Sean Recommends: “Tu Canción” by Amaia y Alfred

I don’t speak Spanish very well, in fact I have probably learnt more from listening along to this song with a dictionary than I did in three years of Spanish classes during secondary school. So, naturally, the first time that I heard this song, I didn’t understand much — or anything at all — of what was being said. However, despite this, I don’t feel my disadvantage caused me to miss out at all.

This song was Spain’s entry for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest and was the second performance of the night. I recall very few of the other acts that participated, but this song, visually and aurally, has remained rooted in my memories.

The staging wasn’t the over-the-top affair that can often be the case during Eurovision, it was actually rather understated. Just two people, Amaia Romero and Alfred García, stood before thousands of eyes in a Portuguese arena and before millions behind television screens from all around the world. To my unknowing ears, they could have been singing about anything, but the love in their voices, their eyes, hovering between them like some almost tangible entity, all contributed to the electricity and heart-melting tenderness of the song and their performance. It brought me to the edge of tears on that night, and has brought me fully to tears on a number of occasions since.

This song is unmistakably a love ballad — a true art form for which I have a huge and unironic soft spot — and is what some might call ‘cheesy’. So, in the spirit of Eurovision — that is, all that is loving and ‘cheesy’ — allow me to leave you with an equally ‘cheesy’ closing line on this recommendation:

If, like myself, you aren’t particularly fluent in Spanish, don’t worry, just press play — because love is a universal language and something the universe needs more of, especially as of late.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO4mDiJRH6Q(Song recommendation by Sean Cunningham)