All entries in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest are known, but the actual contest is still five weeks away. As a warm-up, we introduce one of the entries every day in random order. Part twenty-four is dedicated to the entry from Spain.

Baisc information

Performer:	Soraya Arnelas (performing as Soraya)
Song:	La noche es para mí (The night is for me)
Language:	Spanish and English
Music:	Irini Michas, Jason Gill, Dimitri Stassos
Lyrics:	Felipe Pedroso
Draw:	25th in the final

The song

La noche es para mí, which originally had Greek lyrics and was offered to 2005 Eurovision Song Contest winner Helena Paparizou, is a mediterranean up-tempo pop song. The lyrics tell that the singer has a good time and that she asks someone else to spend that specialtime with her:

Vuelvo a mirar
Tus ojos son un volcán
No escaparás
Tu fuego dirá la verdad
No importa si quieres o no
Porque hoy mando yo

Come on and take me
Come on and shake me
Quiero saber lo que sientes por mí

I take another look
Your eyes are like a volcano
You are not going to escape
Your fire will tell the truth
It does not matter if you want it or not
BecausetodayI am giving the orders

Come on and take me
Come on and shake me
I want to know what you feel for me

The singer

Soraya became famous when she entered the fourth series of the talent search Operación Triunfo, which had selected the Spanish Eurovision Song Contest representatives in its first three series, in 2005. She would finish second overall and in 2006, she was ranked the seventh most successful contestant in this showever. Her firstalbum Corazón de fuego, which was produced by Kike Santander,was a huge success inSpain reaching platinum status with more than 80,000 copiessold.

Her second album Ochenta's was as successful as the first one in sales figures and also spawned the singer's first top ten single Self control, which was a cover version of the Laura Branigan song (and also recorded and co-written by Raf, Italian entrant in 1987). It reached gold status in Spain. Her second album was a mix of cover versions and new songs, but her third album released the year after, which brought her another gold disc, was a cover album with hits from the 1980s. In 2008, she recorded the song Tonight we ride/No digas que nowith 2006 Belgian Eurovision Song Contest representative Kate Ryan for Ryan's album Free.

Soraya entered the Spanish national selection for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest with the song La noch es para mí from her fourth album Sin miedo. She finished second overall and first in the pop/rock category making her proceed to the national final, which she could win. The single has entered the Spanish charts and is currently peaking at number 16 making it her third most successful single to date.

The national selection

An online selection was to choose the 30 songs for thetelevised Eurovision Song Contest 2009 selection. Those entries were allocated in three semi finals. Four songs of each heat qualified for the grand final (which was held right after the last semi final omitting the second chance round) and Soraya was the winner. She was the favourite of the televoters and the second favourite of the jury.

Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest

Spain has entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 and they have not missed a single edition since. Victories came in 1968 andon homeground in 1969. In other years, the results were mixed but Spain finished second four times and third once. The lates string of successful results came in the early 2000s with four top ten palcing in a row (2001-2004).

¡Deseamos a España y a Soraya mucha suerte y un buen resultado en Moscú!

Videos

Live in the national final (semi final performance):

The preview video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2q4Y_xZlFc&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&rel=0

Soraya with Self control:

Soraya in Operación Triunfo IV with co-contestant Víctor (New York, New York):

Other parts of this series

1. France
2. Portugal
3. Romania
4. Denmark
5. Netherlands
6. Cyprus
7. Latvia
8. Ireland
9. Malta
10. Armenia
11. Germany
12. Serbia
13. Belgium
14. Greece
15. Croatia
16. Poland
17. Czech Republic
18. Iceland
19. Moldova
20. Switzerland
21. Slovenia
22. Andorra
23. Ukraine

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the Swedish entry.

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