MURCIA-BORN vocalist Blas Cantó will get another chance to represent his country at the Eurovision Song Contest – because even if it cannot be staged in the usual way, candidates will have recorded their entries at home to be shown on the night.
Former lead singer of the five-part Spanish boy-band Auryn – most of whose records were, in fact, in English – Blas, 29, had been looking forward to getting up on the stage in Rotterdam in May 2020 and belting out his Universo, but the pandemic and global lockdown put paid to his and everyone else's glorious moment.
He will, instead, be Spain's entry for the 2021 Eurovision, and like all other participating countries' artists, will need to rehearse in case he is able to perform live and also record his act on video as a contingency.
Even if the studio gala takes place live from Rotterdam in four months' time, depending upon the Covid-19 situation, there may be some nations whose entries either cannot attend due to restrictions affecting their own territories, or who decide to exercise caution and not travel.
Blas' song may not be the same one as he was planning on performing last year, though – two tracks, not yet revealed, will be put to public vote in February.
A live gala hosted by Spanish Radio and Television (RTVE), the country's answer to the BBC, will see him present two very different numbers and let his audience choose their favourite.
“This year, they've given me another chance,” said Blas.
“I want to hear Eurofans' voices. I want everyone to take my hand and join me, so we can support each other, because it's all of us who are going to the Eurovision, and because Eurovision energy in Spain is contagious.”
Fans can vote online free of charge, via text message, phone, or the Eurovision TVE mobile App.
“If we want to let the public decide, then it really will be the people who choose, because there'll be no judges' panel,” observes Blas.
“I realise there's going to be a lot of debate about which Blas of the two people want representing them, but both numbers are essentially a reflection of me, as I took an active part in composing them.”
The two songs the television audience will be asked to decide between will be chosen jointly between RTVE, Blas' team, Blas himself, and Warner, each of them radically different but which are 'completely me', the artist says, and which he is 'very comfortable with' performing on stage.
Born in Ricote but growing up in nearby Molina de Segura in the Murcia Region, Blas duetted last April with R&B household name Kelly Clarkson on one of the five bilingual versions of her 'pandemic anthem', I Dare You.
The Texan artist behind What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger and The Trouble With Love Is recorded an English-Spanish release with Blas, and others in English with Arabic, Hebrew, French and German.
Joining Clarkson, 38, on her 'motivational' global hit were Moroccan-born Faouzia, who grew up in Québéc; France's Isabelle Geffroy, better known by her artist's pseudonym of Zaz; Carolin Niemczyk and Daniel Grunenberg, who make up the German electro-pop duo Glasperlenspiel; and Israeli singer and actress Maya Bouskilla.
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