Solfiesta 02

SOLFIESTA
Solfiesta is the national selection process that is aired on SOL TV 1 annually a semi regular basis. The winner of which goes on to compete at either WLSC or NSC. In most years Solfiesta uses a national jury, however on some occasions international juries have been invited - which has happened twice to date. Solfiesta focus is solely around find an entry for WLSC and/or NSC, which is a contrast to the other larger show aired on Sol TV 1; La Fiesta.

FORMAT
Solfiesta features somewhere between 6 & 8 songs, depending on the submissions of that year. On this edition, 7 songs featured. The voting was split 50% televote, 50% International Jury. Each jury present their votes using 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 & 1 points (in the case of a 6 song edition the 10 pointer is dropped), 12 going to their favourite song and 1 to their least favourite. After this, the televote is allocated as one group, with the points given based on the percentage of the vote the song got from the public.

VENUE & HOST
The venue for this edition of Solfiesta is to be held in Studio 1 of the Roux Hall - the filming studios for many of SOL TVs live programming and competitions. Studio 1 is typically used for many of Sol TVs high profile competitions (outside of La Fiesta). The studio has an audience size of around 1,000 people, depending on the size of the stage. Tickets are distributed freely via Sol TVs website in which the general public can apply for tickets. Many are also distributed out on radio channels in localised competitions. Holly Willoughby, a popular talk show presenter and TV personality typically hosts Solfiesta. However with upcoming Solway stage performances for Willoughby there were numerous rumours circulating she would not be host. It was confirmed on October 31st model turned TV Presenter Lucas Malvacini was to be the host in placement of Willoughby who lacked the availability to host due to other commitments on the Solway show. When asked in the press conference, Lucas stated he was "excited for the opportunity to present Solfiesta" and that he "can't wait to hear the 7 songs, especially after seeing who would be taking part". He would also go on to drop a hint that the editions line up would be entirely female. Which would be the first time ever for Solfiesta. Head Producer Carolina Hurst immediately after confirmed the line up would be entirely female stating that "the year had been particularly strong for female singers in Solentoya" and that they wanted to display that with the line up. It was also hinted by Hurst that a possible all male line up was in the works for future editions.

ARTIST ANNOUNCEMENT
On 19th November, a few days before the start of Solfiesta, SOL TV announced the shortlist of 7 artists that would be taking part in Solfiesta with the eventual winner going on to represent Solentoya in either NSC 188 or NSC 189, with a decision to made closer to the time. On this particular occasion the line up was entirely female made up of mostly Solentoyan (but in some cases foreign). While their songs remained hidden until the show was aired on TV, their profiles of each singer were released sending Social Media into a buzz with the Solfiesta becoming a trending topic in multiple countries.

ON THE NIGHT
The show was opened by a live performance by CHI CHI singing their NSC entry 'Love is Energy' a popular chart hit in Solentoya, the reaction from the audience was quite mixed as some were upset at their failure in the current edition only days before - cutting short their trip to Luzinia. When asked by Lucas, lead singer Sui said "Despite the failure, it was an amazing opportunity - you'd be crazy to turn it down". This was then followed by a catwalk style introduction of each of the 7 singers while a song of their choice played in the background. After which, Lucas interacted with some audience members before the postcards and songs would be shown. The postcards featured the singer(s) walking through their hometown talking about their songs, their meaning and why they picked it with the presenter Lucas, after which a beam of light would appear as if to give the impression of the singers transcending from their hometown to live on the stage. The performances by all the entrants were strong with no apparent vocal failures, although it was noted that not all of the backing dancers for Funky G were perfectly in sync. After the performances and the recap to reminder the public of the songs, a series of interval acts took place which included medley performance of songs by Cascada including 'Everytime We Touch', ' Miracle', 'What Hurts the Most' & 'Night Nurse'. A long with this a flash mob pre-recorded show (although made to look live) organised by the dance group Divergence. Finally NSC winner for Solentoya, Maruv come up and sung a reprise of her winning song 'For You'. When asked by Lucas as to which song was her favourite, she diplomatically stated all the entries were great - however she was personally supporting Nikki Vianna. After the intervals, the public voting lines were closed and while they were counted and tallied, the international jury votes were shown. The 1 - 8 points automatically appeared on the screen leaving only the 10 and 12 pointer left. The spokesperson would then announce who got the 12 point, with the 10 pointer automatically being allocated at the same time. The process of the jury voting was quite tense with the first few juries being very varied in their voting. Fleur East appeared as an early favourite with the juries taking a big lead at one point but a late surge in the final jurors brought Funky G up to a close 3rd and put Timoteij just slightly ahead - who had until that point been trailing behind. The televoting presented a real game changer to the results when early favourite Fleur East come 3rd in the televote, and then Timoteij come 2nd leaving Funky G as the 3rd place outsider with a shot at winning. As it turned out they were short 1 point of drawing level with Timoteij and ultimately winning - making Timoteij the winner.