Carmen Puente, 13 (right) had coaches clamouring to get her on their teams on The Voice Kids (photo: Antena3)
A 'BLIND' audition on The Voice Kids revealed an as-yet unknown new talent whose dad is a famous politician.
The four coaches were in raptures when they heard a young girl singing the late Amy Winehouse's Love is a Losing Game and three of them – Vanesa Martín, Rosario Flores and David Bisbal – turned, but Melendi was not quick enough and was blocked by Vanesa.
Carmen Puente, 13, introduced herself after her stunning performance, but the twist in the tale came when she was asked questions about her life outside the competition.
“My dad's a politician,” she said.
“He was in power for three years, but he's just won the elections again and has another three years ahead of him.”
Carmen's father turned out to be Óscar Puente, mayor of the Castilla y León city of Valladolid, which is widely held to be where the purest 'received' Spanish is spoken.
All four coaches were champing at the bit to get Carmen on their teams – although Melendi's being blocked from turning meant he was out of the running – and in the end, the young teen chose David Bisbal.
Bisbal, from Almería, whose catchy, fast-paced flamenco-style pop is delightfully stereotypically-Spanish and 'danceable', and which includes the number he composed for the FIFA World Cup to rally his national team, knows exactly what the young contestants on his team are dealing with: He shot to fame in 2003 after being a contestant on what was then the Spanish answer to The Voice and similar shows like The X-Factor, known as Operación Triunfo ('Operation Triumph').
Carmen's family, including her famous politician father, were watching her performance from backstage, accompanied by presenter Eva González.
“When we saw she really had a chance to go a bit further, we were at the home of some of our friends – they put the telly on in 'karaoke mode' and we were flabbergasted,” Óscar Puente reveals.
The socialist (PSOE) mayor was unable to conceal his pride to see his young daughter's dream come true – he tweeted the clip from the TV show with an emoji of a face with two hearts for eyes and captioned it, “My little girl...”
Fingers crossed for Blas Cantó at the Eurovision after his annus horribilis
At the time of publication, Spanish pop fans will be hoping another stage performance will cause a sensation, on international as well as national television: Murcia-born Blas Cantó will be representing his country at the Eurovision Song Contest, a year overdue.
He was selected to perform in 2020, but the show was cancelled due to Covid – instead, he will get his chance tonight.
Blas Cantó, from Murcia, will be singing his heart out for Spain tonight - literally. His song is a tribute to his late grandmother and father (photo: RTVE)
Spain has rarely achieved results worthy of its efforts in the last few decades – the best so far this century has been Pastora Soler, in 2010, who came 10th – but Blas' song, chosen from two options he gave his fans, is likely to tug at some heartstrings.
It was written in tribute to his grandmother, who passed away from Covid, and whilst penning it, his father also died – and Blas has made no secret of the fact he is struggling emotionally, 'even just to carry on living'.
A healthy score at tonight's Eurovision may help boost his spirits, although, hopefully, the mere act of representing his country on stage may be enough to do so.
