2016 Reviews – Spain – Barei – Say Yay!

Since the Spanish public picked the energetic Barei to represent Spain, the song has had a strong support, with many picking it as a song to beat – or at least, the strongest Spanish entry in recent years.  This was also a controversial song in the sense that there’s no Spanish to be heard, only English. Usually I’m all for national languages, but in this case, I don’t mind it being in English.

The song is undeniably full of energy, and builds up well at the start before the pre-chorus section. The song did get a revamp, and since then, I’ve paid a bit more attention to the song. When it was chosen, I thought it was very overrated, however I can now see its potential for success. The revamped part at the end is well done, as it crescendo’s enough to leave you wanting more.

This is a real upbeat anthemic song, and you can immediately imagine audiences in the arena singing and dancing along during the chorus. The music doesn’t sound like outdated dance music, and her voice is edgy enough to bring something special to the music. I think this comes across live quite well, and a strong vocal performance is essential to achieve a good result.

The one thing that I think needs to change is the stage performance, which I’m sure will be different by the time Eurovision comes around. This is a song that needs some cool backing dancers to reinforce the energy brought by Barei and the song. A good light show would also compliment this song well.

For me, this song has been building up since it was chosen and it will reach its peak at Eurovision. With a strong stage performance this will easily be one of the best Spanish results in Eurovision for a long time. This is potential top 10 material, as it suits the upbeat nature of the contest without being cheap.

Considering I didn’t enjoy this song at all when it was chosen, things have definitely changed. This infectious anthem is a song which will get you moving, and will get stuck in your head. Saying all this, I think it can and will do really well, and I wouldn’t even be mad at a top 10 finish in the final. I’m going to give this an 8/10.

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