We were lucky enough to be in Spain for the duration of Benidorm Fest, and it was gratifying to see what a major national event it is starting to become. Every news report on the main channels had at least a tiny feature on the show, there were subsidiary programmes and televised afterparties, and the logos and colour schemes seemed to percolate most corners of daily life. It might not be as all pervading as shows like Sanremo, but it was still lovely to be in a country that kinda cared about their contest.
And while we were there we witnessed a small bandwagon building behind a song that eventually went on to win the Spanish ticket to Malmo. But what to Spanish eyes might seem an obvious choice could appear to be a most curious selection to those of us from elsewhere on the continent. But what on first sight seems to be a glamorous woman of a certain age stamping about to some weak electro pop in her elaborate pants, hides a much sweeter confection. For the song is a much deeper take on women's roles in society.
The title itself is one of those handy Spanish words that can cover a number of things, but in this case kinda means Bitch. Kinda. But run it through Google Translate and you'll find a selection box of pejorative terms for women, from Fox to Witch to Prostitute. The song's lyric is a clarion call to women everywhere to reclaim the term, cease to be accused of wrong-doing for merely existing, to speak up and be proud of their very bawdiness and to stop feeling ashamed about it. And boy was it popular locally - you just listen to the crowd singing along to every last syllable.
But is the rest of Europe going to get that? You sincerely hope the commentators do some of the heavy lifting for the thing, but we fear that this one's going to get lost amongst the noise and suffer the very thing that the song is railing against. It's going to be interesting to see how this story is going to turn out.
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