The race for Nebulossa’s successor heats up with TVE announcing that the songs competing at Benidorm Fest 2025 will be revealed on the 18th of December.
18th of December
Shortly after Spanish public broadcaster RTVE revealed the acts that will be competing at Benidorm Fest 2025, it was announced that the songs will be released next month on the 18th of December. The hopefuls will battle it out for the right to represent Spain at next year’s Eurovision in Basel during the Benidorm Final on the 1st of February. The contest will once again be held at the Palau Municipal d’Esports l’Illa de Benidorm in Benidrom, Valencia.
¡El 18 de diciembre conoceremos las canciones del #BenidormFest2025! 🫶#BenidormFest #ElFestivalQueQuiereshttps://t.co/zbTt1pzMBE pic.twitter.com/A9hhU7ciiV
— Benidorm Fest (@BenidormFestTVE) November 12, 2024
Last month ahead of the National Final season commencing, we shared our thoughts on how we’d like to see Spain adapt their national final. You can read out thoughts here.
| Artist | Entry |
| Carla Frigo | “Bésame” |
| Celine Van Heel | “La Casa” |
| Chica Sobresalto | “Mala Feminista” |
| Daniela Blasco | “Uh Nana” |
| David Afonso | “Amor Barato” |
| DeTeresa | “La Pena” |
| Henry Semler | “No Lo Ves” |
| J Kbello | “VIP” |
| K!NGDOM | “Me Gustas Tú” |
| Kuve | “Loca Por Ti” |
| Lachispa | “Hartita De Llorar” |
| Lucas Bun | “Te Escribo En El Cielo” |
| Melody | “Esa Diva” |
| Mel Ömana | “I’m The Queen” |
| Maxwot | “Raggio Di Sole” |
| Sonia y Selena | “Reinas” |
What is Benidorm Fest?
Following a decade and a half interval, Spain’s national broadcaster RTVE revived the Benidorm International Song Festival, and transformed into Spain’s selection show for Eurovision. This is not the first time RTVE has experimented with pre-existing formats to select it’s Eurovision entrants; having previously intermittently used Operación Triunfo. Though this time was to much greater success, as inaugural winner Chanel ultimately finished third at the 2022 contest in Turin. Originally held between 1959 and 2006, the winner of the contest would go on to receive the prestigious award the Sirenita de Oro (trans. The Golden Mermaid). Though the winners of the current iteration of the contest receive a bronze microphone instead.
As the contest is at its heart a celebration of Spanish music, the lyrical contest of each song must be at least 60% from on of the official languages of Spain. Voting in Benidorm Fest consists of a hybrid system, with three voting methods: jury, demiscopic, and televote. the jury consists of music professions ranking the competitors, and makes up 50% of the vote. The demiscopic vote is a weighted system meant to balance the vote based on the demographic make up of Spain, and makes up 25% of the vote. The final 25% of the vote consists of simple televote.
Spain’s Eurovision Journey
Spain debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 with Conchita Bautista’s “Estando Contigo”. The country earned its first win in 1968 with Massiel’s “La La La”, and won again in 1969 with Salome’s “Vivo Cantando” in an infamous four-way tie. Although they have yet to win again, Spain earned several 2nd place finishes, most famously with Mocedades’ “Eres tu” in 1973 and Anabel Conde’s “Vuelve conmigo” in 1996.
In 2024, Spain selected Nebulossa. As part of the Big 5, Nebulossa did not need to qualify to the Grand Final from the semi-finals. At the close of voting, their song “ZORRA” finished 22nd, with a total of 30 points. Of these, 19 points came from the jury, whilst 11 came from the televote.
Which song are you most looking forward to? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2025!
Photo credit: RTVE
News Source: TVE
Rory Gannon 
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