The Portuguese artists for the Lisbon contest have been reflecting on their experience after their first rehearsal at the Altice Arena.
Speaking to Espalha Factos, Cláudia revealed her lack of nerves about taking to the stage. She said “I thought I would be super nervous, but I felt at home on the Eurovision stage.” She added:
“The environment is super positive. They made me super calm. In a sense it even was different from what I thought, I thought I was going to ‘hit’ that I’m in the Eurovision, that I would get super nervous, but no. It was all very calm
But the duo aren’t focusing on the competitive side of the Eurovision experience, focusing rather on putting on a good show. Songwriter Isaura who will join Claudia on stage during the Grand Final said:
“What is important is that we are focused on giving the best we can to make the performance proud. And if it has positive consequences for people voting in our song, that’s even better. But I do not think that should be what moves us”
The pair have just completed their second rehearsal on stage and an exclusive rehearsal clip is available on the Eurovision.tv YouTube page:
Cláudia and Isaura won Festival da Canção at the end of February. After a tie for first-place, they were declared the winners when the public vote took precedence. Their song O jardim will now be the first ever Portuguese Eurovision song to compete on home ground.
Claudia Pascoal was born in 1994 in Portugal. The singer rose to fame in 2010, when she took part in Portuguese talent show Ídolos. In 2013, she participated in the first season of Factor X, and a year later she auditioned to become a host of Curto Circuito, finishing in 3rd place. She returned to participate in Ídolos for a second time in 2015, and also went on to compete in The Voice Portugal.
Source: Espalha factos
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.
Ewan, thank you for sharing our interview! 🙂 I’m an usual follower of your website and I’m really happy you read our text.
Keep up the good work!