With YouTube views north of 40 million and 17 weeks spent inside the singles chart top ten, “Lo Malo” is the undisputed soundtrack to this year’s Spanish summer. Not bad going for a song that only finished third in the country’s national final for Eurovision 2018.

And included among the song’s millions of fans is Eurovision 2018 runner-up and “Fuego” singer Eleni Foureira. Not only is she a fan, she also thinks Spain should have sent the Aitana and Ana Guerra number to Lisbon.

The most recent Cypriot representative made the revelation on Los 40 radio. There she was challenged to a game whereby the hosts played her some of the biggest Spanish hits of the moment, including tracks from Alvaro Soler, Pablo Alborán and, of course, the Operación Triunfo favourites. The goal was simple — Eleni just had to say whether she would collaborate with the artist, take the song to Eurovision or release it as a single.

When it came to “Lo Malo”, the Greek starlet’s reaction was instant: “Malo! It’s my favourite song”.

“I love this song”, she proclaimed while singing and dancing along. She then proceeded to throw out the rules of the game, declaring “This song, I will collaborate, I will go Eurovision and I will have my next single. All three of them”.

It transpires that Eleni is a long-time fan, supporting the song ever since Operación Triunfo. In fact, she thinks it should have won January’s Eurovision Gala, and consequently represented Spain in Lisbon. “I saw the final (of the Operación Triunfo Eurovision Gala) and this one I was like ‘this is the best song of the night’. And when they didn’t win I was like ‘NO’!”

Always one to see a silver lining, she adds “But it’s a number one hit now and it’s one of my favourite songs in Spanish”.

Poco se habla de Eleni Foureira cantando "Lo Malo"…. Dice que es una de sus canciones favoritas en español. @foureira_eleni @Aitana_ot2017 @AnaG_ot2017 pic.twitter.com/z3Vs0tdyzq — Foureira Fans Spain (@Foureira_Spain) June 8, 2018

Aitana and Ana Guerra “Lo Malo”

Speaking of silver linings and second chances, Eleni also touched on her repeated attempts to represent her native Greece at Eurovision.

“I was talking with Greece. And I wanted to represent Greece at Eurovision, but that didn’t happen. So, I was a little disappointed and I was like ‘Ok, I’m not going to Eurovision so leave it. This for me is finished. These three, four last years I want to go to Eurovision so I was every year going to ERT and saying like ‘ok maybe I go to Eurovision with this song’.

But they wanted something more in Greek, more ballad, something different. So, this year I say it’s my last year, I’m going to try for a last year. So, I talked with them and they wanted something else, again. And I say Eurovision and me are never going to happen. I’m done.

And finally, Cyprus come this year, and I was like ‘ok’ and I heard the song and I feel that this is my year. And I say ‘ok, I’m going to do it with Cyprus. And it was incredible because everything happened for a reason”.

Now that Eurovision is behind her, Eleni is focused once more on new music. And following the success of the Spanish-language version of “Fuego”, she promises to release more tracks in the language.

Watch the Los 40 interviews HERE (“Lo Malo”) and HERE (representing Greece and new Spanish music).

What do you think? Do you agree that “Lo Malo” should have represented Spain? And do you want to see an Eleni, Aitana and Ana Guerra collaboration? Let us know in the comments below.