Introduction

The Spanish broadcaster TVE has changed the concept of the national final this year again. One singer has been determined – Pastora Soler – and there were three songs the Spanish public and a jury could vote for. The real ballad “Quédate conmigo” (Stay with me) has convinced with a large winning margin. So Spain is back with a great classic ballad, the only non-Spanish aspect is that the composer Thomas G:sson comes from Sweden. This happens quite often that foreign composers play around for other countries. But even though this is a great entry and a good song for Spain and gives a little more class to the contest this year.

History

For the 52^nd time Spain is attending the Eurovision Song Contest this year. Spain belongs to the Big 5 countries together with Italy, United Kingdom, France and Germany. The Big 5 countries are the biggest financial backers in the EBU so they have the right to start directly in the grand final and they don’t have to go through the semi finals. Spain has won the ESC twice, but that’s some years ago “La, la, la...” by Massiel in 1968 and “Vivo Cantando” by Salomé in 1969. Beside of that there were 26 Top 10 positions, the most popular ones were: “Su Canción” by Betty Missiego in 1979 (2^nd), “Bandido” by Azucar Moreno in 1990 (6^th) and “Vuelve Conmigo” by Anabel Conde in 1995 (2^nd). Unfortunately, the Spanish entries were not that successfully anymore and often found on the bottom of the scoreboards. The entries from Spain were mainly in Spanish, while other countries used the open language rule, also France tried some verses or choruses in English. The Spanish organizers have tried almost everything to bring Spain back to the old successful stream, but this did not work very well, so it would be time for Spain to come back to the old success.