Spain | Road To Eurovision 2019: OT Gala 7

It was a night of drama on last night's Operación Triunfo! One of the most powerful voices in the competition was expelled, and another candidate for Eurovision, instantly became fan favourite with his rendition of Nobody but you by Cesár Sampson.

Check out all the drama from the last night in our review below!

While Bohemian Rhapsody, a biographical movie and a celebration of the Queen's music is in the theatres worldwide, eleven contestants who are still in the game for winning Operación Triunfo 2018, opened the last night's gala by paying homage to Freddie Mercury's music, performing iconic song Don't stop me now.

With each week, jury, teachers and television audience face more and more difficulties in deciding upon who should be nominated and expelled. After several weeks the rise in the quality can really be observed on a weekly basis. So, this week, the audience had an extremely difficult task in choosing between two nominees – Marillia and Noelia.

1. Marilia - María Se Bebe Las Calles by Pasión Vega

First one to defend her song was Marilllia. With simple staging, only with her voice and emotions, Marillia delivered by far her best performance to date. She has a calming effect on me and the energy that reminds me of Amaia in a way.

2. Noelia - Stone Cold by Demi Lovato

Noelia did not accept jury's reasoning for her nomination last week very well, and she wanted to assure them that she deserves to stay in the academy with the song Stone cold by Demi Lovato.

Her nomination showed us two things - first is that no one is untouchable and everyone can be nominated and second is that in Operacion Triunfo, it's not only the voice that matters – you have to show something more to that. With this song, she showed what she is capable of and managed to transmit her emotions much more in comparison to previous galas.

3. María - Voy en un coche by Christina y los Subterráneos

The most energetic and wild performance of the seventh gala belonged to Maria. Here's another example of the theory that not only the voice makes a successful artist in today's music industry. This girl really transmits her energy and brings good vibes every time she touches the stage. I would buy tickets for her concert at any time. The crowd in a studio also seemed entertained and Maria really created the concert atmosphere here.

4. Famous: Nobody But You by Cesár Sampson

For me and I believe any Eurovision fan, this was the most anticipated performance of the seventh gala. Famous was already compared to Cesár Sampson at the first gala, and had commented few times that he loves Austrian's Eurovision entry, and would like to perform in Eurovision himself. Luckily for him, teachers gave him a chance to sing Nobody but you and, as we all hoped for, Famous was brilliant, demonstrating class and quality as he usually does. As a Eurovision fan, I may be biased, but I enjoyed this performance most of all. I wouldn't mind seeing Famous waving Spanish flag in Tel Aviv.

5. Miki and Sabela - No olvidarme de olvidar by Rosana and Carlos Rivera

I have to admit that in the beginning, I didn't really notice Sabela much, but I appreciate her more and more with each fantastic performance she delivers and she became one of my favourites. Last night, it was obvious that she was going to be saved from nomination.

This wasn't Miki's best performance, but what I really like about Miki is his chemistry and communication with his duet companions, which was also the case last night with Sabela.

6. Natalia - Flames by David Guetta and Sia

Another one who is constantly delivering brilliant performances, gala after gala is Natalia. Last night, it was her time to shine in a solo performance. She really owns every song that she is assigned. Her performance and staging reminded me a bit of SuRie's Eurovision performance of Storm. Does it mean I would like to see Natalia on Eurovision? Yes, please!

7. Alba and Carlos – Contamíname by Pedro Guerra

Alba, the fan favourite of the last week with her marvellous performance of La Llorona (check it out here), was in a duet with Carlos Right in this reggaeton version of Pedro Guerra's Contamíname. Reminding me of Despacito, this song is extremely catchy and they delivered good vibes and made me smile, which is the reason I'm putting Carlos and Alba's studio version of Contaminame on a repeat mode.

8. Julia and Marta - Love On Top by Beyoncé

After Marta survived her nomination last week, she was in a duet again – this time with Julia. Staging and choreography were similar to the one from Beyonce's video and it looked really good. Marta was incredible with her powerful presence once again. I may be repeating myself, but can you really be 18 years old with an attitude like this?! Bravo, Marta! Since every week we have another fan favourite, I'm rooting for Marta for the next gala. She deserves to be appreciated more.

Julia was a bit insecure at the beginning of the song. Nonetheless, I always enjoy her performances and would like to see her as a finalist.

What happened on the show?!

Eliminated: Noelia

To my great surprise, the sixth expelled contestant is Noelia. I have to say, I believed she has the potential of winning the contest, and I hope she will manage to kick start her singing career after the show. With 50,2% of the public votes, and due to her incredible performance Marillia defended her stay in the academy.

The fan favourite of Gala 3: Famous

This week, three contestants who won the most audience votes were Natalia, Famous and Sabela. Cesar Sampson's Eurovision entry was the lucky charm for Famous as it brought him his first direct qualification, without having to face jury's evaluation. The host Roberto Leal read the percentages of the votes: Famous received 31,4% of the audience votes, Natalia got 14,01% of the votes and Sabela 14,2% of the votes.

Nominees and saved contestants

Last night, the jury had an extremely difficult task in deciding upon four candidates to nominate for leaving the show. In the end, they opted for Miki, Marillia, Carlos Right and Julia.

The professors from the academy choose to save Julia, which left us with Miki, Marillia and Carlos Right hoping to be saved by the votes of their colleagues.

After their voting, there was a tie between Miki and Marillia, who both got three votes (Carlos received one vote from his duet companion Alba), which resulted with Miki being saved due to fan favourite's vote for Miki was worth double.

Nominated: Marillia and Carlos Right

Finally, two nominees who will have to fight for their stay at the academy are Marillia and Carlos Right.

Guests: Eros Ramazotti and CNCO

The famous Italian singer and songwriter Eros Ramazotti was the first musical guest on the 7th gala, with his song Hay vida. He announced his Spanish tour.

Later on, group CNCO performed their single Reggaetón Lento.

The guest member of the jury was Brisa Fenoy, the author of Lo malo, a song that was an absolute hit for Aitana and Ana Guerra in OT 2017, and was one of the top 3 songs in last year's Eurovision gala.

What did you think of Nobody but you cover by Famous? What other Eurovision songs would you like to see performed on Operacion Triunfo? Tell us in the comments section and make sure to follow us on our social media.