After taking a break from the 2020 edition of Junior Eurovision, Portugal is set to return to the contest with the traditional fado sounds of “O Rapaz” performed by Simão Oliveira.
Scroll down for “O Rapaz” lyrics
Portugal in Junior Eurovision 2021: Simão Oliveira with “O Rapaz”
For the first time since its 2017 return, the lusophone country will send a male singer to Junior Eurovision. It was the first country to confirm its 2021 singer when Simão won the second season of the Portuguese version of The Voice Kids back in April.
The singer hails from Arouca, and has been a huge fan of fado since a very early age. His idols all come from the traditional Portuguese genre of melancholic sounds: Tony de Matos, Amália Rodrigues, and António Zambujo.
What do the “O Rapaz” lyrics mean?
“O Rapaz” (The Boy), was composed by Diogo Clemente and Fernando Daniel. The latter was Simão’s coach on The Voice and a contestant in the 2017 edition of Festival da Canção. This will be the first time the country will send a fado song to Junior Eurovision, placing its bets on a more traditional sound than past attempts.
The song’s theme is pretty close to Simão’s identity. “O Rapaz” speaks of how the young boy fell in love with the popular fado songs of the radio and how much they speak to him and remind him of his grandmother. Despite his age, he embraces his “old soul”, and permits himself to enjoy and sing this genre as much as his heart desires to. The official Junior Eurovision website writes that he “loves the countryside and his animals. He’s not so keen on modern technology”.
“O Rapaz” lyrics — Simão Oliveira (Portugal JESC 2021)
Written and composed by: Fernando Daniel and Diogo Clemente
Portuguese text |
English Translation |
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No rádio p’la manhã fiz-me cantor |
On the morning radio, I became a singer.
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What do you think of “O Rapaz”? Will Portugal’s fado bid will be successful? Let us know below!
O rapaz? Or O velho ?
I love Portugal being loyal to their roots, but this is too much for me, he is just a teen and he is singing like if he was in his 70s…
this is all so funny to me. eurofans often joke that portugal has an ancient taste at eurovision but with this they took it to a whole another level lmao the fact that they’re sending a kid who dresses like an old man (including THE pensioner’s hat) is just so hilarious to me.
“ancient taste “…good lord…you´re so lost about it
I predict a last place for “O rapaz”. The song is boring and old fashioned and they could have tried harder with the instrumental. The composer of the melody must really think people will fall for his poor composing!
Soulful, authentic, Portugal always dare to bring something different, something showing their culture and I like that, good luck Portugal !
I can’t say I vibe with this one, but it will surely add character to the lineup. It’s hard for me to imagine it doing well on a kids’ competition, but the nice thing here is that Simão seems to have a natural old soul, it’s not one of those cases when they try to make a child look like a mini-adult.
He is a good singer but the song is very outdated
The best thing is that it goes with his personality. Something that we don’t see that often at Jesc sadly I feel.
I really like the lyrics and Fado is meant for live so this may surprise on the Jesc stage.
I feel like I’m in the minority for liking this song because I’ve seen it ranked very low in mini video ranking list. I don’t make videos myself, but I do plan to publish my own ranking once Armenia reveals Malena’s song and Kazakhstan releases the revamped duet version.
This song is so criminally underrated by the junior Eurovision fandom. Perhaps it’s not to everyone’s taste, but if they’re not liking it because they don’t think it’s suitable for junior Eurovision, well I got some words to say about that. As long as the song is not inappropriate for a 9 to 14 year old singer to sing about, I think almost anything goes. O Rapaz could Be a potential dark horse and while I’m not expecting this song to win, Depending on its running order slot, it could do better than we expect. There is precedent for Portugal… Read more »
I think it’s perfect for the junior contest, it can introduce children to something maybe they’ve never heard before. I don’t care if it comes last, that’s not the point.
Portugal are one of my favorites this year. It’s so wonderfully traditional and different from anything else in the contest this year. Hoping they come top ten at least.
I know children aren’t idiots, but is this something many of them would enjoy?
This is just an actual question, I hope they do enjoy it.
I dunno. I imagine being a kid and enjoying this but I’m also someone who enjoyed big band as a kid so I’m kind of an old soul
Maybe there are some little Joes in Europe.
does it matter ? let’s not act like the vote isn’t mostly taken over by adults at jesc… ofc no child would find this cool but they know the adult juries and the adult fans online voting will reward this.
I think it does matter, because the enjoyment and education of children is the only reason for this contest to exist. Results should be the least important thing, and what adults think should be irrelevant.
The song is very beautiful but I don ‘t like Simão Oliveira ‘s voice