Megara will travel to Sweden and take part in the Eurovision festival. They are a Spanish rock group who competed in the second edition of Benidorm Fest. Yet they will not perform for Spain this time; they will compete for San Marino. The band, who describe themselves as a “pink” rock act, earned the right to represent San Marino after winning Una voce per San Marino, the program used by the tiny nation to select its Eurovision entry on Saturday night [citation: San Marino RTV].
Spain’s act closed the final, even defeating the Italian favorite Loredana Bertè. They will represent San Marino with the song “11:11,” which they first presented at Benidorm Fest 2024 but did not make the 16-strong cut chosen by RTVE’s music-committee experts. The tune is a pop-rock piece sung mostly in Spanish, with the final chorus incorporating Italian after the selection moment. The composition carries a clear flamenco-influenced bridge, a nod to Spanish musical sensibilities meant to symbolize San Marino on the Eurovision stage [citation: RTVE; Benidorm Fest coverage].
This marks the first time since 2008 that two Spanish artists share the Eurovision stage. That year saw Rodolfo Chikilicuatre for Spain and Gisela for Andorra holding the spotlight together.
A route to the final, by a hair
The surprise has been monumental because Megara nearly missed out on San Marino’s preselection final. They did not qualify from their semi and had to advance through Friday’s revival gala. During the initial semifinal, the singer Kenzy was ill and unable to deliver a vocal performance at full strength, a fact she publicly apologized for on social media after the show [citation: live coverage; social posts].
Megara versus Nebulossa
The choice of Megara as San Marino’s Eurovision representative has its share of quirks, but to understand them one has to go back a year. In 2023, Megara stood out at Benidorm Fest with the track “Arcadia,” securing a place in the final and finishing in fourth. In the same year, Nebulossa, the Valencia-based group slated to represent Spain in Eurovision 2024 with the song “Zorra,” had entered Una voce per San Marino but did not win permission to travel to Eurovision [citation: Benidorm Fest results; Una voce per San Marino outcomes].
In a twist of fate, the two acts effectively swapped roles. Nebulossa, the artist initially aiming to represent Spain, is now the Spanish entrant for Eurovision, while Megara, who originally sought San Marino’s spot, ends up as San Marino’s 2024 representative. An additional note: Megara tried once before, in 2022, when they entered the first Benidorm Fest but did not secure success. As the saying goes, perseverance pays off [citation: Benidorm Fest history; San Marino selections].