"Europe's Living a Celebration" was composed by Toni Ten with lyrics by Xasqui Ten. Despite the English-language title, the lyrics are in Spanish, with the exception of one verse of the chorus.[1]
At the close of voting, it had received 81 points, placing seventh in a field of twenty-four.[7] The voting sequence was followed in Spain by an average of 14.38 million viewers, which represented an 86.2% share, becoming the most watched space in the country of the entire decade.[8] The entire show, with an average of 12.7 million viewers and an 80.4% share, is the most watched Eurovision in Spain since reliable audience measurements began to be made in 1992.[9] The song was succeeded as Spanish entry at the 2003 contest by "Dime" by Beth.[10]
Aftermath
Bewteen 4 April and 4 June 2002, Rosa along with all the Operación Triunfo participants went on tour, giving twenty-eight concerts throughout Spain attended by more than half a million people, in which she sang "Europe's Living a Celebration" as one of the main numbers.[11] The concert on 1 June in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid before more than sixty thousand people was broadcast nationwide by TVE the following day.[12] "Europe's Living a Celebration" became a major hit in the summer of 2002 in Spain.[13] The documentary film OT: la película [es], summarizing the lives of the participants during the tour, opened on 20 September in more than 300 movie theaters,[14] and premiered on TVE on 30 December.[15]
On 31 March 2015, Rosa performed the song in the Eurovision sixtieth anniversary show Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits held in London.[b][17] On 31 October 2016, Rosa performed the song –accompanied again by Bisbal, Bustamante, Chenoa, Gisela, and Geno as backing singers– in the OT: El reencuentro anniversary concert held in the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, and broadcast live nationwide by TVE.[18]
Chart history
The album Operación Triunfo: Eurovisión that included the studio versions of the nine songs of the national final, released on 22 February 2002 in Spain, was certified platinum (100,000 copies). The album Operación Triunfo: Gala Eurovisión that included the live versions of the nine songs recorded in the national final, released on 26 February 2002, was certified 4× platinum. "Europe's Living a Celebration" was also included in Rosa's first studio album Rosa was certified 5× platinum.[19]
María Isabel performed the song in the show Europasión, aired on La 1 of Televisión Española on 21 May 2008 to choose by popular vote the best song that Spain has sent to Eurovision.[21]
Impersonations
In the ninth episode of the second season of Tu cara me suena aired on 26 November 2012 on Antena 3, Daniel Diges impersonated Rosa singing "Europe's Living a Celebration" replicating her performance at Eurovision.[22]
References
^TVE broadcast from there a pre- and post-Eurovision show to support Rosa, and the public there was watching the contest on a big screen.
^She performed "Europe's Living a Celebration" in a medley with other three Spanish entries: "La, la, la", "Vivo cantando", and "Eres tú".[16]