Review: Amaia y Alfred - Tu Cancion - Spain

TellyStats Rating:

7 Day YouTube Views: 1,225,570
7 Day YouTube Likes: 41,317

The first (of many) hyped acts in this year was Spain with Tu Cancion, sung by Amaia and Alfred, a real life couple. Tu Cancion ("Your Song") is a simplistic ballad where the vocals carry the song forward far more than the piano and strings.

The song reminds me very much of "Come What May" from Moulin Rouge, the young couple staring into each other's eyes and professing their love. That Amaia and Alfred are actually dating is a crucial factor, this effect wouldn't work and would be intensely uncomfortable if it were just singers pretending to be in love, the chemistry is what makes it.

The music builds over the course of the song, the melody is accessible and unlike so many other native-language songs this year, the message is crystal clear to all who listen. My understanding is they're keeping the staging simple, just the two lovers singing to one another - definitely a good move, however with nothing to distract the audience it means their vocals will have to be on point.

More than just the song, the entire feel of Tu Cancion feels like a breath of fresh air in a field of plastic pop, pretty boys, incomprehensible ethnic songs and random crap, this stands alone as a unique entry of the 43. It's not singing about love in general, they're literally singing it for one another. With the dancing, lighting and costumes on the night, a song like this definitely brings everything right back down to the basic level and I appreciate that. The nearest comparison would be Lithuania, but that song went so simple it's incredibly boring.

As mentioned, Spain were the first hyped act this year before dropping down as other acts revealed their songs. This year has been pretty crazy in the betting, Israel has lead since it's release but around 7 or 8 songs have taken 2nd favourite before giving it up to another country. The reason for this is simple, all of those songs have a crucial, individual element that's just wrong, like 90% of the song is great but that 10% is what instills doubt and this year a lot of the top tracks are like that - especially after first rehearsals. The reason I say this is because I'm not sure Spain's drop in the market odds is merited, for me it does exactly what it says on the tin, stands alone in it's genre, has that element of the real-couple and the song is pretty good to boot. This should be higher in the markets if you ask me.

The YouTube stats for Spain paint the same sort of picture, 2nd highest Views and Likes after 7 days behind Israel on both counts. 41,300 likes is especially significant, Equinox for Bulgaria got around the same number of views after 7 days as Spain, but only half the Likes. Spain currently sit at 11th favourite in the market which to me is far too high, this song is in my top 5 - with the later tracks being released, did punters take their eye off the ball?