Seven acts have qualified from the first semi-final of Festival da Canção 2018, Portugal’s national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.
Thirteen acts performed for a chance to represent their country at the Eurovision Song Contest on home turf in May, but only seven won slots to the Festival da Canção final on May 3. Tonight’s qualifiers, with the amount of points they each garnered (jury + televote), are:
- Peu Madureira – “Só Por Ela” – 22 (10 + 12)
- Janeiro – “(sem título)” – 16 (12 + 4)
- Catarina Miranda – “Para não sorrir eu não preciso de nada” – 16 (8 + 8)
- Anablea – “Para Te Dar Abrigo” – 13 (3 + 10)
- Beatriz Pessoa – “Eu Te Amo” – 11 (4 + 7)
- Joana Barra Vaz – “Anda Estragar-me os Planos” – 8 (7 + 1)
- Joana Espadinha – “Zero a Zero” – 7 (5 + 2)
The six artists who did not qualify are:
- Rui David – “Sem Medo” – 7 (2 + 5)
- José Cid e Gonçalo Tavares – “O som da guitarra é a alma de um povo” – 7 (1 + 6)
- JP Simões – “Alvoroço” – 6 (6 + 0)
- Rita Dias – “Com Gosto Amigo” – 3 (0 + 3)
- Bruno Vasconcelos – “Austrália” – 0 (0 + 0)
- Maria Amaral – “A Mesma Canção” – 0 (0 + 0)
The results were decided by a mix of a televote and a jury vote, each composing 50 percent of the final score. In the event of a tie, the points from the jury will prevail.
Júlio Isidro returns as the head of the Festival da Canção jury panel. He is joined by Luísa Sobral, who composed the winner of last year’s Eurovision Song Contest “Amar pelos dois”, and Sara Tavares who represented Portugal at the contest in 1994. The full list of jury members is as follows:
- Júlio Isidro
- Ana Bacalhau
- Ana Markl
- António Avelar
- Pinho Carlão
- Luísa Sobral
- Mário Lopes
- Sara Tavares
- Tozé Brito
The second semi-final for Festival da Canção will be held next Saturday, February 25, where seven more acts will join tonight’s finalist at the grand final on 4 March.
The show was hosted at the RTP Studios in Lisbon and presented by Jorge Gabriel and José Carlos Malato.
The winner of the contest will go on to represent Portugal on home soil at the 63rd Eurovision Song Contest in May, which will be the first time that Portugal will host the contest. As the host nation, Portugal will go directly to the grand final on May 12.
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
Portugal debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964 represented by António Calvário, the country finished last scoring nul points. Prior to 2016, the best result of Portugal in the contest was 6th place. This 6th place came in 1996 when Lúcia Moniz performed “O meu coração não tem cor” on stage in Oslo, Norway. She scored 92 points receiving 12 points from both Norway and Cyprus. Since their debut in 1964 Portugal has missed a total of five contests, the latest being in 2016. After their spectacular win last May, in Kyiv, Portugal will host the 2018 edition of the contest in the capital, Lisbon.
