There are some countries that once in a while stumble upon a formula that works for them, and then they stick to it. Take Spain’s last four entries for an example (and also an example of Eurovision inconsistency). Two top 10 results. Two bottom ones. One can only assume that the Spaniards in charge looked at that set of results, focused on the two top 10 songs, and came up with a short list of requirements for picking their representative and entry:

1. Female solo singer.
2. Preferably someone people recognize.
3. Ballad.
4. DRAMA.
5. Foreign composers and producers.

The last one is particularly important, because it is well known that in a tiny country of almost 50 million people that is one of the biggest markets for Latin music worldwide, it would be impossible to find anyone that is up for the task.
Therefore, they picked Edurne, a popular enough singer and a known enough celebrity, to represent them. Since participating in the 2005 edition of Operacion Triunfo (you know, that talent show that brought us Rosa, Beth and Ramon), Edurne appeared in a variety of other reality shows, including Dancing with the Stars and Your Face Sounds Familiar. She also released 5 studio albums that actually have some really nice pop songs in them. So, of course her Eurovision entry, Amanecer (Dawn) sounds absolutely nothing like anything else she’s ever done. Whether it is a good or a bad thing is a fine question, and one that we’ll get back to it – but first, let’s meet the team behind Amanecer.

Swedish writers, you say? You are not referring, by any chance, to Thomas G:son? Well, of course I am. And his other Euphoria half, Peter Boström. They are joined here by Spaniard Tony Sánchez-Ohlsson. There are no separate credits for music and lyrics, but one can only assume that someone had to write the song’s Spanish lyrics, and I’m fairly sure it’s not the Swedes who did.

My verdict? Amanecer is very dramatic. I’m not entirely sure how much of an actual song it is – it lacks a structure in which the song develops and actually does something with itself as the song goes. It does have a gorgeous production, though, and an equally gorgeous singer, so maybe no one would notice.

Edurne is a competent singer. The problem is that Amanecer is meant to be very atmospheric, and it probably would have been wiser to find a singer whose voice can give such a song – especially considering the lack of development – extra depth. Edurne, whose songs are mostly commercial uptempo pop and dance music, does her best to perform the song, but in the few live performances we’ve seen, her effort is so apparent that you wonder how much will she be able to actually sell the song. She seems to spend a lot of energy just focusing on singing all the notes in the right key – which she generally does, but I don’t know if that would be enough to grab people’s attention, juries and audience alike. The Spaniards also tend to be a hit or miss with their stagings. Their last two top 10 placings both had very simple but smart and effective staging, but in both cases they had extremely strong singers to rely on. Here they will need to make the staging a lot busier to distract from the limited vocal capacity, and I am not sure I trust them to get it right. If they do, they might find themselves on the left-hand side of the scoreboard, but only just.

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