Just three weeks off. That is the time that Chanel Terrero has taken to rest after the overwhelming success that her participation in Eurovision has brought her. She is the artist of the moment in Spain, maybe also in Europe. Terms such as Chanelazo to refer to the performance displayed in Turin that earned him third place in a festival in which Spain had been in the caboose for years.
Chanel Terrero is in Tenerife and has come to participate as a guest artist in the Election Gala of the Carnival Queen. She confesses that she is very excited to go back on stage, to do what she knows how to do, sing, dance and make the audience enjoy her. She will not do it alone, she will be accompanied by her “family”, her dancers, and supported by the Carnival groups. She assures that, although fitting four days into her busy schedule has been complicated, “we wanted to come and give this wonderful Gala a special affection.” Proof of this is that, since Tuesday, Chanel has been rehearsing so that tonight, at the Recinto Ferial, there will be, again, a Chanelazo with SloMo Carnaval Version, as baptized yesterday by the mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermudez.
– Have you had time to rest a little since you arrived?
“Very little. But we always make the most of the time we have left.”
-How do you feel with all the media attention you are receiving?
“Good. I admit that it is strange, because I had never experienced this before, but I feel very good, and the truth is that I am learning a lot”.
-Your recognition has come from the hand of Eurovision, but you have a long career behind you in musicals and also as an actress. How do you feel that you are known for this last episode of her career and not for the previous ones?
“The truth is that I am usually a very positive woman and I always see something good in things. So, if life has put me in this situation, I try to take advantage of it. I feel like I have the possibility of giving a voice to that profession of musicals that is so undervalued, mainly because it has little visibility. So I feel happy, happy and proud to be able to give a voice to the rest of my teammates”.
– Do you think it is a genre that is difficult to access for a general public?
“Nope. Now, after two years of the pandemic, which have been very difficult and costly for everyone, it may be a bit more complicated. But I have traveled almost all of Spain by the hand of musicals. I have been here, in Tenerife, with a musical, so there are shows and there are tours, the only thing missing is to give them more visibility”.
-Have you only been in Tenerife for work?
“Yes, I have never come on vacation, but to work, but hey, when you work you always have time to get away to get to know something, even for a little hour, and do a little leisure.”
-Can you anticipate something of what will be seen at the Gala?
“Let’s say it’s a version of SloMo. We are not going to do exactly what was seen in Eurovision. It is something special that we have prepared for here. There are many winks for this Gala. I can only say that little things are coming (laughs).”
How have rehearsals gone?
“Very well. I really wanted to get on stage. It’s only been three weeks and I need to catch a mic, spend hours, sweat and learn choreography. I really wanted it and it was time”.
-Did you think about it when you were proposed to come to Tenerife?
“I didn’t think about it. I immediately said ‘let’s go’. Yes, we can, let’s go, and we could.”
-You will have had to juggle to get four days.
“The truth is that yes (laughs), everything for being in this wonderful Gala, and for us too, because we could come, do the show and that’s it, but we wanted to give her that special little affection”.
-How are you dealing with the great expectation that has arisen?
“I am noticing a lot of affection from people. I am very excited. Obviously there are factors that make tickets sell out, such as people wanting to have a good time, to enjoy their Carnival, but also to tell me that it was a bit because we were going to act, it makes me feel pressure and illusion ”.
-How many hours a day can you dedicate to your work?
“There are no schedules or a defined routine. In my case right now I can stay from half an hour to rehearse something, up to 12 hours”.
-Did you always know that you wanted to dedicate yourself to this?
“Always always always. In fact, I have never dedicated myself to anything other than this and there is nothing else I would like to dedicate myself to. I wanted to be an artist, a singer, a dancer, an actress… and that is what I have done.”
-The success of Eurovision opens the door for you to record an album. Do you already have a song recorded?
“There is a possibility of things, it is true. But there are not eight closed issues as has been said. They are things that arise, you record and in the end you choose”.
-Will there be any new songs before the end of the summer?
“That’s the idea. There are many things in mind, but I have to see how everything works. I’m new to this and I’m learning.
-You will also have to combine all these things with your usual job, such as being the protagonist of the new musical by Nacho Cano…
“Totally. In that I am, looking for a way to make the calendar as productive as possible. I am very happy with the musical, but it is something that came about long before Eurovision, like a year before, and it did it like everything else in this world, with a casting. I fit the profile of the actress that Nacho was looking for and here I am”.
