Much like at Eurovision, Portugal haven’t had the best luck at the contest. Out of four attempts so far, the nation is yet to crack into the Top 10. This year marks the fifth participation at Junior Eurovision, and it will be up to Joana Almeida to represent the nation with her song, Vem Comigo (Come With Me). Will Portugal achieve their best result yet?
Song + Vocals
Portugal decided to select internally this year, both the artist and the song. Based on their previous entries, it was going to take a special song to be able to really make an impact at the contest. With that said, I still don’t know that Portugal is really grasping what it takes to have a competitive entry at the contest.
It feels that the emphasis was put on creating a song with a message, but to also create a song that was ‘kid-friendly’ but Portugal has ended up with an interesting mixture of elements that don’t add up to a cohesive entry. It’s as if a song intended to be a ballad was forced into a mediocre synthesised beat, and it just doesn’t match.
The message of the song is like a handful of the other songs this year, and it’s great to see the youngsters taking a keen interest in the future of the planet. However, in the context of Junior Eurovision, Vem Comigo is just not a competitive entry. Joana has a pleasant voice, but I feel that the potential is lost due to the song choice. At times it seems she struggles with the English pronunciation, and there’s a fair bit of English in this song.
Act + Performance
Despite not being the best song in the line-up, the selling point of this song is that Joana is a confident performer, and her positivity is infectious. You can tell that she will really sell the performance live on stage, and I think that will come across well to viewers at home, it’s just whether those viewers enjoy the song enough to vote.
After the first rehearsal, I found that the song seems to come alive on stage, much more than the music video. I may be the only one out there that thinks this, but I do prefer the simplistic LED backdrop they have decided on. It’s colourful, but the focus will stay on Joana and at times she will be backed by lyrics on the screen. It stands out from its competitors just out of the simplicity of it, and out of everything, that’s what I’m impressed by – even if no one else out there thinks that!
Conclusions
Unfortunately I don’t anticipate Portugal breaking any records this year. A decent live performance unfortunately won’t lead to much, just purely as the song isn’t quite strong enough for the contest. I love that Portugal have a go, and I can’t say much more than that.
Rating
4/10
If you support Portugal at Junior Eurovision this year, vote in our Poll here.