Tuesday night is the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy where the first 17 songs will compete and 10 will qualify for Saturday’s Grand Final. Portugal is set to have a qualification chance of 92% with Maro’s “Saudade, Saudade”.
The final involves 25 countries, 10 that will qualify today during the first semi-final, and 10 more that will qualify in the second semi-final on Thursday. The “Big Five” have an immediate place in the final, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the host country Italy.
The singer Maro will represent Portugal in this year’s Eurovision, after winning the Song Festival. For tonight’s semi-final, Maro will sing the song “Saudade, Saudade” by herself, but in the final on Saturday, her performance will be accompanied by a female choir with Beatriz Pessoa, Beatriz Fonseca, Carolina Leite, and Sara Badalo.
Also known as Maro, Mariana Secca comes from Lisbon and began studying piano at 4 years old. She studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and then moved to Los Angeles where she collaborated with Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Jacob Collier.
Her song “Saudade, Saudade” is an indie-pop track released via Universal music that peaked in the top 5 in the charts in Portugal. While there is no direct translation of the word “saudade”, it means a feeling of longing or nostalgia for someone, essentially missing someone. The song is performed in Portuguese and English.
Maro told Eurovision the song is about the loss of a grandparent, saying “I think it’s just something intimate, it’s something so personal. It’s about loss, but it’s also about celebration. It’s crazy how impactful our grandparents can be, and how it’s a reference to so many values, including unconditional love”.
The following countries will compete tonight, along with Portugal: Albania, Latvia, Lithuania, Switzerland, Slovenia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Moldova, Croatia, Denmark, Australia, Iceland, Greece, Norway, and Armenia.
Portugal only won the Eurovision Song Contest once in 2017, with Salvador Sobral’s song
Amar Pelos Dois”. The first time Portugal participated in Eurovision was in 1964, missing five editions in 1970, 2000, 2002, 2013, and 2016.
⬇️Who do you think will win this year’s Eurovision? Let us know in the comments below⬇️
