Skip to main content

Spain’s Identity and Attitudes on Diversity: 2010 Through 2012

The international broadcasting of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) can create different stereotypes or images about certain European countries. Depending on the way a performance is presented and later interpreted, some countries might represent themselves in a negative or arrogant manner, while others might represent themselves in a positive and humbled manner. With many songs written about love and staying strong, Spain has done an excellent job of representing themselves through this lens of positivity. By analyzing three consecutive performances, starting with 2010 and ending with 2012, it is possible to explore the identities that represent Spain in the ESC, along with their attitude towards diversity.
“Something Tiny,” performed by Daniel Diges (2010, Spain), uses symbolism and an intricate choice of staging to show the importance of the tiny things in a relationship, like flowers or a simple embrace. The song opens up with Diges singing alone in the center of the stage and four backup dancers positioned behind him. One dancer is dressed as a raggedy doll, another dancer is dressed as the nutcracker, and the last two are dressed as a ballerina and a clown. By analyzing Diges performance, it can be concluded that the backup dancers are meant to represent toys, which are a symbol for the “tiny things” he sings about in his love song. For most of the performance, “Something Tiny” is only sung--in Spanish--by Diges, until a mysterious man in a dark suit randomly pops up in his shadow, and begins to sing along. This unique choice of staging raises many questions for the choreographer of this performance. On top of this, with a weird circus-like feel and set of multiple key changes throughout the song, the intentions of Daniel Diges’ entire performance can be questioned. Across all three years of performances, “Something Tiny” is the only one that does not come across in a positive and delightful manner. Instead, it is portrayed in a disturbing, mysterious, and questionable way.
In 2011, Lucia Perez performed “Que Me Quiten Lo Bailao” (Spain), which means: They Can't Take the Fun Away from Me. This fast and upbeat song is about happy moments spent with a specific someone. Similarly to Daniel Diges (2010, Spain), Lucia Perez sings her entire song in Spanish. One section in the chorus translates to: “I have enjoyed all this so much and nobody can take the fun I had away from me” (Lucia, 2011). While singing these specific lyrics, the audience can understand and feel the high level of excitement and joyfulness that Perez exudes on stage. On top of this, Lucia Perez’s performance starts off with bright hues of yellow, red, and orange, as well as silhouettes of palm trees in the background. Colorful fireworks pop up throughout, along with roman candles, which are held by two backup dancers towards the end of the song. The use of bright colors and fireworks adds to the emotional appeal of the audience because they represent playfulness and freedom. Unlike “Something Tiny” (2010, Spain), Lucia Perez’s performance in the 2010 ESC proves the trend of Spanish entries representing themselves in a positive manner true, because of her clever use of lyrics and visual devices.
Pastora Soler is a well-known Spanish singer who performed “Quédate Conmigo” in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, which was hosted in Baku. She created a powerful and emotional appeal to her audience while singing this very “lively modern pop ballad” (Pastora, 2012). “Quédate Conmigo” is an unconventional love song, which asks the significant other for forgiveness, rather than expressing like and lust for them. In addition to the 2010 and 2011 performances by Spain, Pastora Soler sings her entire song in Spanish. One line of the song translates to: “Forgive me for every tear I brought into your eyes” (Pastora, 2012). While this is being sung, she is surrounded by a blue background with streams of tears dripping down. As the song progresses, Soler begins to sing louder and hit a number of key changes throughout. Finally, towards the end of the song, Soler sings, “Stay with me when shadows fall, I’ll raise the sun” (Pastora, 2012). On the last time that this part of the chorus is sung, five backup singers appear behind her and the background changes from blue to red and orange. These specific lyrics, along with the changes in background, correspond with each other and are meant to symbolize the tears and sun she sings about in her performance. With Pastora Soler’s effective combination of musical genre, lyrics, visual devices, and staging, the song becomes more appealing and forces the audience to pay closer attention to the performance. Similarly to “Something Tiny (2010, Spain), “Quédate Conmigo” (2012, Spain) combines the musical element of key changing into the performance, which triggers the audience’s ear’s and brings importance to the song. On top of this, Pastor Soler does an excellent job of representing Spain in a positive and humbled manner, due to her presentation and performance on stage. Rather than singing about any historical or current events related to Spain, which can bring about argument and negativity, Pastora Soler sings a ballad that focuses on love and forgiveness.
Upon continuous analyzation between its 2010, 11, and 12 entries, it is possible to gain an idea of Spain’s stance on diversity. Across all three, representation of both male and female performers is present on stage. Because of this, it is accurate to say that gender diversity and equality is prominent in the country of Spain. On another note, the people of Spain not only seem to thrive in gender diversity but cultural diversity as well. In the beginning of Lucia Perez’s (2011, Spain) performance, an instrumental noise was made, by what sounded like a bagpipe. Also, throughout the entire song, five backup dancers moved around the center stage in a routine, which at times, resembled the cha-cha. Spain is culturally diverse because they used the influence of Scottish and Cuban origin during their 2011 performance. Pastora Soler’s (2012, Spain) number also adds to this idea of cultural diversity, because her entry is sung with universal lyrics. According to the official website of the ESC, this is done so that the European audience can better understand some of the Spanish words. Throughout her life, she has also “played with dance rhythms,” “fused music with Arab overtones,” and “rendered homage to the Brazilian samba” (Pastora, 2012).  By exploring and working with different musical styles, Pastora Soler continues to represent Spain in a very culturally diverse manner. However, while gender and cultural diversity are important, one aspect that Spain fails to achieve across their performances in the ESC, is musical diversity. As mentioned before, two out of three of the Spanish entries were about or related to love and relationships. Ballad love songs and break up songs are very mainstream genres of music performed at the ESC. Therefore, Spain’s logic behind continually entering them in the contest is probably to appeal to the audience, and hopefully take home an award. Unfortunately, this strategy has proven not to work, because the first and last time they won was in 1968, with the song “La La La” (Celebration, 2017). This ought to say something about their decisions and that musical diversity is quite important.

Overall, many Spanish entries, throughout the history of the ESC, have succeeded in representing themselves and their identity in a unique and positive manner, specifically those of 2010, 2011, and 2012. Through the use of literary, visual, and musical devices, it is possible to not only analyze Spain’s identity but to also build an idea of their stance on diversity and equality throughout their country.


Works Cited
“Celebration! The Best of Spain in Eurovision.” (2017, Jan. 28.) Eurovision.tv. Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/story/spain-top-ten-entries

“Daniel Diges.” (2010.) Eurovision.tv. Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/daniel-diges/info

Diges, D. (2010). a Algo Pequenito (Spain). Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Oslo. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gltZu8lsFc

“Lucia Perez.” (2011). Eurovision.tv. Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/lucia-perez/info

“Pastora Soler.” (2012). Eurovision.tv. Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/pastora-soler/info

Perez, L. (2011). Que Me Quiten Lo Bailao (Spain). Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Dusseldorf. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSOEmM0h-aE

Soler, P. (2012). Quédate Conmigo (Spain). Eurovision Song Contest 2012 Baku. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8J1b62wOao

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nation Branding in Terms of National Identity: 2010-2012 In this blog post, I will analyze aspects of Spain’s national identity that align or misalign with their performances in the Eurovision Song Contest. Then, I will analyze how Spain nationally brands themselves, according to these two aspects. Spain does not use the Eurovision Song Contest as an opportunity to nation brand themselves like other participants do, however it does seem that they care about the contest and always try to put their best effort into their performances. To fully understand this, you must understand what national identity and nation branding are. National identity can be defined as “a sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language” (Oxford). In a way, national identity is similar to nation branding, because it is influenced by the nation themselves. However, when a country participates in nation branding, they either build or change their reputati...
Post a Comment
Read more

BLOG POST 1: The National Self (and the other)

Hola Spain: Analyzing National Identity and the Others The English Oxford Living Dictionary defines national identity as, “a sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language.” It can also be defined as the way one exists in the world by identifying with a specific group or nation. National identity organizes people through many different aspects of language, history, and politics. It is not an inborn trait. Therefore, it is known to be socially constructed. According to Anna Triandafyllidou, a professor at the European University Institute, if someone has no national identity or does not belong to a nation, then they are considered an outcast.  People tend to conform to this idea of grouping and associating themselves with others based off of similarities. They often homogenize their ideas and behaviors, so that they can feel a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves. Every person in the world can ...
Post a Comment
Read more
Revised: Spain’s Identity and Attitudes on Diversity: 2010 Through 2012 The international broadcasting of the Eurovision Song Contest can create different stereotypes or images about certain European countries. Depending on the way a performance is presented and later interpreted, some countries might represent themselves in a negative or arrogant manner, while others might represent themselves in a positive and humbled manner. This idea can assist in creating and determining a countries identity. By analyzing three consecutive performances, starting with 2010 and ending with 2012, it is possible to explore the identities that represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest, along with their attitude towards diversity.   “Algo Pequeñito” or “Something Tiny,” performed by Daniel Diges (2010, Spain), uses descriptive lyrics and theatrical staging elements to create symbols that relate to his creatively presented song. In the beginning, Diges starts to list the “tiny things” (Da...
Post a Comment
Read more