Laéne had a dream, a fully tuned Audi and one objective: that all of Spain knew his voice. “I read my horoscope and it already combines with success,” the young woman sang in the song Tauro, one of the songs from her first EP, released in February 2023. What this artist did not know is that that verse she wrote in her Zaragoza birth was going to be the omen of what was about to happen. Although for that Laéne had to give up her stage name to be Naiara again. What she did not know is that, after being seen by millions of people for three months, she would no longer need any type of name to be recognized on the street. Naiara was going to be enough to find her on musical platforms.
And the life of Naiara, like that of all the OT 2023 finalists, has taken a 180 degree turn. What happens is that in her case, she has done it with a good skid, a sequin dress from Bershka and a prodigious voice. Because if Naiara has taught us anything in these three months of the contest, in addition to the fact that raxet culture exists beyond the Spanish east, it is that there are people who were born to step on a stage and shine. Because her time in the contest has been an explosive bomb and her Hiroshima is going to be the final.
The 360 contestant
Naiara entered the contest in style. At the gala zero she dared to perform one of the songs that has been played the most in the last editions of OT: I’m dying from The Fifth Station. With a presence cultivated in the best festivals (because the artist has been singing in concerts for years), Naiara stepped onto the stage with that attitude that a person has who knows that the audience is going to respond by singing with her. I had already tried this song before and they always react the same: singing the chorus until they are hoarse.
Buika was not on the wrong track, when in one of her assessments she told Naiara that they had both graduated from BBC school (Weddings, Baptisms and Communions), and there is no audience more difficult to convince than the one who has not come to see you. . Naiara has taken this learning to her competition. Aren’t you going to see me? I already tell you yes. If it has not been her voice (reaching such critical points as the duel she faced singing The Cicada with Juanjo—the other objectively best voice in the final—or Tómame o Déjame, which has become the most listened to song of the edition), it has been through dancing. Naiara can dance Desphá without messing up the four heart-shaped buns that the hairdressers made for her.
Naiara is that 360 contestant who reaches the final and whose merit is to seem like everything is easy. It’s Nia from OT 2020, Lorena Gomez from OT 2006 or Natalia Lacunza from OT 2018: artists who usually close the galas so that the public stays. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a reality.
Naiara represents those of us over 25 watching this edition
But Naiara has not only earned the public’s favor for her ability as an artist. Also because of her way of being. If we talk about reality as such, the artist has become one of the most sensible people in coexistence. Despite being only 26 years old, Ella Naiara is the oldest contestant in the edition. A woman who has been working for years and who knows firsthand what an opportunity it is to enter a program like this.
In this way, Naiara has not entered into debates or controversies. She has known how to relax her colleagues and has not allowed the narratives to overcome her. The only discussion of it: the problems of cleanliness and order. Naiara, like an older sister tired of scolding the little ones, began to throw away the clothes that she had been lying in the dressing room for weeks. “If she doesn’t belong to anyone, then she throws herself away,” she said.
And Naiara can not only win OT, she could also be a finalist in Big Brother if she set her mind to it. “I have never talked about strategies, at the moment I vote with my heart,” she told her classmates when they began to talk in front of her about how they had distributed the votes so that Chiara would come out against Lucas with the aim of the latter left the academy.
And Naiara perfectly represents all those people over 25 years old that we are seeing this edition. Their objective is to give everything at the galas without giving greater importance to coexistence.
Speed up, Maña!
If there is something that works in a reality show, it is a good catchphrase. From Mayte Galdeano’s “las pepelas del truck” to Ylenia’s “Vámonos a Gandía Shore”, there is always a tagline that sticks out to the audience! Naiara has adopted the “accelerate, skill” as her own: two words that perfectly summarize her parkino princess spirit. Something that she embraces about herself and that has made her a true icon.
“I left alone, I took my mother’s car and went to do some skids,” Naiara said about what she did when she was away from the academy for two days for Christmas. The perfect plan for a “chonija” like her. And the contestant herself describes herself with this nickname. A word with which we could also describe her costume in the contest.
Naira at Gala 3 of ‘OT 2023’
Naiara, without wanting it or drinking it, has become the fashion reference of the edition. Her looks at each gala generate more expectation than the MET Gala. And the artist has become a specialist in glitter, glitter, sequins and transparencies. She gave special mention to her look that she wore at the Christmas gala and that was almost as talked about as Pedroche’s dress.
A promising future
We find it curious that Naiara has chosen Sobreviviré by Mónica Naranjo for the final OT gala. A perfect topic that could summarize her experience at the academy. Not only has she survived three intense months, but she has done so by becoming a reference for a generation. Because Laéne, that Aragonese who knew what she was capable of, has been a true warrior on the OT stage. Although to do so she had to give up her stage name. Now they will stop him in the street shouting Naiara. Or better, “accelerate, skill!”
