Festival Da Cancao Semi final two portugal

With the first semi-final of Festival da Cançao 2018 behind us, it’s now time to look ahead to next weekend’s second round.

Like last week, Portuguese broadcaster RTP is once again giving fans a taster of what to expect. But before we take a listen, it seems yesterday’s show didn’t run as smoothly as it seemed.

Earlier today, RTP revealed that there was a mix-up with the distribution of televotes.

On the night, Beatriz Pessoa and her song “Eu Te Amo” received seven points from the public watching at home. This was enough for her to rank among the qualifiers. However, it now transpires that she should have gotten no televote points.

The seven points were actually intended for Maria Amaral and “A Mesma Canção”, one of the non-qualifiers.

The broadcaster was swift to rectify the mix-up. Without the seven points, Beatriz is no longer a finalist. The boost was not enough to push Maria into the final either. Instead that honour now goes to Rui David and “Sem Medo”, who retrospectively rises to seventh place in the semi rankings.

Yeesh, Iberians and their Eurodrama!

But back to the music. The 45-second snippets of each song competing in semi two on February 25 landed this morning.

Listen to all 13 snippets in the playlist below.

Festival da Canção 2018 semi-final two line-up

No doubt about it: all the attention in the second semi is focused on Diogo Piçarra. The winner of the fifth season of Ídolos takes part in the Portuguese festival with two number one albums and millions of YouTube views to his name. Voice winner Cláudia Pascoal is also among the contenders.

Two hostesses — Sónia Araújo and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira — will guide the viewers through the three-hour show.

  • Cláudia Pascoal “O jardim”
  • Daniela Onis “Para lá do rio”
  • David Pessoa “Amor veloz”
  • Diogo Piçarra “Canção do fim”
  • Dora Fidalgo “Arco-íris (assim cantou Zaratustra)”
  • Lili “O vôo das cegonhas”
  • Maria Inês Paris “Bandeira azul”
  • Minnie & Rhayra “Patati patata”
  • Peter Serrado “Sunset”
  • Rita Ruivo “Anda daí”
  • Susana Travassos “A mensageira”
  • Sequin “All over again”
  • Tamin “Sobre nós”

Festival da Canção 2018

After rebooting the Festival da Canção concept in 2017 — which translated into the first ever Eurovision victory for the Iberian nation — RTP is keeping the same show structure while adding ten more songs.

Each semi-final has 13 songs and seven of them will advance to the grand final on 4 March. The voting system follows last year’s pattern: 50% televote and 50% jury in the semis, and 50% televote and 50% regional jury in the grand final.

While the two semi-finals were drawn back in October, the running order itself is being determined by the show’s producers. This Eurovision-style move is new for 2018.

Júlio Isidro — a well-known Portuguese television presenter and entertainer — is back as the head of the jury, which consists of Ana Bacalhau, Ana Markl, Antonio Avelar Pinho, Carlão, Mario Lopes, Sara Tavares, Tozé Brito — and Eurovision-winning songwriter Luisa Sobral.

FOLLOW ALL OUR PORTUGAL EUROVISION 2018 NEWS.

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AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

“O jardim” is really good. I quite like it. It sounds Portuguese but has sth modern at the same time. I also like “Canção do fim”, “Bandeira azul” and Daniela Onis “Para lá do rio”.

The Anders
6 years ago

The overall quality seems to be higher than in the first semi. And the field is also more diverse whereas semi 1 had too many songs in the same genre.

Malahierba
Malahierba
6 years ago

None impressed me as much as the Madureira song. An emotion that I can not explain. All simply beautiful.

In this semifinal, there is not one that has an instrumental arrangement and a comparable melody. There are good songs but none extraordinary.

Miguel Lupi
Miguel Lupi
6 years ago

A century where that cabana song would never play in our NF, thank god for that.

desfolhada
desfolhada
6 years ago

“O voo das cegonhas” or “O Jardim” or “All Over Again” I hope these are good in live, I need one of these songs representing Portugal.

portuguese fella
portuguese fella
6 years ago

You woulde never hear songs like these in swedish semi final. Btw, isnt melfest being a flop this year? I would use them as a good example…their singers cant sing.

Henrikh Mugosa
Henrikh Mugosa
6 years ago

No, it’s not. Melfest isn’t being a flop this year. It’s the Russians fault. They have tried to sabotage Melfest. But in the next semifinal Mariette will arrive with a megablast of a song and will save the year for Sweden. So it’ll be TOP5 for Sweden as usual.

Pavel
Pavel
6 years ago
Reply to  Henrikh Mugosa

Benjamin Ingrosso will win this year’s Melfest because staging is all that matters

amarelo
amarelo
6 years ago
Reply to  Pavel

Henrik, russians fault lol…you are an amazing troll.

Just accept it, it’s been a flop. They cant sing. The songs are nothing special, even wiwi bloggs admit it.

TOP 5 , counting form the right board.

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago
Reply to  Henrikh Mugosa

🙂 You have to tell people that this is ironic, otherwise they won’t get it… 🙂

Miguel
Miguel
6 years ago

Much better than the first semifinal.
I like the vibe of a few songs. My favorites are O voo das cegonhas, O jardim and Sunset. Now i am geting excited.

Jolly
Jolly
6 years ago

o voo das cegonhas gave me an intant urge to download it. Good sign? I also like O Jardim and Patati patata. From first semi I liked alvoroço (shame ir failed to qualify), Catarina and Janeiro’s songs too. But I would like us to send a female singer this year. Please no Peu, he’s great but… I guess a lot of old people were watching yesterday xD And if we send Janeiro we are officially the eurovision hipsters, although our best musicians fall under that description :\

Rayne
Rayne
6 years ago

Well, they took a totally different approach to Eurovision as it seems and I LIKE it! They don’t sound like any other country’s eurovision songs and it makes them special. But of course this is not for eurovision fans and for sure most of them won’t like these entries. But I personally like them, but of course these are only snippets yet.

I think that it’s going to be another Top 10 or maybe Top 5 result for Portugal in May.

Henrikh Mugosa
Henrikh Mugosa
6 years ago
Reply to  Rayne

“another Top 10 or maybe Top 5” LOOOOL

What have you been smoking? This is Portugal we’re talking about, the country that took 60 years to win Eurovision… I think get a result around 16th-20th. And if they select Peu Madureira I see them getting a BOTTOM 5 result.

Henrikh Mugosa
Henrikh Mugosa
6 years ago
Reply to  Henrikh Mugosa

* I Think they’ll get

Frisian esc
Frisian esc
6 years ago
Reply to  Henrikh Mugosa

O voo das cegonhas is top 5 material

Henrikh Mugosa
Henrikh Mugosa
6 years ago
Reply to  Frisian esc

@ Frisian ESC

Maybe it is. But… I don’t think “o voo das cegonhas” stands of chance of being selected as the Portuguese Eurovision entry. Just as I never believed JP Simões could be selected. And as a matter of fact JP didn’t even qualify for the National Final.

amarelo
amarelo
6 years ago
Reply to  Henrikh Mugosa

loooool HENRIK, the same troll that said we would stay in semi final. IT’S PORTUGAL we are talking about, yes. The same motherf*cking country that didnt have to shout high notes nor use fancy lights , sing in english or use colorful clothing to win this contest. The same country which used a formula that many countries are following this year. No one believed in us last year. People repeated the same disgusting speech that you are preaching now. But you will never learn. Yall are hyping countries that will flop. Sweden has been a mess. ESC is full of… Read more »

Henrikh Mugosa
Henrikh Mugosa
6 years ago
Reply to  amarelo

“HENRIK, the same troll that said we would stay in semi final”

amarelo, I only started commenting on this site this season (2018) 😉

Happy seal
Happy seal
6 years ago
Reply to  amarelo

“IT’S PORTUGAL we are talking about, yes. The same motherf*cking country that didnt have to shout high notes nor use fancy lights , sing in english or use colorful clothing to win this contest. The same country which used a formula that many countries are following this year.”

This comment made me happy.

up!
up!
6 years ago

I like the snippets of Semi 2 much better than Semi 1… “Bandeira Azul” sounds good…

Sabrina
Sabrina
6 years ago

I don’t know why, but everytime I try to comment about “Canção do fim” and “O jardim”, the comments section rejects my posts. Anyway, those two sound special. Let’s see the full song.

ale
ale
6 years ago

o voo das cegonhas pls it is the best of the bunch

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago

They wouldn’t even apply for that “cultural” manifestation… And rightly so, imo

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago

45 sec are not enough to have a good picture. But without any surprise, Cláudia Pascoal “O jardim”, by Isaura is my top favorite, but I don’t have high hopes. Other than that and apart from “Sunset” and “all over again”, nothing really stands out. Quite disapointed with Capicua’s “Sobre nós” by Tamin. In general, would have hoped for a little more diversity. But I don’t blame RTP. They made an excellent effort of inviting a very diverse set of authors. For some reason, inspiration seems not to have blessed them this time and they all followed a more ballad-type… Read more »

Sabrina
Sabrina
6 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

This is something that must be said. RTP has selected the composers, but as far as I know, they have no control about which kind of music any of them would create. That would explain the amount of ballads.

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Yes, it seems like it and I certainly hope so. Although, I wouldn’t put my hand for it…

Sabrina
Sabrina
6 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

Let’s say that “officially” they don’t influence the songs. But they may have asked for something on “Amar pelos dois” lane. Or maybe the composers decided to follow this path anyway.

Nate
Nate
6 years ago

Portugal? More like Floptugal it seems. Lucky this year they are already in the final….

portuguese fella
portuguese fella
6 years ago
Reply to  Nate

Flop tugal, just like last year you said we were gonna stay in the semi. I remember. Stop acting like an expert, ESC is changing.

Nate
Nate
6 years ago

I doubt you remember when last year I predicted a top 5 for Portugal (my favourite was Bulgaria). Oh, you are those Sobral fans that are now against “fast food music blahblah”. I see. Good luck anyways Portugal, but yeah, the bottom is waiting

portuguese fella
portuguese fella
6 years ago
Reply to  Nate

Aww hun. Sobral was not even my fav. If you REALLY predicted our top 5, you wouldn’t be saying that. Nice try though. And Yeah, most people said the same thing about us last year “Portugal will be bottom, no final this year!!!” – we proved you wrong:) We kicked your ass, is it still red?:) You will never learn, those predictions always make me laugh. We wont certainly get bottom, specially since most songs are a mess this year, and we are already boycotting your trashy favs with the ‘NO LEDS available on stage’ this year:’) they cant sing,… Read more »

portuguese fella
portuguese fella
6 years ago

This year, real musicians gotta show their skills without effects and other bs 🙂 Our staging doesnt allow mediocre wannabes to ‘shine’. You’ll see who’s gonna get bottom.

Oh and i loveeee fast food. Sara from Finland is one of my favs. toodaloo.

steph
steph
6 years ago

after salvador’ s victory the portoguese singers are afraid to compete fdc with an upbeat modern song, bc they’ll get called “fast food music” from salvador’s delusinal army

portuguese fella
portuguese fella
6 years ago
Reply to  steph

No. It’s because the jury would kill their chances.

eric
eric
6 years ago
Reply to  steph

@steph
You are right, do you remember that he talked about Tartar/Hamburger music, a few weeks before his winning speech about Fast Food?
That speech did so much wrong. Now Portugal is in danger of never recover because they are crippled by the fear of being different.

Sabrina
Sabrina
6 years ago

Like I said last week, 45 seconds are not enough to see how songs that aren’t chorus-driven will go. But it seems that this second semi has a little (just a little) more variety, even if almost all songs are also slow. I wonder how the two songs in english will perform. If they can get a boost for bringing some different or even cancel each other. Songs like “O vôo das cegonhas” and “Patati patata” will stand out for bringing different elements and this could help them like it happened to “Zero a Zero” and “Para te dar abrigo”.

Adrian Isaksson
Adrian Isaksson
6 years ago

Pay attention to Lily’s song. Be smart, please.

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago

I just wanted to inform you, that today at midnight (11pm UK time) all of the German NF Songs will ne released. I’m looking forward to see which Artist is going to give us the last place again.

About Portugal:
I only like ”O jardim” & ”sunset”, but they’re already better than everything we heard in semi one, so for now these are my favourites.

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago
Reply to  Weißbrot

Well, never mind…They’re already out, except for Ryk’s song.

AzeriChico
AzeriChico
6 years ago

WOOOW!! Piçarra’s song sounds so dreamy and beautiful already. Can’t wait to hear the full version.

André
6 years ago

A still haven’t listen to the snippets, so this comment is based only on what I painfully listened to yesterday. Salavador’s win was a bitter poisened gift, a pyrrhic victory. Salvador was an exception, but RTP didn’t get it. Instead they considered it a sign that they were in the right path. They aren’t. Salvador was, I insist, an exception. This year we have the same we had in previous editions of Festival da Canção: mainly dated, boring, bad songs; a dated, boring show. Yesterday there were some not so bad songs (Janeiro, Catarina), but none would pass a ESC… Read more »

ThePify
ThePify
6 years ago
Reply to  André

Honestly RTP invited a pretty diverse amount of composers so I don’t really blame them for the slow songs (unless they forced the composers to write them like that, which I doubt is the case)

Thales
Thales
6 years ago

Wow!! Just wow! Piçarra, Sequin, Peter Serrado, Claudia! Love them! Amazing songs! Peu Madureira who? XD

Miguel Lupi
Miguel Lupi
6 years ago
Reply to  Thales

Peu Madureira is still a strong contender. He just isn’t the favorite (he never was).

Irina Viner
Irina Viner
6 years ago

Portugal is now my favorite Eurovision country. Portuguese NF will surely be the strongest and most beautiful of all. At the outset, 3 great songs:
1) Só por ela (classic and timeless melodic line, of a beauty that goes from the first chords to the last second of the song. A marvelous voice);
2) Voo de cegonhas (mysterious sonority, with 80’s electronic retro touch, a rare voice)
3) O Jardim (melodic beauty within the contemporary. We need to listen more to see how the chorus develops.)

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

This o jardim song is actually good! Reminded me of same from the French NF!!

O voo das cegonhas and cancao de fim have good instruments too

Héctor
Héctor
6 years ago

Sorry, but these 45″ are like a eternity. Most of the songs are boring, bland, weak or dated, or a combination of all of that. I would go for Sequin “All over again”, she has to win Festival da Cançao! It will be really dificult because the Portuguese jury doesn’t like English entries, but this entry deserves to be at Eurovision. I also like Peter Serrado “Sunset” and Cláudia Pascoal “O jardim”, at least they sound contemporary. Diogo Piçarra “Canção do fim” isn’t bad, but I was expecting something better, it’s like it’s missing something. Still one of the best… Read more »

Rory
Rory
6 years ago

Where have I been not noticing the Portuguese NF? LOL

Oh my…LOVE!

Roxy
Roxy
6 years ago

Again, a lot of good songs from Portugal! The ones which made an impression on me:
Lili “O vôo das cegonhas” (The most interesting one from the snippets)
Cláudia Pascoal “O jardim” (The one with the highest potential, sounds very contemporary)
Susana Travassos “A mensageira” (I really like this but I can’t tell if it’s because it is the first song or it’s something else)
Diogo Piçarra “Canção do fim” (Very smooth but it doesn’t stand out that much considering all the hype around him)

Dew
Dew
6 years ago

They’re lucky their country is the automatic qualifier this year. Snooze fest with many winner wannabes.

portuguese fella
portuguese fella
6 years ago
Reply to  Dew

Foreigners like you, are pitiful. It’s sad how comments like yours prove once again, how clueless yall are about portuguese music scene. I dont think you realise how bands like Pearl Jam or The Smiths are way more valued than bands like little mix.

apple
apple
6 years ago

I feel Diogo Piçarra is the best shot Portugal has this year to get a good result! Also Cláudia Pascoal and Lili sound interesting.
Surprised to found two English songs in the bunch, but they sound like FiK rejects.

apple
apple
6 years ago
Reply to  apple

Surprised to find*

Frisian esc
Frisian esc
6 years ago

Ooo there are some really good songs in this one! Especially my top 3:
1: O voo das cegonhas – very mysterious, could give portugal another top 10 result.
2: sunset – his voice is amazing! Sounds like something waylon would send
3: o jardim – sounds like it’s building up to an awesome chorus we didn’t get to hear yet.

Frisian esc
Frisian esc
6 years ago

Are you kidding me? Beatriz pessoa was my fave of the first semi… This is lame

Frisian esc
Frisian esc
6 years ago
Reply to  Frisian esc

Because it’s unprofessional. You could never do something like this on the real eurovision can you?

ts
ts
6 years ago
Reply to  Frisian esc

Beatriz’s song was much better than Rui’s imo…

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago
Reply to  Frisian esc

Fully agree! Unacceptable.