Series / Tu Cara Me Suena

Tu cara me suena,^Translation Spanish idiom for "you look familiar to me", but the title plays with the word 'cara' — 'face' — and the verb 'sonar' — 'sound' — being in it marketed internationally as Your Face Sounds Familiar, is a Spanish celebrity talent show produced by Gestmusic Endemol for Antena 3. It premiered in 2011, and as of 2019 totals seven seasons^note nine if we count the junior version, Tu cara me suena mini, which adapted a tweak to the format originated in Portugal, and the non-celebrity version, Tu cara no me suena todavía, with an eighth confirmed for 2020.

The premise of the show is as follows: every week of the season, the cast of regular contestants is tasked with impersonating a performance from a music star, or a musical scene from a movie, trying to sound and act as close to the original as possible. They're characterized for this purpose. In the junior version, Tu cara me suena mini, each of the participating kids was joined by a celebrity contestant from a previous edition.

This show provides examples of:

• Acrofatic: Florentino Fernández can move with notable agility for his size, as seen when he did the "Cuban Pete" scene of The Mask.
• As Himself:
  • Spanish singer Álvaro Soler, who rose to international fame thanks to Jennifer Lopez singing in a remix of his song El mismo sol, turned up in season 4 to accompany Vicky Larraz's performance as J. Lo in the show's first "Original and copy" challenge.
  • The "Original and copy" challenge returned in season 5, both times involving David Guapo: first with Colombian band Morat and later with David Otero. That was the night he nearly won.
  • And in the New Year special, season 1 contestant Toñi Salazar turned up to play herself while Lorena Gómez impersonated her sister and Azúcar Moreno bandmate Encarna.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: According to the judges, Xuso Jones looked "hot" as Meghan Trainor.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: At the end of the show, in the bit where the contestants learn who they'll have to play the following week, Pablo Puyol asked sarcastically for "someone who is awesome at singing", since Edu Soto had made the opposite request and received Michael Jackson. He got Bon Jovi.
• Berserk Button: Carlos Latre really doesn't like Dora the Explorer. He completely flipped out after Yolanda Ramos's performance playing Dora in season 5, and in season 6 he voices his disgust whenever the show is mentioned.
• Big Entrance: Most of the times, contestants enter the stage by way of an elevator. However, sometimes this is tweaked for fun:
  • In the Mini series finale, Abril Montmany restaged P!nk's entrance at the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards walking down a staircase between the stage and the stands, complete with a pair of kids disguised as security personnel.
  • When Silvia Abril had to sing Karina's El baúl de los recuerdos ("The memory chest"), she made her entrance by coming out of an actual chest, conveniently placed in the center of the stage... and then going back into it at the end.
  • Edu Soto had to play Antonio Machín, who usually remained immobile during his performances. So Soto's entrance that night consisted in getting carried to the stage on a forklift.
  • Or when season 2 alumnus Arturo Valls showed up in the season 4 finale to play Spanish YouTube star Aless Gibaja, descending down the stage sitting in the middle of a circle of balloons, and cheerfully greeting everyone with Gibaja's Catchphrase "¡Hola bebés!" ("Hi babies!").
• Bookends: Seasons 1 to 4 saw the winner of the first episode be declared season winner in the end.
• Brick Joke: On season 4, Silvia Abril played Doris Day and spent the rest of the episode acting like a perfect housewife, vacuum cleaning the stage and baking a cake... but she slipped and threw it onto Àngel Llàcer's face. At the end of the episode, the judge exacted revenge on her by throwing an identical cake right on her face during Ruth Lorenzo's Triumphant Reprise. Silvia's cake-throwing antics would become a Running Gag for the rest of the season.
• Brownface: Any contestant asked to play a black singer will get this treatment. The only exception so far was guest performer Yotuel Romero, who already had a dark skin, so he didn't need the paint job to physically pass off as Drake.
  • Exaggerated with Pablo Puyol as Jason Derülo (see Shirtless Scene below) — everything above his legs (which would be covered by jeans so there was no need of painting them) were painted brown. According to Puyol himself, the whole paint job took 6 hours (they also recreated Derülo's tattoos).
• The Bus Came Back: More often than not, contestants will continue to pop up as guest performers after completing their participation. Exaggerated in the case of Santiago Segura, who after competing in the first season, returned as a full-time contestant in the second and is the only person who has performed in some capacity in every season.
• Camp Gay: Falete is always dressed in tunics before his performances, had noticeable mannerisms, and openly admitted he felt more comfortable playing women than playing men. In fact, his only win in the season he entered — the fourth — came by playing María Jiménez.
• The Casanova: Parodied with judge Àngel Llàcer's habit of kissing pretty much everyone. This, for obvious reasons, was cut out of the Mini edition, and in season 4 he changed the kisses for licks. He seems to finally have dropped this act as of season 6.
• Catchphrase: Los Chunguitos had two: "Entre comillas" ("Between quotation marks") and "¡Válgame el Señor!" (approx. "So help me God!"). See Mad Libs Catchphrase for Manel Fuentes and Àngel Llàcer's signature lines.
• Crossdresser: Except for the kids in the Mini edition, pretty much every contestant undergoes at least one 'sex change' per season. Notably, season 5 winner Blas Cantó can boast a perfect record with this kind of impersonations, having won as Diana Navarro, Cher and Anastacia.
• Crowded-Cast Shot: Often, the rest of contestants join the winner for the Triumphant Reprise at the end of the episode.
• Double Vision:
  • The "Two for One" challenges introduced in season 4. In this case, a contestant had to perform a duet... as both participants, singing live one of the parts, while the other was pre-recorded and shown as a hologram on stage. This was done twice as on season 4: Ruth Lorenzo sang Barcelona as both Montserrat Caballé and Freddie Mercury, while Pablo Puyol had to morph into Elton John and RuPaul to sing Don't Go Breaking My Heart.
  • The "Two for One" challenge came back on season 5, with Juan Muñoz performing as both Joan Manuel Serrat and Joaquín Sabina.
  • Played for Laughs with Yolanda Ramos's performance as Enrique & Ana. She had one half of her body characterized as each of them.
  • Although it wasn't announced as a "Two for One" challenge, Beatriz Luengo also did this in season 5 when she performed Cheap Thrills as both Sia and Maddie Ziegler.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Several contestants had been guest performers in an episode before being regulars in a following season.
  • Arturo Valls performed as Britney Spears in the season 1 finale before taking part in season 2.
  • Florentino Fernández, Edurne, Llum Barrera and Santi Rodríguez all were episodic guests in season 2 before being regular contestants in season 3.
  • Silvia Abril, Edu Soto, Pablo Puyol and Ruth Lorenzo turned up in season 3 before turning into full-fledged contestants in season 4. In fact, Soto had also made a guest appearance in season 2. And Falete, also from season 4, had been a guest judge on season 1.
  • Season 4 guest Rosa López took part in season 5.
  • Blas Cantó was an episodic guest alongside the rest of Auryn on seasons 2 and 3 before competing in season 5.
  • Lorena Gómez won a "casting episode" one week after the season 4 finale to earn a spot in the season 5 cast. Another eventual season 5 contestant, David Guapo, competed in that special as well.
  • Season 5 guest Miquel Fernández has been confirmed for season 6.
• Failure Hero: Nine contestants have no wins to their name: Carolina Ferre (season 1), Vicky Larraz (season 4), Juan Muñoz, David Guapo, Yolanda Ramos (all three from season 5), David Amor (season 6), Brays Efe, Anabel Alonso and José Corbacho (all three from season 7).
  • This trope was actively defied, and successfully averted, by the contestants of seasons 2 and 3, when they could give extra points to their partners and reached an agreement to make sure everyone won at least once. However, on season 4, the contestants' vote was severely weighed down by the introduction of the audience vote, so there was no saving Larraz. And in season 5, the contestants only vote if there's a tie after the votes from judges and audience have been added up.
• Fanservice Extra: Sometimes the backup dancers (male or female) perform in fairly revealing outfits.
• Flawless Victory: Since the introduction of the audience vote on season 4, the show's had a split system with the judges' vote in which each of them awards 4 points to the worst-ranked, 5 points to the second worst, and all the way up to 12 for the best, meaning that the maximum possible points per episode a contestant can get is 24. Thus far this perfect score has been reached 15 times.
• Foreign Remake: Loads. This is the most adapted Spanish format of all time, having spanned versions in the likes of Argentina, the UK, Turkey, and even a short-lived US version titled Sing Your Face Off.
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: The show has featured several instances of girl-girl kisses, the most notable one involving Carolina Ferre and Llum Barrera when they impersonated t.A.T.u.
• Got Volunteered: "We need a volunteer to sit on the chair. Any Àngel Llàcer will suffice." — David Guapo at the start of his performance as Los Inhumanos' Alfonso Aguado.
• Guest Fighter: Contestants are sometimes joined by guest performers for a duet. From season 4 onwards, this is called the "Bring a Friend" challenge.
  • In fact, season 3 featured an 'all duet' episode.
• Hilarity Ensues: Any time El Sevilla's challenge involved Cross Dressing. (With the notable exception of Chavela Vargas, being the winner of that episode).
• Inept Talent Show Contestant: Played for Laughs with Los Chunguitos on season 3, as most of their performances were comically bad. Yolanda Ramos seems to be following their lead on season 5.
• Landslide Election: On the sixth episode of season 5, Canco Rodríguez and Blas Cantó ended up tied in first place after the points from the judges and the audience had been added up, so the other seven contestants were asked to vote for one of them to break the tie. Rodríguez was unanimously declared the winner (this decision may or may not be related to the fact that Cantó had already won twice at that point, while Canco was winless).
• Large Ham: Àngel Llàcer, who has served as both jury member and acting coach since the beginning of the series, is by far the hammiest person in the show. He has a penchant for over-the-top reactions, goofy costumes and kissing contestants randomly (although the latter has been heavily toned down from season 4 onwards).
• Latex Perfection: Some of the characterizations are great, for example El Sevilla as Mr. Lordi.
• Mad Libs Catchphrase:
  • "We now say goodbye to [insert contestant name] and welcome in Tu Cara Me Suena [insert impersonated artist name]" — The show's host, Manel Fuentes.
  • "[insert contestant name] HAS TO WIN TU CARA ME SUENA!!" — Àngel Llàcer, after a particularly brilliant performance. Also admits this variation with guest performers: "[insert guest name] HAS TO BE IN TU CARA ME SUENA [insert next season number]!!" Usually involves standing on the judges' table for emphasis.
• Ms. Fanservice: Played for Laughs in season 4 with Silvia Abril, who flashed her underwear at any chance.
• Mood Whiplash: This is usually a comedic, family-friendly show. But probably not many viewers felt like laughing when the 9th episode of season 4 — which had been recorded in advance —, aired on November 13, 2015, was interrupted for a breaking news report about the terrorist attacks that had just taken place in Paris, France. After the report was over, Antena 3 just went on with the show.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent:
  • Played straight by the likes of Falete and Los Chunguitos, who admittedly could not speak English.
  • Subverted by Santiago Segura on season 2. He worked with a Korean teacher when he was tasked with playing PSY. (His effort was rewarded when he was the winner of that week).
• Parody Assistance: The "Training VIP" challenges introduced on season 4 have the impersonated artist give the contestant tips on how to impersonate them better. So far, Estopa, Paloma San Basilio, Dyango, Diana Navarro and India Martínez have taken part in this.
• Pie in the Face: As mentioned above, one of Silvia Abril's specialties. Host Manel Fuentes grew Genre Savvy about it:
  Fuentes: (after judge Carlos Latre has been presented a birthday cake) Now someone take it for safe keeping before Silvia Abril arrives!
  • And when she came back as a guest performer in season 5, she brought a lot of cakes with her. Naturally, a Foodfight! ensued.
• Running Gag:
  • Xuso Jones' flirting with Mónica Naranjo in season 3.
  • Silvia Abril throwing cakes around and flashing her underwear at any chance she got in season 4.
• Shirtless Scene: Pablo Puyol had one of these in season 4 when playing Jason Derülo. The male backup dancers have also been shown this way a few times (see Fanservice Extra above).
• Something Something Leonard Bernstein: Los Chunguitos went with this when tasked with singing Loco Mía's self-titled song, since it was in English and they failed to figure out most of the lyrics.
• Spin-Offspring: Tu Cara Me Suena Mini, which aired between seasons 3 and 4. It featured kids teaming up with celebrity contestants from past seasons — except for Miki Nadal, who had not been a regular contestant before. Sometimes for a duet, other times they would both play the same character at the same time.
• Training Montage: Before every performance, one of these is shown with the contestant's preparation for it with the show's teachers. More often than not Played for Laughs.
• Triumphant Reprise: Happens Once per Episode, when the winner of the week sings again.