Next Up: 2021 – Portugal

After the corona pandemic, Portugal has remained silent about their plans for Eurovision 2021. Will Elisa get a direct pass to Rotterdam, or will Festival da Cancao return next year to select another singer?

In today’s episode we look at Portugal in 2021. For a full review of their potential entry for 2020, check out this article on our partner website Eurovision Union. Check out our thoughts for next year below.

Key takeaways: A tiny, intimate and sincere song

Portugal always sends something diverse to Eurovision. Because they keep their songs in Portuguese, it gives them a unique hook already. But, looking at the semi, Switzerland and Albania offered up stronger ballads. Would ‘Medo de Sentir’, sung by a charming singer Elisa, have captured enough votes from either jury or televote?

How to proceed with Elisa?

Would Elisa have made enough impact at Eurovision? We don’t know. It’s small, intimate and lovely. Elisa gives a more than good performance. But at the final in Portugal, it didn’t convince the jury nor the televote. It finished second with both. For a big part, this has to do with the song. It lacks the impacts necessary at Eurovision, where there is only one chance to make an everlasting impression within the three minutes you have.

Exploring other options

When you look at the Portuguese national selection, it’s not that often that artists return either. That would mean that Elisa should not get her hopes up. When looking at other options it would be cool if a rap song would win Festival da Cancao. In recent years we had a fair share of songs within that genre that made it to the final, like Jimmy P and his gospel-rap song this year. In 2018, one year after Salvador won Eurovision, blessed vocalist Diogo Piçarra took part at FdC. He had to leave the contest after alleged plagiarism accusations. It would be nice to hear him back, but given this history, it might not be possible.

Also interesting would be a totally new approach. No more preselection, but an internal selection of an established artist in Portugal. David Fonseca would be a suitable credible artist, that could also make impact at Eurovision.

This was supposed to be Portugal’s Eurovision 2020 entry

About “Next Up: Eurovision 2021”

In our series Next Up: 2021, we look ahead to the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. After the cancellation of Eurovision 2020, all participating countries now face the choice: Stick with their Eurovision singer, or come up with a new preselection or internal selection.

We make an analysis based on what we know so far. What will this country do, or most likely do? And is that the wise choice, looking at the fact that the Eurovision Song Contest remains a music competition?

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