The Benidorm tracks are here and can I just say…this is how you establish a national final from nothing: you set up a music festival and feed it and let it grow organically into a competition that would exist as a standalone event that is first and foremost meant to celebrate the musical landscape of the country in question. It’s that simple (if you have the money and local support)! Benidorm 2024 features an impressive slate of 16 tracks with terrific baseline quality (there isn’t one mediocre song in the bunch – not one) and one throughline – let’s go back to the party soundscapes of 2022 and forget 2023 ever happened. And honestly…I am here for it. It was hard to narrow it all down to 4 songs, but such is life. Here are my favorite entries in alphabetical order.
This one’s deceivingly silly and fun because the production is actually very layered and complex and the vocal has some color and body to it. As a little slice of europop, it feels current and fresh – there’s a certain formula behind the track’s structure that allows it to be immediately recognizable, but the drop works, and so does the bridge, and this good boy gets bonus points for casually name dropping both Euphoria and Tattoo in the lyrics (a coincidence? I don’t think so). Really curious to see where they decide to take this staging-wise.
I listened to this one a couple of time trying to figure out where the Scandipop flavor was coming from and lo and behold…it was written by none other than Thomas G:son (among others) and it’s got his signature sound splashed all over it. The blend of rock and pop isn’t always an automatic sell to me, but the arrangement here allows both to breathe and blend in seamlessy, and for the rest, it’s just kind of a stomper with a darker edge to it that makes it stand out. The key change that hits around 2:00 as she’s belting out a pelter of a money note might realistically linger with me as one of the most memorable moments of the whole season.
This is it. This one is the gay option. It slaps. It mothers. It soothes. Can we just examine the lyrics here for a minute:
I’m a slut
This is my moment
It was only a matter of time
I’m going to go out into the street to shout what I feel
To the four winds
I grew up eating Italodisco and this is as good a throwback to those ’80s sonorities as you will ever get. If Lady Gaga put this out tomorrow, it would top the Billboard Hot 100. I have a few Eurovision niches, and women of a certain age singing ostensibly age inappropriate songs (as they should, you best believe) is just an irresistible cocktail for me and it makes me completely powerless. Add a paper-thin vocal that just clings onto the melody with the utmost conviction and self-belief (María Bas is half the reason why this is as successful as it is) and I’m basically in heaven. On balance, I didn’t think this would be able to edge out slightly more approachable entries, but it’s currently tied in second place as the highest rated song of the bunch on Eurovision World. I cannot wait to see it on stage. Obsessed.
This seems to be the unanimous choice in the fandom echo chamber. I get it. It’s great. There’s an esthetic to the whole act that I find very appealing, and it’s an undeniable bop. I find the code switching just a bit clunky in this context, but I also cannot deny that it works insofar as she’s sassing the naysayers and she wants everyone to understand what she’s saying. I just have to wonder if it’s maybe a bit too straighforward for what it is and, in a field that is ripe with uptempo/dance numbers, Spain might want to send something that is just a bit more distinctive.
Benidorm will consist of two semis and a grand final, all taking place between January 30 – February 3. Spain is not playing around this year and I honestly don’t think they’re going to mess it up. Very excited to see what happens.
*geoblocked at the time of this post (which…what is her label even doing? This is the frontrunner. You want as many people as possible listening to it right now)
ESC Etc. 
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