Portugal Prepares for the 2018 National Selection!
As you would now be aware, Portuguese broadcaster RTP has now announced that they will be hosting Eurovision 2018 in the capital Lisbon, after their 2017 win with Salvador Sobral. Hosting is a big responsibility, but Portugal have proven to fans that they’re ready to take on the massive task of hosting thousands of fans come May 2018. It’s not only hosting that needs to be considered, there’s also the task of selecting an act who will perform on behalf of the host nation. As the announcement for the host city and Eurovision dates was made, more information came out on how Portugal will be choosing their 2018 act!
Portugal will once again be selecting their act through the traditional process of Festival da Canção. The show will feature two semi-finals, and then the final to be held on February 18 and 25, and the final will be held on the 4th of March. Giving Lisbon a break, the show will be hosted in the city of Guimarães.
There aren’t too many changes to the national selection, unsurprisingly, due to the success of their selection in 2017. As such, RTP will continue to focus on the songs by inviting the best composers in the country to submit songs. A total of twenty will be invited for 2018. Each semi-final will feature 10 songs, and then five will advance to the final.
The benefit to this form of selection is the composers have artistic control, from the songs, the genre, lyrics, language and of course who sings their composition. It’s a formula which worked in 2017, so perhaps it will give Portugal another great result in 2018!
