Last week the first of two semi-finals took place in Portugal, where the first 13 acts performed for the first seven places in the final. This week, the remaining 13 acts took to the stage for the final seven places in the final, with the winner of next week’s show going on to represent Portugal at Eurovision on home soil.
This week’s artists included:
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Maria Inês Paris – Bandeira azul
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Dora Fidalgo – Arco-íris
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Sequin – All over again
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Diogo Piçarra – Canção do fim
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David Pessoa – Amor veloz
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Tamin – Sobre nós
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Claudia Pascoal – O jardim
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Minnie & Rhayra – Patati Patata
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Rita Ruivo – Anda daí
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Susana Travassos – Mensageira
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Lili – O voo das cegonhas
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Daniela Onís – P’ra lá do rio
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Peter Serrado – Sunset
As we know, the voting is made up of jury and televote, so let’s go through the results from this week. The jury gave their top points to Diogo Piçarra, who is not only the favourite of this semi-final but to take out the entire competition. Second with the jury was Claudia Pascoal with O Jardim, and in third was Susana Travassos.
With the televote, unsurprisingly it was also Diogo Piçarra who took the 12 points. Coming in second was Claudia Pascoal, and in third was Peter Serrado.
It was clear that Diogo would take first position in this semi-final, however the day after it was announced that the favourite to take out the competition had withdrawn from the competition after claims of plagiarism. In a post on Instagram, Piçarra talked about his song, saying ‘…its simplicity and its chord progression is not something that wasn’t invented, just like everything in music’
The artists gained support of other Portuguese celebrities, but ultimately he decided to withdraw, saying that the ‘fuss created around my participation has nothing to do with music anymore’ but reaffirming that it would have been an honour to represent Portugal at Eurovision on home soil.
It’s an unfortunate loss to the competition, but the show must go on, so let’s see who qualified this week:
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Maria Inês Paris – Bandeira azul
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David Pessoa – Amor veloz
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Claudia Pascoal – O jardim
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Minnie & Rhayra – Patati Patata
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Susana Travassos – Mensageira
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Lili – O voo das cegonhas
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Peter Serrado – Sunset