Ruth Lorenzo had her first breakthrough when she finished fifth in X Factor UK in 2008. The singer started working on her own music after that and is now aiming for international success with a participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. She will be representing Spain with the powerful ballad ‘Dancing In The Rain’. I talked to Ruth about her connection to the United Kingdom, the big stage performance and her goal in this competition.
Why do you think your song ‘Dancing In The Rain’ is good enough to win the Eurovision Song Contest?
First of all because I wrote it. The song is very personal to me and the message is right. I absolutely love it.
Did you hear all the other songs competing? Could any of them stop you from winning?
Yes, I heard them and I have to say they are brilliant. For example ‘Children of the Universe’ by Molly, I love that song! I also really like Austria’s Conchita Wurst.
You participated in the X Factor UK in 2008. Did you learn things over there that you could still use on the big stage in Copenhagen?
Oh my god, yes! The UK basically taught me everything I know as a performer these days. I will definitely be thinking about that knowledge and taking it into consideration when it comes to my performance during the final of Eurovision.
Do you expect the United Kingdom to give you 12 points? Did you do any extra promotion there?
I would love them to do that. They better give me those 12 points! I already have been in the UK a couple of times over the past few months and I will go there again.
You did slight changes to your song over the past few months. Is the final version the best that you could get out of it?
Yes, totally! It was recorded by the symphonic orchestra of Macedonia. The arrangements have now been done by incredible composers. I could not be happier with it than I am now.
“If I would end up last, but still gave the best performance I could, then the result would not really matter to me.”
On the final version we also hear even more English lyrics than the previous ones. Why is that?
Well, actually the song was written completely in English at first. Because I wanted to participated in the Spanish national selection I translated part of it to Spanish. Now we decided to do the second verse in English, but kept the first one in Spanish.
You recently performed your song on Spanish television accompanied by a male dancer who also stars in your music video. Will we be seeing him in Copenhagen as well?
No, you will not. I will not be dancing on the Eurovision stage. It will be just me singing the song with my backing singers. I chose to do it like this, because I am not really a dancer. I have only just started dancing so it did not seem like a good idea to me to already include that in my Eurovision performance.
What result do you hope to achieve within the Eurovision Song Contest?
Of course I am here to win, but I will not be disappointed with any other position on the scoreboard, as long as I did the best I could do on stage. Even if I would end up last and I still gave the best performance I wanted myself to, than the result would not really matter to me.
If X Factor had a Eurovision themed week when you were participating, which song would you have chosen?
I think I would have gone with ‘Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi’ by Céline Dion. That’s a classic!
