SPAIN – Spain will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, having internally selected Blas Cantó as their representative. He was due to compete in the 2020 contest with “Universo” before the event’s cancellation. Their competing entry will be chosen during the national selection competition Destino Eurovisión 2021 organised by the Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE).
On 18 March 2020, the day of the 2020 contest’s cancellation, TVE confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest. The broadcaster also announced that they would continue cooperation with Blas Cantó, their intended artist for 2020. On 29 December 2020, it was revealed that a national final would select the song Cantó would sing in Rotterdam.
Destino Eurovisión 2021 will be the national final organised by TVE that will take place on 20 February 2021. The show will be broadcast on La 1 as well as online via TVE’s official website rtve.es. Ten songs provided by composers who usually work with Cantó were shortlisted and a committee consisting of members of TVE, Warner Music Spain along with Cantó and his team selected two songs for the national final. The two competing songs “Memoria” and “Voy a quedarme” premiered on 10 February 2021 via TVE’s official website.
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The televised final will take place on 20 February 2021, produced at the Estudios de Prado del Rey in Madrid and hosted by Tony Aguilar, Julia Varela and Víctor Escudero. All two participating songs will be performed by Blas Cantó and the winning song will be selected exclusively through a public vote via telephone, SMS and TVE’s official Eurovision app and website. In addition to the performances of the competing songs, guest performers will include Vanesa Martín, Nia, Andrés Suárez, Cepeda, Roi, and former Eurovision contestants Pastora Soler and Edurne who represented Spain in 2012 and 2015, respectively.
The staging director for the Spanish performance will be Marvin Dietmann, who had previously worked among others with the delegations of Austria, Bulgaria and Germany in a similar role, including the winning performance of Austria in the 2014 Contest. Blas Cantó will be joined in stage by backing singers Alba Gil, Héctor Artiles, Daira Monzón, Irene Alman and Dángelo Ortega.
