Portugal: Festival da Canção Semi Final 2 Preview

This weekend, Portuguese broadcaster RTP will continue its three-week festival of song with the second and final semifinal of its long-running national final Festival da Canção, which will be used to choose the Portuguese representative to the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam.

As with the first semifinal last week, a total of ten participants will take place in the second semifinal of the national final on Sunday morning, including nine artists who were invited to take part by RTP, and one selected from an open call for submissions. Of these ten, five will advance due to take place on 6 March (7 March in Australia).

The five qualifiers will be determined by a 50/50 split of both a single jury and public televoting. In the case of a tie, the professional jury will prevail. This is the same as how the first semifinal worked, but will be different from how the grand final vote will work, which will feature seven regional juries and a public televote in a 50/50 split, but where the televote will prevail in the case of a tie.

The show will begin on Sunday at 08:00 AEDT, and is scheduled to run for approximately three hours. The first semifinal, which was also scheduled to run for approximately three hours, finished in two and a half.

The running order of the show on Sunday morning is as follows:

1 – Da Chick – ‘I Got Music’

Songwriters: Da Chick

Singer-songwriter and producer Da Chick made her debut into the music world in 2012 with her EP ‘Curly Mess’, and her first full studio album in 2015, ‘Chick to Chick’.

Da Chick also won the Best Live Performance Award at the 2015 Portuguese Festival Awards.

2 – Tainá – ‘Jasmim’

Songwriters: Tainá

Tainá was born in Brazil before moving to Portugal to work and study music. While she was in Lisbon, she was noticed by Norwegian musician Erlend Øye, who invited her to perform at his next two concerts.

Tainá released her debut album in 2019, and performed at some of the large summer festivals that year. She was preparing for her tour when the coronavirus pandemic started, and has instead been working during this time.

3 – Ariana – ‘Mundo Melhor’

Songwriters: Virgul, and Alex D’Alva

Ariana is one of the youngest performers in the competition this year. She has been dreaming of becoming a singer since she was a young child.

Ariana took part in ‘The Voice Kids Portugal’ in 2014, and was then contacted by Cartoon Network to work as a voice actress for the Powerpuff Girls. In 2019, she participated in ‘The Voice Portugal’, and was a backing singer for Kady in Festival da Canção last year.

4 – EU.CLIDES – ‘Volte-Face’

Songwriters: Pedro da Linha, and Tota

Born in Cape Verde and raised in Portugal, EU.CLIDES started playing the guitar when he was little, and joined a music conservatory at the age of eight.

In 2016, EU.CLIDES moved to Paris to start a career as a guitarist. He has been on tour with Mayra Andrade and Senegalese group Daara J Family, and released his first single as a solo artist last year.

5 – Joana Alegre – ‘Joana Do Mar’

Songwriters: Joana Alegre

Joana Alegre sings a wide range of songs, going from classic to indie folk, even baroque pop. Her professional music career began as the lead singer of ‘The Pulse’. She has also participated in the musical ‘O Fantasma de Chico Morto’.

Joana is currently working on the recording of her second studio album with Luísa Sobral as the producer. She is also planning on releasing an EP and a concert to celebrate the 85th birthday of her father, poet Manuel Alegre.

6 – Pedro Gonçalves – ‘Não Vou Ficar’

Songwriters: Pedro Gonçalves

Pedro Gonçalves started out by uploading cover songs to YouTube all the way back in 2012. Soon enough, he had tens of thousands of followers and millions of views. In 2015, he participated in ‘The Voice Portugal’, where he placed as runner-up.

Pedro participated in Festival da Canção in 2017 with the song ‘Don’t Walk Away’. He came sixth place in the grand final, and won the televote in his semifinal.

7 – Ana Tereza – ‘Com Um Abraço’

Songwriters: Viviane, and Tó Viegas

Ana Tereza was born in Faro, Portugal. She had been passionate about music from a young age, participating in a range of talent shows and working with choirs and bands. In 2015, she founded ‘Gaijas’, a tribute band to female rockers in Portuguese.

In 2018, Ana started a career as a solo pop/rock singers, and started a YouTube channel where she releases covers last year.

8 – Carolina Deslandes – ‘Por Um Triz’

Songwriters: Carolina Deslandes

Carolina Deslandes competed in the Portuguese edition of ‘Pop Idol’ in 2010, catching the attention of many people in the audience. Since her participation on the program, she has released three studio albums.

Carolina’s latest EP, ‘Mulher’, was released alongsige an event where she performed live, and tickets sold out within a matter of hours. Her single ‘Mercúrio’ debuted at number one on the iTunes chart.

9 – Graciela – ‘A Vida Sem Acontecer’

Songwriters: João Vieira

Graciela was born in Barcelos, and studied piano and singing when she was younger. Later on, she went on to study graphic design, and worked as a graphic designer while continuing to make music. She also founded her music project ‘Dear Telephone’.

The ‘Dear Telephone’ band has released three studio albums, and Graciela has collaborated with other bands and songwriters since 2011.

10 – NEEV – ‘Dancing In The Stars’

Songwriters: NEEV

NEEV is a multitalented songwriter and performer who signed his first record contract in Los Angeles in 2015. After signing his contract, he performed at the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg and in Eurosonic in the Netherlands. He signed a contract with Universal Music France and BMG Germany in 2016.

NEEV recorded his first studio album in Los Angeles, which was due to be released in 2020, but, due to the coronavirus pandemic, was postponed until 2021.

The show will be hosted by Tânia Ribas de Oliveira and José Carlos Malato from the RTP Studios in Lisbon. The greenroom will be presented by Inês Lopes Gonçalves. This will be José and Tânia’s sixth time hosting each.

International fans of Festival da Canção will be able to watch the show on the RTP website (https://www.rtp.pt/play/direto/rtpinternacional) live.

The second semifinal of Festival da Canção will be broadcast on Portuguese broadcaster RTP in the morning of February 28 (the evening of February 27 in Europe).

• 22:00pm CET (Europe)

• 08:00am AEDT (NSW, VIC, ACT, TAS)

• 07:30am (SA)

• 07:00am (QLD)

• 06:30am (NT)

• 05:00am (WA)