Isabel Maese, contestant of "La Voz España" and winner of "Destino Eurovision" (the selection process for the song of the contest), starts a thrilling adventure in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, to represent her country.
She, self-confident, only thou...
February 20, 2021 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid. One of the multiple dressing rooms of the RTVE Studios.
"If you keep walking around you're going to make a hole in the floor, that's sure to be expensive Isabel and with the bookstore's salary I doubt you'll be able to afford it." I looked up as I listened to Hugo, whose green eyes were analyzing me. He laughs and cockily says "It's going to be fine baby, you're going to knock their socks off. They've never seen anyone like you!" He exclaims as he raises his arms excitedly, holding his beloved bass in his hands.
After all the contestants of "Destino Eurovision" were introduced during the first minutes of the contest, everyone had to go to their dressing room, until a worker came to take us to the stage.
I sigh as I try to stop my leg shaking. "Technically it's not the first time there's a representative with a non-mainstream song. In 2017 LeKlein and Maika went to the preselections with rock songs and they didn't exactly place well!"
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"Piccolina*, you know better than anyone that the 2017 preselection was quite "special"." Damiano says emphasizing the last word with his strong Italian accent. Elias nods as he taps his vaquettes on the table.
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"You know how we are here, we don't like to innovate. We always send the same artists. If last year a ballad won, then obviously! Here in Spain, the next year we send another ballad. This year we have Blas Cantó, the golden boy. Besides being one of the best singers in the country, he already has experience going to this type of contest".
"You auditioned for the Voice!" Hugo accuses me as he climbs onto the couch. "Get down from there! If you break anything you're going to pay for it!" Elias exclaims upset. "And I finished third" I roll my eyes. "Besides, don't compare La Voz, a national program, to Junior Eurovision, which millions of people watch."
Hugo wanted to keep convincing me that I, Isabel Maese, a librarian, was the perfect candidate to be taken to Eurovision. I am not going to lie to you, I know I am a good singer and that my song could be a good candidacy, however, I knew how RTVE was and how they used to rig the staging or the artists themselves so that they would receive few -or zero- points.
"You know Laura Pausini herself!"
"Jesus Christ, Hugo!" I exclaim "You say that as if she was my close friend -I wish- but she was only my coach on the Voice. Besides you and Damiano know her too, you've worked in the orchestra on the show for years. You've known so many artists."
"But that can give us a few points from Italy, can't it?" asks Hugo hopefully. However, Damiano laughs "I wish, but it's been years since Italy has given us any points. In fact, none of our neighbors have given us any points for a long time."
"But there's" Hugo is interrupted - fortunately - by the door. It's time. We are going to perform in front of all Spain and not just any song, but a heavy metal song with influences of mythical rock bands like Guns N' Roses or Red Hot Chilli Pepper. A song for anything conventional and that I knew beforehand that was going to receive multiple criticisms, since it does not represent the vast majority of Spain.
Eurovision, especially in recent years, has become very monotonous as most of the songs are either ballads or pop songs and, unfortunately, the more alternative songs did not make it to the final.
I have been watching Eurovision since I can remember, every year I would go to my grandmother's house and, together with my mother, we would watch the contest. I remember perfectly the first year -and one of the most controversial-, Daniel Diges was featured his nostalgic song "Algo pequeñito" and, as I mentioned before, it was quite controversial, pretty common in Spain because we always manage to stand out in Eurovision, although we stand out not because of our voices or perfect songs but because of screw-ups of the organization or our team, being the case of this young artist since a spontaneous sabotaged his performance.
After watching Eurovision for so many years I have learned several things. To begin with, you can never be "extra" enough, you can add pole dancing bars -the case of Austria in 2012- or hang from a metal bar and sing -Australia 2019-. Come to think of it, I don't know why everything has to be related to metal bars. It's weird.
Second, you don't have to win Eurovision to succeed, a clear example is Eleni Foureira, the representative of Cyprus in 2018, Verka Serduchka in 2015 with her mythical song "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" or the wonderful Norwegian group KEiiNO in 2019. Another thing I have learned is that no matter how hard you try, the jury's votes are always settled before the performances, no matter how bad Greece's performance is, Cyprus will give them their twelve points or vice versa.
Finally, and the saddest thing in the Spanish case, is that the Spanish delegation does not want Spain to win, basically for economic reasons, since the winning country must hold the festival in their country, which generates certain expenses and the high officials of my country do not like to spend money, besides the fact that we are in bankruptcy. A somewhat delicate issue at the moment.
"Piccolina*" Damiano interrupts my thoughts. "They're calling us from the set, we have to go to get the microphones setup and everything in perfect condition for the performance." He stretches out his hands towards me and helps me up from the uncomfortable chair, immediately afterwards, he hugs me tightly. "Vorrei dirti che , ma non voglio darti false speranze*, you know they are in RTVE, maybe they cheat the contest again and the winner will be someone's friend or relative. But whatever happens tonight, don't stop fighting for your dreams, you have talent Isabella". He takes my head in his hands, leaves a delicate kiss on my forehead and looks into my eyes as he smiles "Sei bellissima*". He arranges the locks that cover my face and gives me one last hug.
After so many months of waiting, the day had arrived.
author's note.
Here is the first chapter of "Fighter". I hope you like it! <3 and don't worry, more characters will appear soon, especially our beloved guys from blind channel.
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And here are the translations of what damiano says in Italian
*Little one/little girl
*I would like to tell you that everything will be fine, but I don't want to give you false hope.
