Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013
participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "Contigo hasta el final" written by Raquel del Rosario, David Feito and Juan Luis Suárez. The trio performed the song in their rock-pop band El Sueño de Morfeo, who were internally selected by the Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española in December 2012. TVE organised Destino Eurovisión, a televised final, to select the song that ESDM would perform. The public were allowed to select one of two songs that would be performed in the show alongside two other songs, with the final song being chosen by a combined public and jury vote.
As a member of the "Big 5", Spain automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, and the nation voted in the second semi-final. Performing during the show in position five, Spain placed 25th out of 26 competing countries with eight points.
Background
Prior to the 2013 contest, Spain had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 51 times since their debut in the 1961 edition. The nation has won the contest twice, in 1968 and 1969, and has finished second four times. In the 2012 edition, the country placed tenth with the song "Quédate conmigo" performed by Pastora Soler.The Spanish national broadcaster, Televisión Española, broadcasts the event within Spain and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. TVE confirmed their intentions to participate in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest on 10 December 2012. Many methods of selection have been used, with the most common method used by TVE being an internal selection for both the artist and song. From 2000 to 2011, TVE had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Spain, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. For their 2013 participation, the artist was selected internally by the broadcaster, while the song was selected through a national final. This method was also used by TVE in 2012.
Before Eurovision
Artist selection
After Spain achieved their first top ten placing since the 2004 edition in 2012, TVE announced that they would continue to internally select the artist that would represent the nation for the Eurovision Song Contest. An early prediction of a possible candidate was David Bustamante, who stated in June 2012 that he was open to the idea of competing in Eurovision but had no time to commit to the contest. International media later suggested that Pablo Alborán had been chosen to represent Spain, but record label EMI Music Spain quickly issued a press release denying these reports, explaining that he was preparing to promote his new album Tanto on tour. Other artists who were rumoured to be in discussions with TVE included Chenoa, Malú, David Bisbal, Diana Navarro, Álex Ubago and Sergio Dalma.On 15 December 2012, TVE announced that the entrant for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest would be disclosed two days later. El Sueño de Morfeo, a pop-rock band, were announced as Spain's Eurovision entrant in Malmö on the La 1 evening magazine programme +Gente. For Eurovision, they used the initials ESDM because it would be easier to read for an international audience. During the subsequent press conference, the band stated that they had prepared and written three songs that contained a traditional Celtic influence; ESDM were also hoping to submit another two songs for presentation by TVE. They spoke of their plan to organise a meeting with Pastora Soler to exchange musical ideas and receive advice about competing in Eurovision.
El Sueño de Morfeo: Destino Eurovisión
Destino Eurovisión was the national final format developed by TVE to select the Spanish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013.Online vote
The public online vote was held from 5 February 2013 to 11 February 2013, and users were able to cast one single vote. The results of the online vote were announced on 12 February 2013. With 69.9 percent of the vote, the song "Atrévete" qualified for the final.| Draw | Song ' | Televote | Place |
| 1 | "Revolución" | 30.1% | 2 |
| 2 | "Atrévete" ' | 69.9% | 1 |
Final
The national final was held on 26 February 2013 at TVE's studios in Sant Cugat del Vallès in the Catalan province of Barcelona, hosted by Carolina Ferre. The show was broadcast on La 1 as well as online via TVE's official website. ESDM performed three candidate songs in the televised national final, and the winning song, "Contigo hasta el final", was selected by a combination of the votes from televoting and the votes from an in-studio jury panel.The three members of the in-studio jury that evaluated the entries during the final were:
- José María Íñigo – journalist, Spanish commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest
- Rosa López – singer, Spanish Eurovision entrant in 2002
- Marco Mengoni – singer, Italian Eurovision entrant in 2013
Preparation
At Eurovision
At Eurovision, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. As a member of the "Big 5", Spain automatically qualified to compete in the final on 18 May 2013. In addition to their participation in the final, Spain is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. During the semi-final allocation draw on 17 January 2013, Spain was assigned to broadcast and vote in the second semi-final on 16 May 2013.In Spain, the second semi-final was broadcast on La 2 and the final was telecast on La 1 with commentary by José María Íñigo. The Spanish spokesperson, who announced the Spanish votes during the final, was TVE news anchor and reporter Inés Paz. The broadcast of the final was watched live by 5.639 million people, receiving a market share of 33.1 percent. This represented a decrease of 12.4 percent from the previous year, with 1.173 million less viewers.
Final
ESDM took part in a half-hour technical rehearsal on 12 May, followed by two 20-minute dress rehearsals on 15 and 17 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries. During the individual press conferences for the "Big 5" countries on 15 May, ESDM took part in a draw to determine in which half of the final the Spanish entry would be performed. Spain was drawn to compete in the first half. After the second semi-final was held on 17 May, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final. The running order for the semi-finals and final was decided by the producers rather than through another draw so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Spain was subsequently placed to perform in position five, following the entry from Finland and before the entry from Belgium.The Spanish performance featured lead singer Raquel del Rosario wearing a yellow dress that she designed in collaboration with the designer Yolanda Pérez, of the brand "Yolancris". Del Rosario chose to go barefoot for the song. Guitarists David Feito and Juan Luis Suárez wore more casual outfits and had no choreography for the performance, staying in one spot. The performance began with a bagpipe player standing on the catwalk of the stage, performing the first notes of the song. The stage lighting and LED screens first displayed blue and purple rays of the sun, with imitations of waterfall-like lamps falling from the ceiling, and the rear of the stage had white star-light twinkles projected onto it. The colours changed to shades of red and orange as the song rose in tempo, to reflect the warmth of the song. Del Rosario walked along the catwalk of the stage and sang into a light box that lit up in yellow. The light box then rose upwards, along with several other lamps in the audience. The stage director of the performance was Pedro Castro. On the day of the final, Spain were considered by bookmakers to be the 25th most likely country to win the contest; they finished 25th with eight points. They were awarded six points by Albania and two from Italy.
Voting
Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consists of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on vocal capacity, the stage performance, the song's composition and originality, and the overall impression of the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final, at the discretion of the participating country.Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Spain and awarded by Spain in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest. Details of the jury voting and televoting were not released to the public, because the EBU wanted to prevent any possible influence this could have on future televoting results. Spain awarded its 12 points to Norway in the second semi-final, and to Italy in the final.
Points awarded to Spain
Points awarded by Spain
Semi-final 2
Points awarded in second semi-final:| 12 points | |
| 10 points | |
| 8 points | |
| 7 points | |
| 6 points | |
| 5 points | |
| 4 points | |
| 3 points | |
| 2 points | |
| 1 point |
Final
Points awarded in the final:| 12 points | |
| 10 points | |
| 8 points | |
| 7 points | |
| 6 points | |
| 5 points | |
| 4 points | |
| 3 points | |
| 2 points | |
| 1 point |