Festival da Canção: Wiwi Jury reviews Celina da Piedade and Jorge Benvinda

The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to review the eight songs who will be competing in this Saturday’s grande final of Portugal’s Festival da Canção. Next we take a look at Celina da Piedade with “Primavera” and Jorge Benvinda with “Gente bestial”. Can either of these two bring Iberian realness to Kyiv? Read on to find out!

Celina da Piedade – “Primavera”

“Primavera” reviews

Antranig: “Primavera” does an amazing job of standing out among the Portuguese field. That doesn’t make it a great song — it’s just listenable, which cannot be said for many of the others. This wouldn’t get Portugal a great result at Eurovision but it’s fun and quirky and would make a respectable entry. It doesn’t push any boundaries but it does put a smile on your face.

Score: 6/10

Chris: As full of joy and mirth “Primavera” is, there’s not enough substance to turn that in to enough of a song. There’s a little too much instrumentation here and there’s no hook to grasp on to in the lyrics that are there. If it were to get to Eurovision, I feel it would be just seen as an inferior version of NAVIBAND. It’s enough to enjoy for the time it’s on, but it’s not a song I’d rush back to listen to again.

Score: 5.5/10

Deban: Hope springs eternal. This joyful, yet authentic track is the essence of folklore. Celina’s easy breezy serenade is scored with an accordion and a range of traditional Portuguese instruments. Will it win? Probably not. However, this is a wonderfully light composition.

Score: 6/10

Luis: “Primavera” is so joyful and authentic and Celina is a very charismatic performer. This is heartwarming, and it manages to put a smile on my face. However, this sounds more “opening act” than Eurovision song. This song would be a fabulous opening for the first semi-final of Eurovision, although whether it would be able to make the final is another story.

Score: 6/10

Mikhail: Though the beginning of the song is quite boring and nearly put me to sleep, but it changes later on and becomes somewhat fun. The light and easy melody flows really nicely, but it becomes monotonous towards the end. However, the song gives me a feeling of something street artists would do. It’s exactly that style and it doesn’t belong on a big stage. But I must admit that this is one of the best entries in Portugal’s selection, which doesn’t say much.

Score: 4.5/10

Robyn: This is the sort of thing I like to see at a national final — an uplifting song in a traditional style. Bonus points for the accordion. But singing about spring at a song contest held in May is nothing new, and there’s not much about “Primavera” that would make it stand out in Kyiv. Still, it will be enjoyable to see this again at the national final.

Score: 6/10

In our Festival da Canção Wiwi Jury, we have 14 jurors but only room for six reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Before calculating the average score, the highest and lowest scores are dropped. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 4.5 and a high of 8.

Wiwi Jury Verdict: 6.08/10

Jorge Benvinda – “Gente bestial”

“Gente bestial” reviews

Deban: Playful and quirky in tone, Jorge Benvinda is likeable and engaging. Although this doesn’t have the broadest appeal, it’s befitting to Festival da Canção – Portugal’s export platform for music and culture.

Score: 6.5/10

Jovana: What I am going to say might sound stupid, but this is my impression — this song has too many words and the lines are spoken too fast. A song needs to be catchy and easy to sing along with in order to become a Eurovision hit. Altogether it sounds like a huge mess of different instruments, sound effects and words, words, words.

Score: 4/10

Luis: This entry grazes the line between indie pop and circus music. and I’m not sure on which side it falls. It sounds like a song a clown troupe could sing, and yet it manages to be likeable. Jorge has charisma, and the lyrics are quite fun, but I’m not sure how Europe would receive this. Its appeal is very limited to the Iberian Peninsula.

Score: 6.5/10

Natalie: Portuguese craziness, how wonderful. Straight from the electro opening — which sounds like Jorge took inspiration from a radio trying to find the right wavelength — anyone can tell we have a song we shouldn’t take seriously at all. Having said that, it has got a much more cheerful and uplifting spirit than most other songs coming to Eurovision this year. Jorge is very likeable and he seems to really get into the energy of this song, which is great to see. And despite the weird hook, it never crosses the line into being annoying. Will it see Portugal finally get that top-five placing? Probably not. But it’s a welcome addition to the FdC final lineup.

Score: 6.5/10

Robyn: “Gente bestial” has fun playing with ska and new wave — without being slaves to the genre like Slovenia’s Sell Out was. Musically and visually it’s a whole lot of crazy fun, and Jorge’s used-car-salesman plaid jacket almost threatens to upstage him. I don’t think it would work as a successful Eurovision entry, but it’s another act I’m pleased to see in the FdC final.

Score: 6.5/10

Zakaria: “Gente Bestial” is the type of song that puts into question the credibility of Eurovision with its crazy/joke composition and stage presentation. The song sounds like it comes straight out of an old kids TV show or an amusement park which is very annoying and painful to listen to, and Jorge’s performance isn’t helping things at all.

Score: 1/10

In our Festival da Canção Wiwi Jury, we have 14 jurors but only room for six reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Before calculating the average score, the highest and lowest scores are dropped. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 1 and a high of 6.5.

Wiwi Jury Verdict: 5.63/10

See our list of Festival da Canção reviews here

Read more Portugal news here