The number of known entries for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest doubled yesterday as Spain and the Czech Republic selected their candidates for Lisbon – and the results could not have been more contrasting.

In a special ESC edition of the current season of casting show Operación Triunfo, real-life couple Amaia Romero and Alfred García came out on top with the romantic ballad “Tu canción”. An attempt to channel the vibe of the Oscar-winning “Falling Slowly” combined with more than a hint of Disney, the song is a heartfelt duet with lyrics like

Everything’s perfect when you’re here,
creating a new city with me
I feel like I’m dancing for the first time when I’m with you

You can see the two lovebirds below:

Meanwhile, the combined jury vote and online selection to choose the Czech entry came to an unsurprising conclusion as “Lie To Me” by Mikolas Josef was revealed as the winner. An unashamedly chart-oriented pop song with a parping instrumental hook that suggests someone was watching as SunStroke Project captured a podium position for Moldova last year, it boasts some remarkable lyrical turns, not least

She rocking high heels Prada, her face like Madonna
By the way she moved got me making a puddle

or

Quit sweet talking me now baby, I don’t give a fuck
You should have thought about me before you fucked him at the club

or, erm…

Mom, I’m feeling home already but steady
Plenty motherfuckers wanna eat my spaghetti

One imagines there’ll be a fairly lengthy e-mail exchange with the EBU before a family-friendly version of the song is approved. In the meantime, you can watch it here:

Two wildly different approaches to making an impact at the Eurovision Song Contest, anyway. We’ll see which one proves more successful in LIsbon!