OT2023 opens with great students and presenter, and better memes

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OT2023 opens with great students and presenter, and better memes

Operation Triumph is back. And he has done it with news. For the first time, the show is broadcast not on television, but through a streaming platform, Prime Video, although the set remains the same, of course. OT wouldn’t be OT without its famous stage and even more famous catwalk. For the first time, too, Chenoa has taken on the role of presenter. And, compared to the historical drivers of talent, from Carlos Lozano to Roberto Leal through Pilar Rubio (what times), it comes out better than anyone else. Chenoa seems to have been born for this role. She is an agile and caring driver. Above all agile: the way in which she dispatches the contestants before they can even say a word has inspired numerous memes. She has charisma. And from that, from charisma, she seems to have gone to gala 0, which has extended until after 0:30 in the morning, stealing hours of sleep but giving us others of hope. Or maybe I’ve slept little. Did Chenoa promise that the next galas would be “shorter” or am I delusional?

To the most important thing: the contestants. 18 have sung. 16 have entered. 2 have had to say goodbye. The level of talent has been surprisingly high. The degree of charisma, even more so. I remember few editions of Operación Triunfo where the contestants sang so sure of themselves in a gala 0. Some of these people are already stars, because, as Lady Gaga knows very well, a star is born, but it is also made.

Martin, Violet and Paul They were the first three contestants to enter the Academy directly. They are clearly three of the favorites of this edition. Violeta has a small fandom even before crossing the catwalk, because her beautiful voice, and her passion for the music of the 50s and 60s, is evident in the song she has chosen to sing at the 0 gala, ‘Crazy’ by Patsy Cline stands out from the general trend. Martín, singing for Keane, although falling far short of becoming the new Tom Chaplin, and Paul, who has embroidered Kaleo, approaching imitation, also had their place assured.

The Academy has managed to build a truly varied and talented student body, although with evidently uneven results in this first gala. Luke He has entered OT covering Soda Stereo and looks like he could be something like the Damiano of OT 2023. Álvaro, who has entered by the skin of his teeth, as he is one of the four candidates for expulsion, has a full smile, but his strange version of ‘…Baby One More Time’ dominates him and not the other way around. The same thing happens to Suzete with ‘Say my name’: she wants to be the Spanish Beyoncé, but to do so she will have to take control of the song she performs and not let it control her completely, as has happened to her. Personally, I imagined her out of it, but the jury has saved her from it because her voice is more than enough.

Among the contestants worth highlighting, we must also talk about Salma, which is committed to flamenco and arrives with a powerful personal image, “very original” according to Anitta, the special guest on a jury officially made up of Buika, Pablo Rouss and Cristina Regatero. A jury that generally needs better lubrication: it is much greener than the contestants. Buika is perceived as somewhat out of place, going off tone at some point. TO Denna, which is presented with a song by Karol G, although he says that his thing is pop-house, he directly tells him that he does not stand out for anything in particular. Suddenly, a cloud of bad vibes that no one asked for settles on Operación Triunfo. Humiliated, she is miraculously saved by the teachers. Rouss is kinder, but the idea that artists “don’t connect” with the song or the audience becomes a cliché, a smoke phrase that can mean anything. It doesn’t make sense that Suzete does connect, when her song has eaten away at her, but Lina No, when your smile is capable of capturing all eyes. Lina, who sings for Natalia Lafourcade, is one of the two expelled and could have been the Jeanette, the Marisol, the Amaia of Operación Triunfo 2023. We want to see what Warner (who already has her signed) does with her.

The second expelled, Ed, does not convince the public with its slightly (or not so) dated vision of Latin pop, covering (very well, it must be said) Carlos Rivera. In fact, many of the songs selected by the contestants in this gala 0 leave the feeling that we still live at the peak of Los 40 Latino. “I don’t believe that these 18-year-old people have decided to sing these songs without any type of coercion” is the assessment shared by director Guillermo Guerrero in X. And the oldest person, Naiara, is 26 years old. Naiara is clearly – at least on a technical level – the best singer of this edition, but she decides to subject the audience to another version of ‘Me muero’ by La Quinta Estación. It seems that there is no other song in all of Spanish pop.

Omar, singing El Kanka; Cris, playing Pablo Alborán, Bea, recovering the Jackson 5; Juanjo, the “theater kid” who bets on Queen; Ruslana, covering ‘I Love Rock N’ Roll’; the unclassifiable Chiara (she can surprise) playing the Stevie Wonder card, and Álex Márquez, the new Álvaro de Luna whose main goal is to achieve a Latin GRAMMY; They complete the students of Operación Triunfo 2023. We are eager to witness the evolution of all of them, to carefully follow the distribution of topics each week and, above all, to get hooked again on the sublime memes that social networks offer us.

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Simon Müller

Simon Müller is the driving force behind UMusic, embodying a lifelong passion for all things melodious. Born and raised in New York, his love for music took form at an early age and fueled his journey from an avid music enthusiast to the founder of a leading music-centered website. Simon's diverse musical tastes and intrinsic understanding of acoustic elements offer a unique perspective to the UMusic community. Sporting a dedicated commitment to aural enrichment and hearing health, his vision extends beyond just delivering news - he aspires to create a network of informed, appreciative music lovers. Spend a moment in Mueller's company, and you'd find his passion infectious – music isn’t simply his job, it’s his heartbeat.