Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011

Destino Eurovisión was the national final organised by TVE that took place from 28 January 2011 to 18 February 2011 at the TVE studios in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, hosted by Anne Igartiburu with Spanish 2010 Eurovision contestant Daniel Diges acting as the green room host.[3] All shows were broadcast on La 1 as well as online via TVE's official website rtve.es.[4]

Destino Eurovisión consisted of 24 candidates competing over four shows: two heats on 28 January and 4 February 2011, a semi-final on 11 February 2011 and the final on 18 February 2011. Each heat featured twelve contestants performing cover versions of former Spanish Eurovision songs or winning Eurovision songs of their choice. A five-member jury panel first eliminated four contestants. The remaining eight contestants then faced a public vote via televote and SMS and the three contestants with the most votes advanced to the semi-final. The jury then selected another two contestants to advance to the semi-final, with the remaining three contestants being eliminated. In the semi-final, the remaining ten contestants performed cover versions of Eurovision classics of their choice and the two contestants with the most public votes advanced to the final.[5] The jury then selected another contestant to advance to the final, with the remaining seven contestants being eliminated. In the final, the three finalists each performed three candidate Eurovision songs selected from an open submission and the winner was decided over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the jury selected one song for each finalist for a second round of voting, during which the public determined the winner of Destino Eurovisión.[6][7]

The members of the jury panel that evaluated the performances were:

• Albert Hammond – Singer-songwriter
• Merche (heats and semi-finals only) – Singer-songwriter
• Reyes del Amor – Expert specializing in the Eurovision Song Contest
• David Ascanio – Singer-songwriter
• Boris Izaguirre – Television personality
• Sole Giménez (final only) – Singer

A submission period was open between 15 November 2010 and 12 December 2010 for artists and songwriters to separately submit their applications. Performer auditions took place in Barcelona where 627 candidates participated. 30 candidates were shortlisted for a final audition round, where the twenty-four contestants for Destino Eurovisión were selected.[8] 1,142 songs were received at the conclusion of the submission period, and an evaluation committee shortlisted twenty songs, which were made available to the public via TVE's official website on 20 January 2011. After the three finalists of Destino Eurovisión was determined, nine of the twenty songs were allocated to the finalists. The allocation was announced on 16 February 2011.

• Guest performers:
  • Soraya Arnelas
  • Pitingo
  • Albert Hammond

• Guest performers:
  • David Civera
  • Malú
  • Merche

• Guest performers:
  • Sergio Dalma
  • Pastora Soler
  • David Ascanio

The final took place on 18 February 2011. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, each finalist performed three candidate songs each and one song per finalist advanced to the second round by the jury who each awarded 1, 2 and 3 points to the top three songs performed by each finalist.[6][7] In the vote to select Lucía Pérez's song, "Que me quiten lo bailao" and "Abrázame" were tied with 12 points but "Que me quiten lo bailao" was ultimately selected as it received the most top marks from the jury (despite Pérez and part of the studio audience preferring "Abrázame"). In the second round, the winner, "Que me quiten lo bailao" performed by Lucía Pérez, was selected by a public televote.[11] It was also revealed during the show that the second and third placed acts received 20% and 12% of the votes respectively, but their names weren't known until 2020 when Blas Cantó revealed that he and his group Auryn came second.[12]

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, guest performers included former Eurovision contestant Daniel Diges who represented Spain in 2010, British 2011 Eurovision contestants Blue performing their past hit "Breathe Easy", Sole Giménez and Albert Hammond.

• In the Final Spain came 23rd with 50 points: the public awarded Spain 16th place with 73 points and the jury awarded 24th place with 38 points.