Benidorm Fest 2023 Agoney sweeps the first semifinal with the favor of critics and public
Opinion The night that what is the "demoscopic vote" almost caused us a heart attack
There was fear, that fear of things spilling over, of reliving the nightmare of yesteryear, of drowning in the tsunami of social media.
The first semifinal of the
Benidorm Fest
was about to experience a new drama.
However, this time the jury did its job, avoiding with their votes, similar to those of the public televote, one of the favorites and, possibly, together with
Agoney
-the winner of this first semifinal-, the best performance of the night.
She saved
Alice Cooper
- nope, that's
Alice Wonder
.
Poor Rodrigo Vázquez who had a slip - from the mysterious survey jury, which was quite far from the opinion of the jury and the audience.
Trolling
in sight
?
Watching the
first semifinal
of the second edition of the
Benidorm Fest
was like going through Dante's purgatory.
Not because there were seven degrees of deadly sins, but because from a tremendous beginning - even if it was false directly - by
Mónica Naranjo
, it went on to a kind of first gala of
Operación Triunfo
.
And from there, thanks to heaven and some of the participants, to paradise.
Why is the sound always not good when there are musical galas?
Either I am going deaf or in the first performances of the
Benidorm Fest
, understanding and listening to what the artists sang was a test of faith.
TV
Benidorm Festival 2023.
Benidorm Fest 2023: Agoney sweeps the first semifinal with the favor of critics and public
Drafting: SARA POLO (Special Envoy) Benidorm
Benidorm Fest 2023: Agoney sweeps the first semifinal with the favor of critics and public
But it wasn't just a sound problem that was fixed halfway through the performances, it was as if this
first semifinal
had been a test for the second one tomorrow and for the final on Saturday.
And, of course, a matter that happened to the most novice participants or those with fewer boards, drowning.
Aritz Aren
, who broke the schemes of the betting houses by staying out;
Sofía Martín
, happy -and that's how it has to be-, despite being the least voted for by the public and the jury;
even
Fosa Nocta
, one of the favourites, drowned on stage.
They ran out of air and, therefore,
in their attempt to recover, they barely even finished a few stanzas
.
It is normal.
You just have to see the performances of
Agoney
,
Alice Wonder
or
Megara
, all three, along with
Fosa Nocta
, chosen to go to
the final
, to realize that experience is a grade.
Knowing that sound problems can be saved.
That over the years, what in OT the singing teachers and directors repeated ad nauseam -breathe, breathe, breathe-
were not crazy guidelines, they were a necessity
.
Where does the demoscopic jury come from?
There were no surprises.
This time, the jury and the audience (the televoting) went hand in hand in their voting
.
But,
what happened to the demoscopic jury?
Let's see, the votes of this second edition of the
Benidorm Fest
are the same as those of the first.
RTVE did not change anything in the system
and only added some changes in the event that a participant got sick, the rest all the same.
The vote of the jury,
chaired by Nina
, represented 50%;
the demoscopic, 25% and the televoting, another 25%
.
The sum of the two, the other half.
And now, the big question after the demoscopic vote
gave Alice Wonder only 15 points or gave the highest score to Meler
, the
boy band
from
They won't move us
, when the televote -the other part of the audience vote- gave them so only 15. What happened?
Why so much difference?
Where does the demoscopic jury come from?
It is one of the great mysteries of humanity
.
The demoscopic sample, according to the bases of the Benidorm Fest
voting system
, is made up of
350 people surveyed
.
This is what it puts in the bases, nothing more about who they are, where they come from and how they are selected.
It is probably the most hidden part of the voting system, together with the votes of each member of the jury, which RTVE was forced to make public last year.
The jury is known, the televoting is calls and SMS, and the demoscopic, 350 respondents.
And
those 350 respondents were about to provoke the Eurodrama
.
If there had not been a professional jury and the classification was decided only with the demoscopic vote and the televote,
Alice Wonder
and
Fusa Nocta
would have been left out of the grand final, and, on the other hand,
Meler
, who was sixth last night, with 84 points after the sum of the vote of the jury, the demoscopic sample and the televoting.
And if last year they were messed up by the decisions of the jury,
in this first semifinal we must thank the jury for being there
and for saving what could have been a major disaster.
The reflection of this possible disaster was
Alice Wonder
's reaction to hearing the points that the poll sample had given her (only 15, the second worst score).
The artist raised her arms in protest without understanding what was happening
.
And the same with giving the highest score to
Meler
(40 points) ahead of the most voted by the televote and the jury,
Agoney
.
If the poll vote corresponds to a sample of 350 people who
cannot belong to the music industry, television, or journalism, and who are supposed to be a representation of the Spanish population
, how is it possible that there was such a difference? between televoting, calls and SMS from the public, and that representation?
without feet or head
But not only that, it is that the votes of the demoscopic jury had neither head nor tail.
Meler
?
_
Really?
The
boyband
was fine, correct, cheering with their
They won't move
the show, but now.
It was neither the best performance nor was it the best to represent Spain at
Eurovision 2023
.
And
Alice Wonder
?
Of course, her song is very different from the Eurovisual cut, but it is undeniable that it was the best of the night and the best that there is in this
Benidorm Fest 2023
.
Last night, before giving the results of the voting,
Mónica Naranjo
asked "from the heart" for "respect and affection" for the jury and the performances.
Seeing what happened last year, the artist was more than blunt: "I know that music arouses many emotions and that it is something subjective. Therefore,
because we are celebrating musical diversity, but also diversity of opinions, I ask you for respect and honey
. Here and in networks. Both for the artists and for those who are going to express their opinion. Remember: music was born free, let's not dirty it".
Words that had a clear intention, to
avoid a controversy like Chanel's and attacks like the ones that took place then
.
But, what do we do now with the demoscopic jury?
Damn, your vote could have left out the best!
Damn, there's still the second semifinal left!
Damn, there's still the grand finale!
I insist, if last night they had only counted the demoscopic votes and the televote -although this one completely coincided with the jury-,
those who would have gone to the grand final would have been Agoney, Megara, Aritz Aren and Meler
.
Neither
Alice Wonder
, nor
Fusa Nocta
and instead
Aritz Aren
and her flamenco à la Miami -with an international
dancer-
and Meler , who, no matter how well the boys like her, is not even close to
Alice Wonder
.
And the gala?
Well, the gala, which obtained only a 10% audience, almost two points below its predecessor -come on, that was of little interest-, was
a totally Eurovisual gala
with fireworks, lights, catwalks, cars on stage -which neither I know very well what for-, inexplicable braids, dancers with heads stuck in computers, with lightning, thunder, blizzard...
More Eurovision cannot be offered
.
There were bugs, yes.
It is a live gala and the first.
Everything is improvable.
There were even moments when it reminded you of the
Saturday Night
galas of the late 80s. But there were also many good things.
The staging of
Agoney
and
Alice Wonder
was in one word, spectacular
.
That Pietà by Michelangelo represented by the Canarian singer on one of his dancers, with the stage wrapped in an impressive red hell, was blessed glory
.
And that smoke and that fire, imitating the authentic hell and an
Agoney
that represented Satan, together with a realization that was marvelous in the performances, deserves all the praise.
And the same with
Alice Wonder
.
Her start a cappella by her, with a veil included, in front of the piano, to burst in the middle of the performance with live wind, thunder and smoke, is more than could be expected.
That there were nonsense things, like the staging of
Fusa Nocta
, which by no means gave an outstanding performance, well yes.
Neither the car made sense, and more so when it has been closely related to Rosalía's style, nor the braid at the beginning, nor the dancers half a song around her causing a feeling of overwhelm and lack of control that, surely, not even she decided.
It gave the feeling that
with certain artists the house was thrown out the window and with others the right thing was done in the staging
.
For example, the performance of the
Twin Melody
or
Meler
had no point of comparison with those of
Agoney
,
Alice Wonder
or
Fusa Nocta
.
And the same with
Aritz Aren
's , all very flamenco, but loose, loose, loose.
There have been no controversies and what might have been saved, surprisingly, by the jury.
So today let's thank Nina, the other eight and those who voted from their homes, because without them today the
Benidorm Fest
would once again be in the center of the eye of the hurricane.
They saved the
trolling
.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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