Just a few minutes ago, RTVE announced the song that will represent Spain at Junior Eurovision 2022 on La 1’s flagship music show Dúos Increíbles. The song with which Carlos Higes will try to win the crystal microphone at this year’s children’s festival is Señorita, an energetic uptempo song that mixes urban, Latin and flamenco influences. It is a composition chosen from a battery of proposals in a selection process in which our artist has played a key role, ensuring that he feels comfortable for his passage through the Junior Eurovision stage, which will be held this December 11th from Yerevan.
The song, which is sure to get the whole of Europe off their couches this December, features an international songwriting and production team. The song’s lyrics are in line with the interests of the new generation of young people, inviting them to party, have fun and enjoy the music.
You can listen to Señorita below:
A VIDEOCLIP FULL OF MOVEMENT, POSITIVITY AND URBAN ESSENCE
The video clip of the energetic proposal has been developed in Carlos Higes’ hometown, Valencia. Throughout the piece, filmed just a few days ago, we see our representative surrounded by his luxury dance troupe, made up of Adrián, Alba, Alexandra, Arantxa, Diego, Felipe, Mauro and Mónica. The choreography, the central element of the proposal, has been developed by Vicky Gómez, who repeats the experience after acting as choreographer during the last two editions of the festival, making the proposals of Soleá and Levi Díaz shine in their passage through the contest. During the recordings, the young Valencian already opened the mouths of the format’s followers, assuring that his song it was going to be a smash hit
The video clip was directed by Pepo Alfaro, who did not hesitate to capture the positivity and colourfulness of the proposal through the landscapes and points of interest offered by the Valencian city. Among the locations of the video are the surroundings of the City of Arts and Sciences or different sites with a marked graffiti character to highlight the more urban side of the proposal. It is a piece full of optimism, dance and good vibes in which we see Carlos surrounded by friends enjoying the music.
The song that aspires to achieve the second Spanish victory in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest is the result of a long and measured process that began this summer with the help of RTVE’s Eurovision delegation. Parallel to the auditions of the different candidates, the broadcaster has been immersed in an arduous search process involving 247 songs specially created for Junior Eurovision. RTVE aspires, in this way, to achieve a good position and to maintain the track record it enjoys at the festival, including 1 first place, two silver medals and two bronze medals. Will we manage to shine on the stage in Yerevan this year?
CARLOS HIGES, SPANISH REPRESENTATIVE AT EUROVISION JUNIOR 2022
Despite his young age, our Junior Eurovision representative already has an extensive musical and stage training, which began when he was just a few years old. Among his talents is a wide and versatile vocal range, a very good intonation and a unique voice colour, making him a unique profile with a great potential and international projection. His performances are, in addition, for the great passion, enthusiasm, innocence and naturalness that he gives off every time he sets foot on stage. Among his passions is, of course, the Eurovision Song Contest, in which he has dreamed of participating since he was 4 years old, enamoured by the stellar performance of Jamala and her song 1994 in the 2016 contest. This December he will have the opportunity to do the same in the children’s version of the contest, bringing his voice to the ears of every child in Europe.
Carlos Higes reached his most glorious moment a few months ago, taking part in the popular music talent show La Voz Kids under the umbrella of the idol Aitana, his coach during the show. As well as giving us fabulous performances that had viewers in stitches, Higes would astound with his rendition of the Eurovision song Colours Of Your Dreams in perfect Armenian. This a cappella performance , produced during the artist’s blind auditions, would make the rounds on twitter and even travel to Armenian mainstream media, overwhelmed by the young Valencian’s talent. Carlos would eventually be eliminated in the semi-finals of the programme.
In addition to being a singer, our multifaceted representative is also a model and actor, he has it all! He is characterised by his affable, friendly, fun and hard-working spirit, a lover of music and the spotlight. His musical idols are Justin Bieber and Sebastián Yatra, although when it comes to Eurovision he is very clear about it, he prefers Blas Cantó and our latest representative, Chanel Terrero. Currently, he is in the sixth year of Primary School, with a very good academic record, where his favourite subjects are French, Language and Natural Sciences. She also enjoys playing indoor football, learning English and has taken her first steps in the world of fashion and acting. In addition to La Voz Kids, she has also participated in the junior version of Idol, broadcast by Telecinco.
THE START OF A LONG-TERM STRATEGY
This year, the Spanish entry for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest has been selected through a semi-open process in which all young people in our country have been able to take part. This is the first time since 2006 that RTVE has made a public call to take part in the process. At the same time, the broadcaster has been immersed in a process of searching for potential songs for the festival. The model is a change of direction by the public broadcaster to provide more transparency and openness to the process, while opening a new platform to create a pool of young artists in our country.
The Spanish participation in Junior Eurovision 2022 lays the foundations of a new long-term strategy of the broadcaster to increase the interest of the audience and young artists in Junior Eurovision. As María Eizaguirreretold ESCplus in an interview with our colleague Fran Justicia, RTVE ‘s intention is to implement various measures to promote the children’s music format for future editions. These statements, as well as reconfirming the corporation’s intention to participate regularly in Junior Eurovision in the future, encourage the return of televised pre-selections to choose our candidates for future contests.
This is undoubtedly a declaration of intent of RTVE ‘s great commitment to the European children’s festival, which represents an opportunity like few others to export young talent and provide new generations of artists with a springboard to reach a wider audience. The festival also highlights different values such as friendship, companionship, solidarity and cultural dissemination among children.
Although this year the casting is behind closed doors, we are working to ensure that the format evolves and develops in a different way in future years.
María Eizaguirre (Director of Communication and Participation of RTVE)
SPAIN IN JUNIOR EUROVISION
Spain is one of the countries with the best track record of results in the children’s festival, having finished in the top three positions in 5 of the 7 festivals in which it has participated to date, including one victory and two second places.
Spain ‘s participation in the festival is divided into two stages. The first and most mediatic was from 2003 to 2006, when RTVE decided to put an end to its streak of successful participations on the grounds that the festival promoted stereotypes that were not shared by the broadcaster and exploited the participants. During this period, Spain ‘s first and only victory to date in the festival was achieved by the Andalusian María Isabel and her well-remembered Antes Muerta Que Sencilla. Between 2003 and 2004, Spain’s Eurojunior pre-selection also took place, the result of RTVE and the production company Gestmusic’ s desire to replicate the success of the musical talent show Operación Triunfo with younger artists, resulting in a social phenomenon among young people that is still remembered today.
The evolution and modernisation of the festival and the continuous requests and wishes of Spanish fans led RTVE to return to the festival in 2019 after an absence of 13 years, thus the Spanish public television resumed a streak of annual participation in the festival that extends to the present day and is now in its fourth year in a row. This return was a qualitative success thanks to the good general reception of our candidatures, highlighting the third places obtained by Melani Garcia and her lyrical pop Marte in 2019 and by Soleá and her danceable Palante. Despite the fact that the time of broadcast of the festival and the new patterns of television consumption make it impossible to obtain the audience figures of yesteryear, it is a real commitment to music, young talent and diversity and raises a lot of interest in the digital sphere, especially among young people.
At the last Junior Eurovision Song Contest, held last Sunday 19 December live from La Seine Musicale in Paris under the slogan Imagine, we were represented by the winner of the last edition of La Voz Kids, Levi Díaz. His song Reír (Laugh) got a 15th position with 77 points. Will we manage to win the coveted crystal microphone of the festival this year?
JUNIOR EUROVISION 2022
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 will be held in Yerevan, Armenia, on Sunday 11 December. The Karen Demirchyan Complex will host the show in which artists aged between 9 and 14 from across Europe will battle it out to win the coveted crystal microphone, the trophy for victory at the Eurovision Song Contest.
The organisation of the show by Armenian public broadcaster ARMTV follows the victory of Malena and her “Qami Qami” on stage in Paris on 19 December, which sparked a collective euphoria in her homeland and made the whole country take on the challenge of organising the festival with great enthusiasm and responsibility, which promises to be more special than ever as it celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2022. It will not be the first time that Armenia has hosted a Junior Eurovision, having had the opportunity to do so in 2011, also at the Karen Demirchyan Complex.
A total of 16 countries will finally take to the festival stage to bring a magical evening full of music, dance and fun to the whole of Europe, highlighting the accession of the United Kingdom as a stellar return and regretting the withdrawals of Bulgaria, Germany, Azerbaijan and Russia. Precisely, full of magic will also be the corporate identity and the motto of the edition, Spin The Magic. In this way, ARMTV invites us to travel to a fantasy universe where all the countries become innocent spinning tops, leaving light and hope in their wake. It is also a nod to the 20th anniversary of Junior Eurovision, which has been spinning and promoting European children’s talent year after year for 20 editions.