"Baila el Chiki-chiki" (; "Dance the Chiki-chiki") is a novelty song recorded by Rodolfo Chikilicuatre. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, placing sixteenth.
Rodolfo Chikilicuatre was a comedic character âÂÂperformed by comedian David Fernándezâ on the late-night talk show ' on La Sexta. He was first introduced in the show as an improvisational act. The show's team decided to have its scriptwriters and musicians write a song for him. They wrote "Baila el Chiki-chiki", a parody of reggaeton music filled with jokes and references to the ÿPor qué no te callas? incident between Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, the king of Spain Juan Carlos I and Spanish prime minister José Luis RodrÃÂguez Zapatero. Andreu Buenafuente âÂÂthe show's host and directorâ decided to enter the song into the Spanish selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.
Between 22 January and 13 February 2008, Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) opened an online submission process for artists to upload their entries for the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Between 16 and 25 February 2008, an online vote was opened among the entries received to classify the top five for the Spanish national final. "Baila el Chiki-chiki" âÂÂthat was heavily promoted on Buenafuenteâ ended up being selected with the highest number of votes.
On 8 March 2008, the televised national final Salvemos Eurovisión was aired on La 1 of Televisión Española. "Baila el Chiki-chiki" won the competition so it became the for Eurovision.
For the song to participate in Eurovision, its lyrics had to be changed due to the political allusions, as the contest rules does not allow political remarks in any song in the competition. Its final version featured allusions to some prominent Spanish figures, including Pau Gasol, Fernando Alonso, Javier Bardem, Antonio Banderas, and Pedro Almodóvar, as well as, the 1995 Spanish hit "La Macarena", Michael Jackson and RoboCop. The official video with the final version of the song premiered on 14 March 2008 on RTVE's website.
On 24 May 2008, the Eurovision Song Contest grand final was held at the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade hosted by Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), and broadcast live throughout the continent. Chikilicuatre performed "Baila el Chiki-chiki" twenty-second on the night following 's "Secret Combination" by Kalomira and preceding 's "Oro" by Jelena Tomaà ¡eviàand Bora DugiÃÂ.
He was accompanied on stage by Disco âÂÂplayed by Alejandra Jiménezâ and Gráfica âÂÂSilvia AbrilâÂÂ, two comedic dancers that also accompanied him in the national final. Gráfica danced clumsily without knowing the basic dance steps. Another three dancers âÂÂLeticia MartÃÂn, MarÃÂa ÃÂngeles Mas and Cecilia LópezâÂÂ, that were chosen through the special casting show Dansin Chiki Chiki, joined them.
At the close of voting, "Baila el Chiki-chiki" received 55 points, placing sixteenth in a field of twenty-five.
"Baila el Chiki-Chiki" has also been performed by Chikilicuatre alongside popular figures such as King ÃÂfrica, Tata Golosa, and Dustin the Turkey, among others.