Spain has made its decision! Amaia & Alfred will defend the Spanish colours at the forthcoming 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon.

Tonight saw Amaia Romero & Alfred Garcia aka Almaia win the 2018 Spanish national final with Tu canción.

The 2018 Spanish Eurovision entry Tu canción

A total of 6 acts and 9 songs were in the running in their quest to fly the Spanish flag at the 63rd Eurovision Song Contest.

There were 2 rounds of voting during tonight’s gala; during the first round, all 9 songs were in the running and the public shortlisted their top 3, hereafter 3 songs (Lo malo, Tu canción and Arde) battled for the golden ticket to Lisbon.

Amaia and Alfred’s entry, Tu canción, won the second round of voting with 43% of the votes and will be representing Spain in Eurovision next May. Aitana‘s Arde came second, whilst her duet with Anna Guerra, Lo malo, finished third.

The 2018 Spanish Eurovision entry has been composed by Raúl Gómez. Raul is known in Spain for having composed songs for Rosa Lopez (Spain 2002) and Blas Canto.

The announcement of the winner

The results

• Alfred & Amaia – Tu Canción – 43%
• Aitana – Arde – 31%
• Aitana & Ana Guerra – Lo Malo – 26%

The 2018 Spanish Eurovision entry was determined via a 100% public vote.

The show was hosted by Roberto Leal and aired on TVE 1 and TVE International. Former Eurovision winners Conchita Wurst (Austria 2014) and Luisa Sobral (Portugal 2017) graced the occasion and treated the viewers with their performances.

This is the fourth time that Spain has selected its Eurovision act and entry via Operación Triunfo.

Operación Triunfo and Eurovision

Operación Triunfo kicked off in Spain in 2001 and TVE used it as the mechanism to select the 2002 Spanish Eurovision entry and act.

The first edition of the talent show was a massive hit in Spain, thus getting much exposure and mediatic coverage. Rosa Lopez was crowned the winner of OT 2001 and won the golden ticket to Tallinn with her song Europe’s living a celebration.

TVE used the same format for the following 2 years in order to select the Spanish Eurovision entry and act: Beth (2003) and Ramon (2004).

The Spanish national broadcaster axed the show after its third edition. In 2005, Spanish private television channel Tele Cinco revived the talent show and aired a total of 5 seasons and had no link to Eurovision.

We must not forget that 2 of the participants of the 4th edition of Operación Triunfo went on to represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest many after their participation: Soraya Arnelas (2009) and Edurne (2015).

Spain in Eurovision

Spain debuted in Eurovision in 1961 and has won the competition twice (1968 and 1969). The country enjoyed much success in its early days, but now seems to have had a reverse in fortunes. We must not forget that Spain has not made it to the Top 5 since 1995.

Spain has not missed a single contest since it joined the competition in 1961, this year will see the country’s 58th participation in the contest.

The Iberian country has only made it twice to the Top 10 in the last decade, namely in 2012 and 2014 with Pastora Soler and Ruth Lorenzo respectively.

In 2017, Spain selected its Eurovision entry via a national final leading to Manel Navarro‘s victory and winning the golden ticket to Kyiv with Do it for your lover. Unfortunately Spain came last in the Grand Final, continuing the bad spell of poor results in the competition.

The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 8, 10 and 12 May at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal.

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