The duo from Granada has conquered the fifth edition of the Alicante contest with a track that mixes flamenco and electronica. The pair wowed the audience at the Palau d'Esports and the jury with a powerful performance of their viral hit and an aesthetic that reinvented Andalusia.
Tony Grox and LUCYCALYS arrived as the youngest performers of this year's song contest, but no one could accuse them of lacking experience on stage.
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Their performance closed the Benidorm Fest final, just as Melody had done the previous year and like the Sevillian, they walked away with the Sirena de Oro winner's triophy and the €150,000 prize money.
Their song has been playing loudly everywhere since its release in December. During Tuesday's semi-final, the audience at the Palau was silent at first. Then it erupted. That catchy chorus made the people clap with their hands, marking the beat forward. A direct connection that was repeated in the Sunday night's final.
Melody, winner of 2025, presented them with the Sirena. "Good luck, enjoy yourselves and continue to showcase your art and talent," she told them. LUCYCALYS, visibly moved, could barely speak. "I'm going to try", she managed to say before returning to the stage to perform the song again, now as winners.
It's the fifth edition of Benidorm Fest and the event was originally announced as the competition to select Spain's entry for this year's Eurovision Song Contest in the Austrian capital, Vienna. However, Spain has pulled out of the competition over Israel's role in the Gaza war.
A staging that opted for light.
No polka dots or fans. Tony Grox and LUCYCALYS' visual proposal broke with the usual Andalusian clichés. The stage became a re-imagined Andalusian courtyard: all white, bright, evoking summer nights rather than traditional folklore. A large central platform hid the mixing desk where Tony Grox worked his magic. From there he built the sound base while LUCYCALYS sang with a stage presence that did not go unnoticed.
The performance went from less to more. A tight contained beginning, almost intimate, and grew with the entrance of the corps de ballet. The choreography had flamenco roots but moved naturally, without artifice. The finale included doves flying on the central screen, a closure designed to connect emotionally with the audience.
Antonio Ramírez, Tony Grox's real name, has been fusing electronica with flamenco for years. He has worked in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami, and has collaborated with names such as Kiki Morente and Jedet. For her part, Lucía Sánchez Manzorro (LUCYCALYS) comes from musical theatre and trained at the conservatory in Chiclana. This is their first big opportunity together, and they seem to have made the most of it.
T AMARÉ' talks about love in a broad sense: couples, family, friends, any person who functions as a refuge. Musically, it reflects current pop sounds with flamenco touches. A song designed for all audiences that, it seems, is going to be played a lot this year.
The public has spoken
The final score of the Benidorm Fest is made up of a weighting of the points of the professional votes (50%), demoscopic votes (25%) and public votes (25%). While ASHA took first place in the professional voting, and received a Spotify award, the public finally tipped the scales in favour of 'T AMARÉ' by Tony Grox and LUCYCALYS.
Benidorm Fest 2025 results, final standings
- Tony Grox and LUCYCALYS: 166 points
- ASHA: 144 points
- Izan Llunas: 139 points
- Miranda & bailamamá: 118 points
- KITAI: 103 points
- Rosalinda Galán: 96 points
- The Quinquis: 93 points
- María León ft. Julia Medina: 82 points
- Dani J: 80 points
- Mikel Herzog Jr.: 79 points
- MAYO: 64 points
- Kenneth: 40 points
