Isi Hernández was already one of the candidates in the last edition of Eurovision, reaching the final and finishing in sixth position. After "the fantastic experience" she has been encouraged to present herself for the second time and this time she will defend her candidacy with the song "Amor sin Veneno" (Love without Poison). For the young woman from Arrecife, who has just turned 24, singing is "something natural", since she was only 4 years old when she sang in the folk group Coros y Danzas de Arrecife. She has won almost all the music festivals held on the island and was even the winner of the first edition of the popular television contest "I want to be like Pepe".
-What encouraged you to apply for the second time?
-When you experience something good, you want to repeat it. For me the experience was wonderful, the people I met, the results, how they treated me... Also, it was a good way to make myself known a little more. So I repeat.
-What prompted you to apply the first time?
-Honestly, I was watching the Internet one day, I saw the call for applications a few days before the deadline and I said to myself: "Why not?". Just like that, by chance.
-What do you expect from Eurovision?
-To make myself a little more known and for someone to give me an opportunity to start my solo career in good conditions. And if I can get to Eurovision, representing my country on a day when all of Europe gathers around music, it would be wonderful.
-Do you see yourself on the Oslo stage? Doesn't it overwhelm you?
-Of course it overwhelms! Any stage overwhelms and that one much more but it would give me more experience. I think it would help me a lot and I would love to get there.
-Is the song you are defending made with the festival in mind?
-Last year I did it consciously, but this year it came spontaneously, my composer and I composed it, and when I decided to present it, we made the appropriate arrangements for the festival.
-What do you think you have that your competitors don't?
-I think I can contribute a good live performance, which is what they highlighted about me last year, and a good show, because the song I present has a great representation.
-What do you think about the fact that this year they have focused more on Karmele Marchante than on the singers?
-Everyone wants their share of the audience. This is part of a game in which you have to think about whether to enter or not, because one has been working for a long time so that one day a person gets up in the morning and says that they want to participate and they focus more on that person than on the artists.
-Do you think the Eurovision festival is being discredited?
-I think it is gradually devaluing but what you sow, you reap. The organization itself is the one that encourages the appearance of these so-called "freaks", allowing more and more to appear every year.
-To succeed in music, do you have to leave Lanzarote?
-I see it as necessary because when you leave Lanzarote you find a totally different world, a different way of learning. It shouldn't be like that, because in Lanzarote there is so much talent that there should be good teachers and opportunities for those artists.
-Do you miss the land?
-Very much! That of looking into the distance and not seeing anything but land or buildings, instead of the sea... You get used to it but at first it overwhelms you a bit. I miss it very much.
-We'll have you here soon, won't we?
-Yes, on February 12 I will be at the Arrecife Carnivals.
-Aspirations, besides Eurovision?
-Now I am living in Madrid, working for a company that makes high-level shows, with performances, a musical made and more in perspective... For being here for nine months, it's not bad.
