las Luces – The only solo male of the night, Alfred’s song is nice and I do like his voice on the track, my only concern would be how they stage this song, as I get less inspiration from this song than the others, and im sure Spain would like to stray away from the solo male playing guitar in stage seeing how well that went last year. Not the best but certainly not the worst!

Alfred & Amaia - Tu Cancion – WINNER! This song has to win, it has given me goosebumps from the first time I heard it. Their voices are beautiful and for the three minutes they are singing I am completely entranced by the beauty of the track and their voices! I can see this doing extremely well at ESC and I think I could even see Madrid 2019! But first I want to see this win OT2018!

My Ranking of Operacion Triunfo 2018:

1) Alfred & Amaia – Tu Cancion

2) Aitana – Arde

3) Miriam -Lejos De Tu Piel

4) Ana & Aitana – Lo Malo

5) Alfred – Que Nos Sigan Las Luces

6) Ana Guerra – El Remedio

7) Miriam & Agoney – Magia

8) Amaia – Al Cantar

9) Operacion Triunfo Final Five – Camina

Spain was represented by Manel Navarro in Kyiv last year, with the song “Do It For Your Lover” which won their national selection in a dramatic and somewhat shifty way. He went to Kyiv under a cloud of hate and unfortunately for Manel he suffered a vocal crack during his performance, which did not help his scoring eventually placing 26th in the final otherwise known as last behind Germany and 24 other countries!

Watch his performance below!!