Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 explained

Year:2021
Country:Portugal
Preselection:Portuguese: [[Festival da Canção]] 2021
Preselection Date:Semi-finals:
20 February 2021
27 February 2021
Final:
6 March 2021
Entrant:The Black Mamba
Song:Love Is on My Side
Sf Result:Qualified (4th, 239 points)
Final Result:12th, 153 points

Portugal participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Love Is on My Side" written by Pedro "Tatanka" Taborda. The song was performed by the band the Black Mamba. The Portuguese broadcaster Portuguese: [[Rádio e Televisão de Portugal]]|italics=no (RTP) organised the national final Portuguese: [[Festival da Canção]] 2021 in order to select the Portuguese entry for the 2021 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. After two semi-finals and a final which took place in February and March 2021, "Love Is on My Side" performed by the Black Mamba emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from seven regional juries and a public televote.

Portugal was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 20 May 2021. Performing during the show in position 12, "Love Is on My Side" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 22 May. It was later revealed that Portugal placed fourth out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 239 points. In the final, Portugal performed in position 7 and placed twelfth out of the 26 participating countries with 153 points.

Background

See main article: Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest. Prior to the 2021 contest, Portugal had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-one times since its first entry in 1964.[1] Portugal had won the contest on one occasion: in 2017 with the song "Portuguese: [[Amar pelos dois]]|italics=no" performed by Salvador Sobral. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Portugal had featured in only five finals. Portugal's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on four occasions, most recently in 2018 with the song "Portuguese: [[O jardim]]|italics=no" performed by Cláudia Pascoal. Portugal has also received French: [[nul points]] on two occasions; in 1964 and 1997. The nation failed to qualify to the final in 2019 with the song "Portuguese: [[Telemóveis]]|italics=no" performed by Conan Osíris. In 2020, Elisa was set to represent Portugal with the song "Portuguese: [[Medo de sentir]]|italics=no" before the contest's cancellation.

The Portuguese national broadcaster, Portuguese: [[Rádio e Televisão de Portugal]]|italics=no (RTP), broadcasts the event within Portugal and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RTP confirmed Portugal's participation in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest on 16 October 2020.[2] The broadcaster has traditionally selected the Portuguese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest via the music competition Portuguese: [[Festival da Canção]], with exceptions in 1988 and 2005 when the Portuguese entries were internally selected. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster revealed details regarding their selection procedure and announced the organization of Portuguese: Festival da Canção 2021 in order to select the 2021 Portuguese entry.

Before Eurovision

Festival da Canção 2021

Portuguese: Festival da Canção 2021 was the 55th edition of Portuguese: [[Festival da Canção]] that selected Portugal's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. Twenty entries competed in the competition that consisted of two semi-finals held on 20 and 27 February 2021 leading to a ten-song final on 6 March 2021. All three shows of the competition took place at RTP's Studio 1 in Lisbon and were broadcast on RTP1 and Portuguese: [[RTP Internacional]]|italics=no as well as online via RTP Play.[3] The shows were also broadcast on Portuguese: RTP Acessibilidades|italics=no with presentation in Portuguese Sign Language.[4]

Format

The format of the competition consisted of three shows: two semi-finals on 20 and 27 February 2021 and the final on 6 March 2021. Each semi-final featured ten competing entries from which five advanced from each show to complete the ten song lineup in the final.[5] Results during the semi-finals were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel appointed by RTP and public televoting, while results during the final were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from seven regional juries and public televoting, which was opened following the second semi-final and closed during the final show.[6] Both the public televote and the juries assigned points from 1–8, 10 and 12 based on the ranking developed by both streams of voting.[7]

Competing entries

Twenty composers were selected by RTP through two methods: eighteen invited by RTP for the competition and two selected from 693 submissions received through an open call for songs.[8] The composers, which both created the songs and selected its performers, were required to submit the demo and final versions of their entries by 30 November and 31 December 2020, respectively. Songs could be submitted in any language. The selected composers were revealed on 4 December 2020, while the competing artists were revealed on 20 January 2021.[9]

ArtistSong <-- Please do not include translations of the song titles per . -->Songwriter(s)Selection
Ana Tereza"Portuguese: Com um abraço|italics=no"Viviane, Tó ViegasInvited by RTP
Ariana"Portuguese: Mundo melhor|italics=no"Virgul, Alex D'Alva
data-sort-value="Black Mamba, The" The Black Mamba"Love Is on My Side"Tatanka
Carolina Deslandes"Portuguese: Por um triz|italics=no"Carolina Deslandes
Da Chick"I Got Music"Da Chick
Eu.Clides"French: Volte-face|italics=no"Pedro da Linha, Tota
Fábia Maia"Portuguese: Dia lindo|italics=no"Fábia Maia
Graciela"Portuguese: A vida sem acontecer|italics=no"João Vieira
Ian"Portuguese: Mundo|italics=no"Ian
Irma"Portuguese: Livros|italics=no"Irma, Pity
Joana Alegre"Portuguese: Joana do mar|italics=no"Joana Alegre
Karetus and Romeu Bairos"Portuguese: Saudade|italics=no"Karetus, Romeu Bairos
Mema"Portuguese: Claro como água|italics=no"Stereossauro, Mema.
Miguel Marôco"Portuguese: Girassol|italics=no"Miguel MarôcoOpen call winner
Nadine"Portuguese: Cheguei aqui|italics=no"Anne Victorino D'Almeida, Tiago Torres da SilvaInvited by RTP
Neev"Dancing in the Stars"Neev
Pedro Gonçalves"Portuguese: Não vou ficar|italics=no"Pedro GonçalvesOpen call winner
Sara Afonso"Portuguese: Contramão|italics=no"Melo, Teresa SequeiraInvited by RTP
Tainá"Portuguese: Jasmim|italics=no"Tainá
Valéria"Portuguese: Na mais profunda saudade|italics=no"Hélder Moutinho

Semi-finals

The two semi-finals took place on 20 and 27 February 2021. The first semi-final was hosted by Jorge Gabriel and Sónia Araújo while the second semi-final was hosted by Tânia Ribas de Oliveira and José Carlos Malato. In each semi-final eight entries competed and four advanced to the final based on the 50/50 combination of votes of a jury panel consisting of Marta Carvalho, NBC, Paulo de Carvalho, Rita Carmo, Rita Guerra and Vanessa Augusto, and a public televote.[10]

In addition to the competing entries, Dora and Elisa performed as the interval acts in the first semi-final, while Agir and Portuguese Eurovision 1996 entrant Lucia Móniz performed as the interval acts in the second semi-final.[11] [12]

Semi-final 1 – 20 February 2021
DrawArtistSongJuryTelevoteTotalPlace
1The Black Mamba"Love Is on My Side"1012221
2Valéria"Portuguese: Na mais profunda saudade|italics=no"610163
3Mema"Portuguese: Claro como água|italics=no"21310
4Nadine"Portuguese: Cheguei aqui|italics=no"1679
5Miguel Marôco"Portuguese: Girassol|italics=no"3588
6Fábia Maia"Portuguese: Dia lindo|italics=no"82105
7Irma"Portuguese: Livros|italics=no"5386
8Karetus and Romeu Bairos "Portuguese: Saudade|italics=no"78154
9Sara Afonso"Portuguese: Contramão|italics=no"127192
10Ian"Portuguese: Mundo|italics=no"4487
Semi-final 2 – 27 February 2021
DrawArtistSongJuryTelevoteTotalPlace
1Da Chick"I Got Music"15610
2Tainá"Portuguese: Jasmim|italics=no"4269
3Ariana"Portuguese: Mundo melhor|italics=no"6178
4Eu.Clides"French: Volte-face|italics=no"103134
5Joana Alegre "Portuguese: Joana do mar|italics=no"78153
6Pedro Gonçalves "Portuguese: Não vou ficar|italics=no"37105
7Ana Tereza"Portuguese: Com um abraço|italics=no"5496
8Carolina Deslandes"Portuguese: Por um triz|italics=no"1210221
9Graciela"Portuguese: A vida sem acontecer|italics=no"2687
10Neev"Dancing in the Stars"812202

Final

The final took place on 6 March 2021, hosted by Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmeirim. The ten entries that qualified from the two preceding semi-finals competed and the winner, "Love Is on My Side" performed by the Black Mamba, was selected based on the 50/50 combination of votes of seven regional juries and a public televote. Carolina Deslandes and the Black Mamba were both tied for the first place with 20 points but since the Black Mamba received the most votes from the public they were declared the winner. "Love Is on My Side" is the first song performed entirely in the English language that was selected to represent Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest.[13] Ricardo Ribeiro, Ana Moura, Camané, Dino D'Santiago, Portuguese Eurovision 2018 entrant Cláudia Pascoal together with Clã, Filipe Sambado and Sérgio Godinho, and Elisa performed as the interval acts.[14] [15]

Final – 6 March 2021
DrawArtistSongJuryTelevoteTotalPlace
1Karetus and Romeu Bairos "Portuguese: Saudade|italics=no"46106
2Joana Alegre"Portuguese: Joana do mar|italics=no"6397
3Fábia Maia"Portuguese: Dia lindo|italics=no"21310
4Valéria"Portuguese: Na mais profunda saudade|italics=no"37105
5Carolina Deslandes"Portuguese: Por um triz|italics=no"128202
6Neev"Dancing in the Stars"512173
7Pedro Gonçalves"Portuguese: Não vou ficar|italics=no"1459
8Sara Afonso"Portuguese: Contramão|italics=no"85134
9Eu.Clides"French: Volte-face|italics=no"7298
10The Black Mamba"Love Is on My Side"1010201
DrawSongCentralLisbon AreaAlentejoAlgarveMadeiraAzoresNorthTotalPoints
1"Portuguese: Saudade|italics=no"5 4 2 3 4 10 1294
2"Portuguese: Joana do mar|italics=no"10 7 12 4 5 3 3446
3"Portuguese: Dia lindo|italics=no"2 2 5 2 1 1 6192
4"Portuguese: Na mais profunda saudade|italics=no"4 3 8 5 2 4 2283
5"Portuguese: Por um triz|italics=no"7 12 10 10 10 8 106712
6"Dancing in the Stars"3 8 1 7 8 7 4385
7"Portuguese: Não vou ficar|italics=no"1 1 3 1 3 2 5161
8"Portuguese: Contramão|italics=no"8 5 7 8 7 12 8558
9"French: Volte-face|italics=no"6 6 6 6 6 5 12477
10"Love Is on My Side"12 10 4 12 12 6 76310
Members of the jury[16]
  • Central: Surma, Rui Ferreira, and Tony Fortuna
  • Lisbon Area: Rita Redshoes, Papillon, and Matay
  • Alentejo: Luís Trigacheiro, Ana Sofia Varela, and TIM
  • Algarve: Teresa Aleixo, Napoleão Mira, and Aurea
  • Madeira: Bruno Santos, João Borges, and Noémia Gonçalves
  • Azores: Rui Rufino, Lúcia Moniz, and Nélson Cabral
  • North: Marta Ren, Pedro Saraiva, and Rui Massena

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. The semi-final allocation draw held for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 on 28 January 2020 was used for the 2021 contest, which Portugal was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 20 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[17]

Once all the competing songs for the 2021 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Portugal was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Albania and before the entry from Bulgaria.[18]

In Portugal, the three shows were broadcast on RTP1, Portuguese: [[RTP Internacional]]|italics=no and Portuguese: [[RTP África]]|italics=no with commentary by José Carlos Malato and Nuno Galopim. The second semi-final and the final were broadcast live, while the first semi-final was broadcast on a two-hour delay.[19] The Portuguese spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Portuguese jury during the final, was Elisa.[20]

Semi-final

Portugal performed twelfth in the second semi-final, following the entry from Albania and preceding the entry from Bulgaria. At the end of the show, Portugal was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Portugal placed fourth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 239 points: 111 points from the televoting and 128 points from the juries.

Final

Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Portugal was drawn to compete in the first half.[21] Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Portugal was subsequently placed to perform in position 7, following the entry from Malta and before the entry from Serbia. Portugal placed twelfth in the final, scoring 153 points: 27 points from the televoting and 126 points from the juries.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.[22] In addition, each member of a national jury may only take part in the panel once every three years, and no jury was permitted to discuss of their vote with other members or be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.[23] The individual rankings of each jury member in an anonymised form as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.[24] [25]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Portugal and awarded by Portugal in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Portuguese jury:[28] [29]

+
DrawCountryJuryTelevote
Juror AJuror BJuror CJuror DJuror ERankPointsRankPoints
018 11 10 10 8 11 11
029 3 14 11 12 10 1 13
0313 2 3 6 13 6 5 14
046 10 8 8 7 8 3 2 10
0512 5 13 13 5 9 2 12
0615 12 15 14 16 16 16
0711 13 9 7 11 13 1 12
084 6 1 2 10 2 10 4 7
0910 7 7 5 9 7 4 9 2
107 15 16 9 14 15 8 3
112 4 4 15 4 3 8 10 1
12
131 1 2 1 3 1 12 6 5
143 8 6 16 1 5 6 5 6
1514 14 12 12 6 14 15
165 9 5 4 2 4 7 3 8
1716 16 11 3 15 12 7 4
+
DrawCountryJuryTelevote
Juror AJuror BJuror CJuror DJuror ERankPointsRankPoints
0116 18 12 16 23 16 19
0218 17 17 21 13 19 24
038 8 18 14 10 14 16
049 2 3 9 9 6 5 18
055 11 2 3 6 2 10 10 1
064 9 7 6 4 7 4 15
07
0811 10 9 7 17 13 20
0925 16 21 24 21 24 25
1017 22 22 15 22 22 9 2
112 15 6 8 2 4 7 5 6
123 6 4 5 7 3 8 8 3
1315 19 19 25 25 23 12
1419 24 23 13 16 21 3 8
1522 12 25 23 15 20 17
166 13 20 22 3 11 6 5
171 1 10 2 5 1 12 13
1820 20 14 4 8 12 14
1921 7 1 10 19 9 2 2 10
207 5 8 12 1 5 6 1 12
2114 14 11 11 14 15 21
2223 21 24 18 24 25 11
2310 4 5 19 20 10 1 22
2412 3 16 1 11 8 3 4 7
2513 23 13 20 18 17 7 4
2624 25 15 17 12 18 23

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Portugal Country Profile. 20 November 2014. EBU.
  2. Web site: Farren. Neil. 16 October 2020. Portugal: Eurovision 2021 Participation Confirmed. 10 November 2021. Eurovoix.
  3. Web site: 20 January 2021. Final do Festival da Canção 2021 acontece em 6 de março sem público. 10 November 2021. RTP.pt. pt.
  4. Web site: Diogo. João. 20 February 2021. Portugal: Festival da Canção 2021 com transmissão em Língua Gestual Portuguesa. 10 November 2021. ESC Portugal. pt.
  5. Web site: Christou. Costa. 4 December 2020. Portugal to select their Eurovision 2021 entry on March 6. 5 December 2020. escXtra.
  6. Web site: Votações para escolher o vencedor do Festival da Canção 2021 já estão abertas. 10 November 2021. RTP.pt. pt.
  7. Web site: 10 March 2021. REGULAMENTO FESTIVAL DA CANÇÃO 2021. 10 March 2021. RTP. pt.
  8. Web site: 4 December 2020. São estes os autores do Festival da Canção 2021. 5 December 2020. RTP. pt.
  9. Web site: Granger. Anthony. 19 January 2021. Portugal: Festival da Canção Songs Will Also Be Revealed Tomorrow. 19 January 2021. Eurovoix.
  10. Web site: Festival da Canção 2021 reúne seis personalidades para avaliar as canções nas semifinais. 10 November 2021. RTP.pt. pt.
  11. Web site: Stanton. John. 20 February 2021.
    1. PORTUGAL: Live Blog of Festival da Canção SF1 from 22.00 CET
    . 10 November 2021. Eurovision Ireland.
  12. Web site: Stanton. John. 27 February 2021.
    1. PORTUGAL: Live Blog of Festival da Canção SF2 from 22.00 CET
    . 10 November 2021. Eurovision Ireland.
  13. Web site: 7 March 2021. The Black Mamba slide towards Rotterdam. 10 November 2021. eurovision.tv.
  14. Web site: Stanton. John. 6 March 2021.
    1. PORTUGAL: Live blog of Festival da Canção 2021 from 22.00CET
    . 10 November 2021. Eurovision Ireland.
  15. Web site: 7 March 2021. The Black Mamba são os vencedores do Festival da Canção. 10 November 2021. M80. pt.
  16. Web site: 14 March 2021. FC2021: Recorde a votação dos júris regionais do Festival da Canção 2021. 18 March 2022. escportugal.pt. pt.
  17. Web site: Groot. Evert. 17 November 2020. 2020 Semi-Final line-up to stay for 2021. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20201118125722/https://eurovision.tv/story/2020-semi-final-line-up-to-stay-this-year. 18 November 2020. 17 November 2020. eurovision.tv. Eurovision Song Contest.
  18. Web site: 2021-03-30. Semi-Final running orders revealed. 2021-03-30. Eurovision.tv. en.
  19. Web site: 4 May 2019. ESC2019: José Carlos Malato e Nuno Galopim são os comentadores da transmissão da RTP. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190504150106/http://www.escportugal.pt/2019/05/esc2019-jose-carlos-malato-e-nuno.html. 4 May 2019. 4 May 2019. ESCPortugal. pt.
  20. Web site: Washak. James. 26 April 2021. Portugal: José Carlos Malato Announced as Eurovision 2021 Commentator for RTP. 26 April 2021. Eurovoix. en-GB.
  21. Web site: 20 May 2021. Live Blog: Second Semi-Final 2021. 11 November 2021. eurovision.tv.
  22. Web site: Voting–Eurovision Song Contest. 16 May 2019 . live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210526162423/https://eurovision.tv/about/voting. 26 May 2021. 26 May 2021. European Broadcasting Union.
  23. Web site: Fairness–Eurovision Song Contest. 21 February 2018 . live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210526162414/https://eurovision.tv/about/in-depth/fairness/. 26 May 2021. 26 May 2021. European Broadcasting Union.
  24. Web site: Juries in the Second Semi-Final of Rotterdam 2021. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210526164239/https://eurovision.tv/event/rotterdam-2021/second-semi-final/jury. 26 May 2021. 26 May 2021. European Broadcasting Union.
  25. Web site: Juries in the Grand Final of Rotterdam 2021. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210526163358/https://eurovision.tv/event/rotterdam-2021/grand-final/jury. 26 May 2021. 26 May 2021. European Broadcasting Union.
  26. Web site: Results of the Second Semi-Final of Rotterdam 2021 . European Broadcasting Union . 27 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210527153319/https://eurovision.tv/event/rotterdam-2021/second-semi-final/results/portugal . 27 May 2021 . live.
  27. Web site: Results of the Grand Final of Rotterdam 2021 . European Broadcasting Union . 27 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210527153319/https://eurovision.tv/event/rotterdam-2021/grand-final/results/portugal . 27 May 2021 . live.
  28. Web site: Juries in the Second Semi-Final of Rotterdam 2021. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210526164239/https://eurovision.tv/event/rotterdam-2021/second-semi-final/jury. 26 May 2021. 26 May 2021. European Broadcasting Union.
  29. Web site: Juries in the Grand Final of Rotterdam 2021. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210526163358/https://eurovision.tv/event/rotterdam-2021/grand-final/jury. 26 May 2021. 26 May 2021. European Broadcasting Union.