What Is Operación Triunfo?
Operación Triunfo is a Spanish television singing competition similar to shows such as “Star Academy,” or “American Idol.” The show goes through an audition process all throughout Spain that selects 16 participants per season through a series of judged performances (Doce). These 16 participants then enter “the academy” where they live throughout the duration of their stay on the show. In the academy, they train with vocal coaches, choreographers, interpretation teachers, English tutors, and more professionals of the sort. In the recent seasons specifically, part of the appeal of the show is the “Big Brother” aspect of being able to get to know the contestants as people through watching their life in the academy as singers, as well as human beings.
The show originated in 2001 with 8 seasons taking place from that time until 2011 (Doce). The show ceased production after the 8th season due to a decrease in viewership and auditions. The show’s revival in 2017 with the 9th season took Spain by storm and was so well-received that it was the most successful season of the series. The season 9 Finale received a live TV viewership of 3,925,000 people, with there being more viewers who watched on YouTube after the live TV airing (Josep). Season 10 also continued on to be very successful, but not as much as season 9.
The show has a total of 16 galas per season. Gala 0 features performances by 18 participants, and the Spanish general audience gets to vote on which 16 participants to officially send into the academy. This is the first time that the public gets to make decisions, as the instructors and judges of the show make all of the previous casting decisions. The season continues on with 12 regular galas, a Christmas gala, a finale gala, and a Eurovision song selection gala. In these galas, the public voting is what seals the fate of the participants, called “Triunfitos.”
Most Successful “Triunfitos”
Some of the most famous alums of the series include: (Doce)
- David Bisbal (season 1)
- David Bustamante (season 1)
- Rosa López (season 1)
- Chenoa (season 1)
- Manuel Carrasco (season 2)
- Soraya (season 4)
- Edurne (season 4)
- Pablo López (season 6)
- Amaia Romero (season 9)
- Aitana Ocaña (season 9)
- Miriam Rodríguez (season 9)
- Alfred García (season 9)
- Ana Guerra (season 9)
- Mimi Doblas (known as Lola Indigo) (season 9)
- Miki Núñez (season 10)
Eurovision and Operación Triunfo
Eurovision is a song contest in which European countries (and countries that receive European broadcasting, like Israel and Australia) each send a representative with a unique song in the hopes that it is voted the best song of that year’s competition.
Operación Triunfo has a gala after the season’s winner is crowned that is dedicated to selecting a participant that will represent Spain in the next Eurovision competition. For this gala, the singers have original songs composed for them, and the Spanish public votes on which to send through to Eurovision. Spain is one of the “Big Five,” European countries, which means that it has a Eurovision representative in the final round of the competition each year because it is one of the top 5 countries in amount of funding put into the yearly event (Eurovision).
The most recent Triunfitos who participated in Eurovision were 2017 participants Amaia Romero (winner of OT) and Alfred García (4th place in OT) with “Tu Canción” in Lisbon for the 2018 competition. They finished in 23rd place.
2019’s Eurovision participant from Spain will be Miki Núñez (6th place in OT) from the 2018 edition with “La Venda,” in Tel-Aviv.
Social Media Presence of Operación Triunfo
Operación Triunfo has over 586,000 followers on Instagram as of early May 2019 (OT), and over 319,000 followers on Twitter as of the same time frame (Twitter). The most followed OT Alum on both platforms is Aitana Ocaña from season 9 with her highest following on Instagram at 1.8 million (@aitanax).
Aitana Ocaña: The Most Commercially Successful “Triunfita”
Aitana (2nd place) has gained a huge social media popularity due to the high chart performance of her music on Spanish and Latin American billboards, and is arguably the most successful alumna of the show in her season and overall.
Aitana’s whirlwind of fame started with her Gala Eurovision duet along with Ana Guerra called “Lo Malo.” The song became the song of the summer of 2018 in Spain, and had reached quadruple platinum by the end of the summer in August (Aitana). She followed the success of “Lo Malo” at the end of that summer with her debut single, “Teléfono.” She continued on to collaborate with Latin American singers like Lele Pons, Tini Stoessel, and Greeicy Rendón, with remixes to both of these songs in the attempt to expand to the Latin American reggaeton-loving market. Aitana has been invited as a special guest to concerts of diverse artists from all over the world, including Sebastian Yatra, Luis Fonsi, David Bisbal, and even Shawn Mendes. She released her debut EP in December 2018 which was a huge success, and she continued on to collaborate with popular Colombian band, Morat, in April of 2019 which continued her growth in the Latin market. Growing popularity outside of Spain is something that most of the Triunfitos have struggled with, the only successful predecessor in this category being David Bisbal.
Aside from music, Aitana has released a book of her writing and illustration called “La Tinta De Mis Ojos.” Additionally, she released her own self-titled perfume around the holiday season. She has also worked with brands like Stradivarius, GHD Spain, and Rimmel as a spokesperson and model.
Brand and Product Placement Within Operación Triunfo
The show has had on-air brand collaborations with brands like El Corte Inglés for clothing, Olympus for cameras, Telepizza for food, and Rimmel for tour makeup (Perez). There was a bit of social media backlash on Twitter for the visible brand placement on-air.
“El Mundo Entero” is a song that Coca Cola has used in its branding since 1972 in Spain. Several cast members from the 2017 season (Aitana, Ana, Agoney, Raoul, and Mimi) along with up-and-coming Spanish trap artist Maikel De La Calle, participated in a newly recorded version of the song in a holiday season ad for Coca Cola. This song was a huge hit, and a strong collaboration to further a localized brand image of Coca Cola.
Social Activism In Operación Triunfo
OT’s revival, since it has such an emphasis on the people behind the performances, has been very open in celebrating diversity. Season 10 featured the first non-White winner, Famous Oberogo.
Throughout season 9, there was a big push for LGBTQ+ visibility, with the largest example being the performance of the classic LGBTQ+ love song, “Manos Vacías” by Agoney and Raoul, both members of the LGBTQ+ community. Their performance featured a choreographed kiss at the end. A kiss between two men which aired on Spain’s national channel 1 being so celebrated was a remarkable moment of the season, and continues to be remembered as OT making great strides for this community in Spain.
Feminism and women’s empowerment have been two very prevalent themes in the show’s dialogues as well as in the music that is created and performed by the cast. The season 10 song of the season, “Somos,” uses all female gendered pronouns, combatting the inherent sexism of the Spanish language having the default pronouns being male (as is the case for many gendered languages).
“Camina” and “Somos”
Each season, there is a song that is created for the full cast as an anthem for that year.
“Camina” is the song of season 9. “Camina” means “Walk.” The song is all about unity and supporting your team.
“Somos” is the song season 10. “Somos” means “We Are.” The song is about unity as well, but it focuses on unity in fighting for justice, as exemplified by a repeated line, “somos aire y emoción, somos la revolución,” meaning, “we are air and emotion, we are the revolution.”
Potential Issue
There are rumors across Spanish gossip shows that there will be a significant decrease in auditions for the 2019 season of the show if it follows the trend of a decrease in auditions that was present from the 2017 season to the 2018 season.
Works Cited
@aitanax. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/aitanax/?hl=en
Aitana y Ana Guerra, consiguen su cuarto disco de platino, con ‘Lo Malo’, hecho histórico. (2018, August 14). Retrieved from https://www.vinilonegro.com/2018/08/aitana-y-ana-guerra-consiguen-su-cuarto-disco-de-platino-con-lo-malo-hecho-historico/
Doce años de ‘OT’, ¿qué fue de los triunfitos más famosos? (2017, November 25). Retrieved from https://www.lainformacion.com/arte-cultura-y-espectaculos/musica/doce-anos-de-ot-que-fue-de-los-triunfitos-mas-famosos_jyqv379cfrijqszof8tvx3/
Eurovision Song Contest Spain. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest#Spain_and_the_%22Big_Five%22
Josep, G. D. (2017, December 12). Operación Triunfo, cuando la publicidad entra por la red en TVE. Retrieved from https://www.lavanguardia.com/economia/management/20171212/433569446554/ot-publicidad-red-tve.html
Operación Triunfo (Spanish TV series). (2019, March 03). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operación_Triunfo_(Spanish_TV_series)
OT 2018 (@operaciontriunfo) • Instagram photos and videos. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/operaciontriunfo/?hl=en
Pérez, L. (2018, January 12). Operación Anuncio: De cómo OT saca tajada con la publicidad en las redes. Retrieved from http://vertele.eldiario.es/noticias/Operacion-Anuncio-OT2017_0_1975302463.html
Twitter OT 2018 (@OT_Oficial). (2019, May 04). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ot_oficial?lang=en
Operación Triunfo in Spain 