«My wish is to make Spain proud after performing in Turin»

Between Benidorm and Turin, Chanel kicks off an intense long-distance race that will take her to the stage of the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin on May 14. Less than two months before its celebration, the RTVE candidate for the European contest presented the video clip of the song ‘SloMo’ to the media on Monday. A dream come true, according to her, because it is the first time in her professional career that she has recorded a video of these characteristics. «I saw the video clips of Shakira, Thalia or Beyoncé and I wanted to be there. She would tell my little self that this has happened and that she has just achieved it », comments the 31-year-old Catalan artist, visibly moved.

The Spanish candidacy relied on Kyle Hanagami, who has worked with international figures such as Jennifer Lopez or Britney Spears, to create a choreography at the level of a “pop diva”, with a video clip directed by Pawla Casanovas in which it is intended to show an empowered Chanel and owner of her life, where there was also water and impressive lighting. «It was very hard because there were many hours of filming and demanding. We wanted to get the best out of everyone », he reveals.

She is clear that she has to dedicate one hundred percent to Eurovision to “shine” on the Turin stage and bring to Spain the long-awaited glass microphone that would make us winners of the festival since that distant tie in the first position of Salomé in 1969. «The day to day is being with a lot of work, taking great care of the voice and the physique to arrive well. The mind is also very important. They are hard and demanding workouts, but it is what it is. It is Eurovision and it demands to be up to it yes or yes », she assures.

Now far from the controversy over the votes of the Benidorm Fest, for which she even received insults on social networks, Chanel is now focusing on viewers in Europe, where they are beginning to positively assess her performance. “Pressure is good because it keeps you active and you don’t relax. Outside they position us, because we have to give even more of our best. If you don’t have to sleep, you don’t sleep. If you have to rehearse and be exhausted, you rehearse », she affirms.

These good feelings, he says, make him “calm” after “so much storm” in his brief but intense Eurovision career. «Seeing that outside of Spain I am well positioned… It puts pressure on me, but in a good way. It makes me proud », she reiterates. An encouragement that she shares, on her part, the head of the Spanish Eurovision delegation, Eva Mora, although she also shows prudence. “We are there. That there is not much ballad in the festival is good for us. I think ‘SloMo’ is a unique song and has a good chance of coming back with a good position in Turin”, admits the RTVE representative.

Tour of Europe

If so, the trends of recent years would be reversed. The Murcian Blas Cantó, who represented our country in 2021 with ‘I’m going to stay’, was third from last with just six points. Regarding its competitors, Chanel admits that in this edition “there is a level”: “My favorites are Italy, the United Kingdom and Albania”. And what is her wish for the music contest? “Leaving Spain proud after performing in Turin,” she notes.

After a performance at the Festival da Cançao, Portugal’s preselection to elect the Eurovision representative, Chanel will now begin a promotional tour of Europe to publicize its proposal.

The first stop will be this Friday at the Drag Queen gala at the carnival in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – it can be followed on La 2 – while in April it will be in London and Amsterdam. It will also go through the Eurovision Pre Party in Barcelona and the Los 40 Primavera Pop festival.

At the same time, TVE will also start with its special programming while already thinking about the next edition of the Benidorm Fest, a program, according to Eva Mora, which has managed to “re-launch music” with the fourteen artists who participated in “the most success”. “And I think that the candidacy (Chanel) is making a strong impression in Europe and in international bookmakers. We are leaving our skin », she assures.