Manel Navarro representing Spain after national final drama
We all know the Eurovision Song Contest would not be complete without some drama and this year it is not only about the problems between Ukraine and Russia. Spain served us a whole lot of dramatic scandal during their national final as well. Manel Navarro won Objetivo Eurovision after finishing in third position with the televoters, while two of the three jury members gave his main competition Mirela who won the televote, the lowest possible number of points. Later it turned out one of the judges was friends with the winner and the Spanish public deemed the show as corrupted. Even politicians asking questions about it in the Spanish parliament could not turn the situation around and so Manel Navarro will perform his ‘Do It For Your Lover’ in Kiev in May.

I was not utterly convinced that Mirela would be the right choice for Spain, but if fan favourite Barei could not make it past the 22nd position with her contemporary ‘Say Yay’, I don’t think Manel will stand any chance at success on the Eurovision stage. His ‘Do It For Your Lover’ desperately needs any form of chorus. The monotonous repititon of the title certainly doesn’t cut it. The summery acoustic guitar surfer dude vibe will definitely appeal to some, but if only they had written a better melody and less infantile lyrics. “Clap your hands and do it for your lover” makes me cringe every single time. Manel Navarro has a nice stage presence, but his vocals sounded shaky at some points during the national final so there is work to be done there as well.

The Spanish delegation has hired Belgian artistic director Hans Pannecoucke, who worked magic for the Netherlands in 2014, to help them with the staging, but I would be surprised if he can do anything that would keep Spain out of the bottom 5.

UPDATE – Review on final performance and results (26th):
Spain’s Eurovision entry for this year was doomed to be a failure before the actual contest even started. During the national final Manel sure wasn’t the favourite of the televoting, but the juries pushed him through to Kiev, causing a massive outcry. ‘Do It For Your Lover’ is a painfully simple song with childish lyrics and the repetition of the title over and over again. Vocally, there were quite a few missed notes and visually they tried their best with the surfboards and summer colors, but it was not nearly enough to make this performance appealing in any way.

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