The 20th Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022, which will take place on 11 December from the Armenian capital of Yerevan, Armenia, is getting closer and closer. The different participating countries are planning their respective selection processes for this important event, which will take place from the Karen Demirchyan stadium after the victory of Maléna and her song Qami Qami during the last festival held in Paris.
Today we have great news from Spain. As this portal has been able to know exclusively through an interview with María Eizaguirre, director of communication and participation of RTVE, the corporation will select the Spanish representative of Junior Eurovision 2022 through an open call to all the young artists of our country. This is a new change of direction in the method of selection of the Spanish candidature for the contest, as in recent years both songs and performers were selected entirely internally by the broadcaster.
CASTING OPEN TO ALL YOUNG SPANISH ARTISTS
As Eizaguirre said, the corporation’s intention is to open a registration period between mid-August and September in which all children between the ages of 9 and 14 in Spain will be able to register, showing their vocal and artistic talents. Subsequently, RTVE will hold closed-door castings with pre-selected artists from the process, with the intention of definitively designating ourrepresentative for Yerevan. The rules will be published in the next few days.
This new method for designating our flag bearer will provide a platform that will give young artists from our country more tools and opportunities to showcase their talent, adding more transparency and openness to the process, which used to be hermetic in previous years. The great euphoria and social phenomenon that has arisen among the new generations of our country after Chanel Terrero ‘s successful performance on the Eurovision stage will undoubtedly be an incentive for this call for artists to be multitudinous and a great success.
In a very short time we will announce the rules of the process. The idea is that from mid-August until September all young people can send in their applications. Subsequently, a casting will be held, which this year will be internal.
María Eizaguirre (Director of Communication and Participation at RTVE)
A POWERFUL SONG WILL SURROUND THE CANDIDATE
In parallel to the election of the Spanish representative, RTVE is also working on the song that will complete our eighth candidacy in the children’s festival. As confirmed by Eva Mora, head of the Spanish delegation, the broadcaster will prioritise the choice of a powerful and competitive song for this year’s edition of the competition. By means of this strategy, very similar to the one used by the host Armenia to select its candidature, RTVE will try to win the second Spanish victory in the children’s competition.
THE START OF A LONG-TERM STRATEGY
This announcement lays the groundwork for a new long-term strategy of the broadcaster to increase audience and young artists’ interest in Junior Eurovision. As María Eizaguirre told ESCplus, RTVE ‘s intention is to implement different measures to promote the children’s music format for future editions. These declarations, 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. In this way, 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, with the third places obtained by Melani Garcia and her lyrical pop Marte in 2019 and by Soleá and her danceable Palante standing out. 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 different European countries will compete to win the coveted crystal microphone, the trophy for winning 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.
So far, 14 European broadcasters have already confirmed their participation in the festival, however, the ambition and efforts of the organisers predict an even higher final number, with the aim that this 20th edition of the children’s contest will be remembered as one of the most spectacular in its history.
I hope Spain’s Junior Eurovision 2022 entry is written by the participant(s) themselves for a change.