Destined to fail?

We have to admire the Portuguese for their stamina. And for staying true to their own style, traditions and taste. They don’t seem to care one bit about what might actually work with the televoters around Europe as it seems far more important to pick a song with both feet firmly planted in the very core of the Portuguese identity. So it goes without saying that we will have our dose of fado in Eurovision once in a while, belted out by a gorgeous woman filled with passion and sorrows and melancholia. And in Portuguese of course. We have no idea whatsoever what she’s singing about, but it could be about the pint of milk that passed its expiration date last Monday for all we care. Because when a song is performed as sincere and competent as by Filipa Sousa here, we can’t deny that it has its qualities.

But is she really singing to us? When a participating country in ESC year after year so bluntly choose to ignore what peeps outside the Iberic peninsula might take a liking to, we can’t help but feeling a bit overlooked and rejected. Because if you need to be born and bred on bacalao and caldo verde to understand what it’s all about, we do not exactly feel we’re in the target group.

So instead of being mesmerized by Filipa’s pretty song our minds start to wander around and we pay more attention to the singing accountants in the background. Shouldn’t they be busy saving Portugal from the current financial crisis instead? And unless you pop out from a grand piano or figure skate on stage, the dancing couple isn’t really adding much to spice up the performance. Not to mention the walking routine by the back up singers. If this is the most striking the choreographer can come up with we suggest the Portuguese can cut their travel budget by not bringing him along to Baku. Send someone to spy on the Greek delegation instead to pick up some tips.

It sort of seems like the Portuguese are destined to fail in Eurovision. At least it gives them something to sing mournfully about in their fados, even though we get a feeling they couldn’t care less.

6 comments

  1. The awful truth is that we care allright. Or a very few of us do. Most of us haven’t got the slightest suspicion eurovision is still on.
    Thing is, I believe we simply don’t know how to do any different. We are terribly terribly worried about presenting a “proper” song. We are very much afraid of not playing it safe or to become noticed, and I daresay we are right: look how funny and brilliant we were last year when we finally dared to go wild!

    We are also very unlucky. For instance, this year we had 12 songs to choose from. They were 11 tiresome businesses and 1 (one) that was a really good piece of work . Incidentally we also got 11 good singers and a very bad one who couldn’t cope for the life of her. I’m sure you’re already guessing where the good song and the bad singer have met in this tragic, based on true events story.

    And so we got Filipa. Again. So sorry folks… But I would say that this Filipa is a litle bit better than the last one though, wouldn’t you? This one is sort of OK-ish…

    Anyways, I’m going to go all secretive now and I’m not disclosing anything regarding the lyrics of our song. You’ll never know and that’s that. I’ll give you something though, and you must prepare yourself, as it may come as a shock to you both: it’s got nothing whatsoever to do with pints of milk! And I’ll give you something else which may be useful for you in future eurovisions: no matter which Filipa will be singing, it will never be about pints of milk, or indeed pints of anything: the Portuguese measure for volume is the litre! haha :p

    1. Thanks for giving us valuable insight into the Portuguese mentality. We suppose there’s not much hope for Portugal to get their first victory as long as you guys keep selecting your entries the way you do. But it’s not that bad either, you qualified for the final in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and we actually loved your protest song last year even though it was pretty chanceless in getting a good result!

      And thank God, Filipa is not singing about spoiled milk, haha:-)

  2. Well, I wouldn’t call it exactly grand to play for the qualification, which seems to me to be the current ambition. But 2008 was definitely fun, it was a whole new experience to have one’s country as one’s favourite for a change! After that, well, there’s always been plenty to choose from elsewhere, lol.

    By the way, as far as 2012 is concerned, Tooji’s Stay is ACE!

    1. Senhora do mar was fab!

      And after Stella not making it to the final for Norway last year, we realized that we are actually quite pleased just with being able to see our own country perform on the big Saturday night! Winning is not everything. And we pick a handful of other countries to cheer for to make it more fun and interesting. Last year our favs were Denmark, Hungary, Estonia and Ireland.

      We haven’t decided which to choose this year yet. So far we love Moldova and Italy. And we’re behind Tooji, he’s great and we hope he’ll make it to the final. We’re happy to see that he has a fan in Portugal as well!

      1. It would take a disaster on stage for Tooji not to make it to the final. People voted massively on Eric Saade and Stay is way better than Popular. It could actually win if the juries weren’t too grumpy. Stella’s song was rather poor and god knows she wasn’t the best singer up the Northern Hemisphere.
        I also liked estonia last year and lipstick was one of my favourites, along with germany -the stranger business, not the satellite thing tough :(.

        Now my favourites are Norway and iIaly, of course, Albania, dark material there, Estonia with their heart breaking kuula, Iceland, a good old stately eurovision song properly done and presented is always welcome, and of course, quirky Israel, i’m very curious as to what is going to come out of that!
        Last but not least, I’m afraid our good popo friends the trakshitaz boys are top 3 in my preferences, eheheh.

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