From the Operación Triunfo Academy to touring her home country and achieving three number one singles – 2018 has been quite the year for Aitana. We take a look at the highlights of her year here!
Operación Triunfo
At the beginning of the year, Aitana found herself in the midst of the ninth season of Spanish talent contest Operación Triunfo. With only nine contestants left in the competition at this point and the grand final a matter of weeks away, everything was to play for. Aitana was already one of the fan favourites at the midway point, and on 2 January after performing
“¡Chas! Y Aparezco A Tu Lado” she won the audience vote for the second time in the competition. In the weeks that followed she continued to slay with her performances, giving fantastic renditions of “Cheap Thrills” and “Instruction” which saw her make the grand final of the competition where she finished as runner-up to Amaia Romero.
You can watch Aitana’s performance of “Chandelier” in the grand final below:
Gala Eurovision
A week before the final of Operación Triunfo the five finalists – Aitana, Amaia, Alfred, Ana and Miriam – all competed in Gala Eurovision for the chance to represent Spain at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. In this gala, Aitana performed “Lo Malo” with fellow contestant Ana Guerra,
“Arde” as a soloist, and “Camina” alongside the other finalists. She just missed out on winning with “Arde” placing second in the public vote and “Lo Malo” coming in third. Alfred and Amaia won the gala with their song “Tu canción”.
Although the song did not win Gala Eurovision, “Lo Malo” has been a huge success for Aitana and Ana since its release. A revamped version of the song reached number one on the Spanish singles chart and has since been certified five times platinum. As well as this, the official music video has racked up over 76 million views since April.
You can watch the official music video for “Lo Malo” below:
Record deal and Tour
After Operación Triunfo Aitana signed a record deal with Universal Music Spain and began working on her music. Alongside this work, Aitana and the other fifteen contestants who made it into the Academy only months before were embarking on a nationwide tour due to the success of the show. They played amazing venues all over Spain including the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona.
Teléfono
At the height of Summer Aitana released her debut solo single “Teléfono” – a song which she co-wrote alongside Mauricio Rengifo and Andrés Torres who produced “Despacito”. The single became a huge hit in Spain, hitting the top spot in the charts – the singers second in a matter of months – and has since been certified triple platinum. As well as this, the official music video broke the record for the most watched Vevo music video within twenty-four hours of all time in Spain after taking only eight hours to reach 1 million views. The video now has over 65 million views. Later in the year Aitana also released a remix of the single, a collaboration with Lele Pons, the video for which has already gained over 33 million views.
You can watch the official music video for “Teléfono” below:
Tráiler
At the end of November, Aitana released her debut EP Tráiler. Featuring her number one single “Teléfono” – both in its original format and the remix with Lele Pons – as well as four brand new original songs, the EP was a great way for Aitana to get new music out to her fans. The standout song from the EP is “Vas A Quedarte”, a beautiful, heartbreaking ballad which Aitana chose to release as her second solo single. Aitana’s vocals slay on the single and it’s clear her fans loved it as it earned the singer her third number one of the year! The single also became the most streamed song in its first twenty-four hours in Spanish history, breaking a record previously held by Aitana herself with her debut single.