Portugal have returned to Eurovision this year after a 1 year break and have selected Suzy with the song “Quero Ser Tua” to represent in Copenhagen. Here is our interview with her from last week.
Thank you Suzy for talking to us, it’s less than a three weeks to go to Eurovision what’s it like to know you’ll be performing in Copenhagen?
To be able to sing as the Portuguese representative is a childhood dream that Emanuel allowed to become a reality. Since we embarked on this project, I have worked intensively with him and put all my soul into it.
I feel an enormous joy and great pleasure, but also an extraordinary responsibility in doing so.
I want to thank Emanuel for his trust and all his teaching. And also would like to thank my entire crew and all the fans that voted for me in the Portuguese semi-final and final.
We worked hard for this and it’s a great honour to represent my country in such a huge international competition.
Now you are the lucky singer to be representing Portugal on their return to Eurovision this year, what was it like in 2013 knowing that Portugal wasn’t going to be in the contest?
I wasn’t living in Portugal back then. But I think it was really sad. The Eurovision Song Contest is a very important show and allows Portuguese singers to performe on an european level.
Your song is called “Quero Ser Tua”, can you tell us more about it?
“Quero ser tua” is a positive and cheerful theme, which creates a very cheerful mood in the audience. Talks of love and sharing feelings. Speaking of true love, when we commit ourselves with body and soul, sincerely and with strong feelings.
That’s what my song talks about. The willing to love unconditionally, respecting everybody and experience the supreme feeling.
We want to bring joy and positive feelings to the Eurovision Song Contest. Here in Portugal, we are living quite difficult and hard times. We want to bring joy to everyday life and a positive message. We just want people to believe that things will change and they will change in a very positive way.
Portugal has never sent a song to Eurovision that is 100% in English, why do you think that is?
That’s a RTP decision. I guess we believe in our language and we are very proud of it and of our history and culture.
Nevertheless, I don’t consider singing solo in Portuguese a handicap. In music, there are many ways to transmit the message beside the lyrics. I will express myself trough my body language, my facial expressions and may way of performing. Music is so complete, that I have many ways to express all that I want.
In fact, being one of the few singing entirely in his own native language can be an advantage: people will remember me when voting.
The song is very fun and has a brilliant feel to it, what can we expect from you on stage in Copenhagen?
At the moment we are already working on it. We are currently experimenting some ideas (e.g., increasing the importance of percussion in the melody chore), verifying which works best and which might be most pleasing to the European public.
Luís Pimenta, from Paulo Magalhães Produções, our choreographer and dancer, is rethinking the stage performance. We want to recreate the importance of Portugal and the XV century Portuguese sailors in the discovery of the New World.
Representing our own country in an international contest is such a huge responsibility that we are putting all our efforts into it and we hope we manage to create an unforgettable performance.
Portugal has a place in every fans hearts for being the country that has taken part the most times but never won, for you what result are you aiming for?
My main goal is to make the Portuguese people proud of my performance. I will give all my heart and soul and sing as if the world will end tomorrow.
I want to conquer each and everyone with my performance and with my song. I would love to have the audience singing along and dancing with me during the entire performance.
Those are my main goals.
Of course I will be quite happy if I’m one of the finalists and if I do well in the final.
My wildest dream is to be remembered as the singer that achieves the best score ever for Portugal. Will you help me with that (laugh!!!!)?
You’ve performed at both Eurovision In Concert and the London Eurovision Party, what were those events like for you?
In a word: AMAZING!!!
I was dearly received and much cherished in London and Amsterdam.
I wasn’t expecting this and this receptivity was a huge surprise for me. Didn’t imagine how much people liked my song. I could not believe when I saw everyone singing “Eu quero ser tua, oh oh oh …”
I was actually very happy and extremely emotional.
I am enormously grateful to all those who organized and were present at these events.
Now we’ve seen that you get along brilliantly with Ruth from Spain and Conchita from Austria, do you feel that the artists this year are more like friends than in previous years?
Effectively there is already a huge complicity between me, Conchita and Ruth.
This complicity emerged from the first moments and have manifested in various forms: jokes, pranks, exchange of professional experiences…
I consider them as my friends now and I know that this friendship will remain after the ESC.
If there is a better environment this year than in other years, I can not say. What I can say is that the atmosphere is fantastic and this year we are making us all very well.
Thank you very much to Suzy and all the best to her in Copenhagen.
