Earlier, at a press conference in Lisbon, the artists and songs for the Portuguese national final, Festival da Canção, were revealed. As is tradition with this show, the songwriters are revealed before the performing artists, with the first reveal having taken place last November. The artists will compete across two semi-finals scheduled for Saturday 22nd February and 1st March, with 12 qualifiers going through to the final on the 8th March to compete for Portugal’s ticket to Basel.
At the press conference, hosted by familiar FDC face Vasco Palmerim, each songwriter was revealed alongside the competing artist and song. All songs are available in the below playlist:
The full list, including songwriters where applicable, is:
Semi-final 1 (hosted by Jorge Gabriel and José Carlos Malato)
- Bluay – Ninguém
- Capital da Bulgária – Lisboa
- Du Nothin – Sobre nós (written by Beato)
- Jéssica Pina – Calafrio
- JOSH – Tristeza
- Marco Rodrigues – A minha casa
- Margarida Campelo – Eu sei que o amor
- Peculiar – Adamastor
- Rita Sampaio – Voltas (written by Tiago Sampaio)
- Xico Gaiato – Ai Senhor!
Semi-final 2 (hosted by Tánia Ribas de Oliveira and Sonia Araújo)
- A Cantadeira – Responso à mulher
- Bombazine – Apago tudo
- Diana Vilarinho – Cotovia
- Emmy Curl – Rapsódia da paz
- Fernando Daniel – Medo
- Henka – I Wanna Destroy U
- Inês Marques Lucas – Quantos queres
- Luca Argel feat. Pri Azevedo – Quem foi? (written by Luca Argel)
- Os Napa – Deslocado
- Tota – á-tê-xis (written by EU.CLIDES)
It was also revealed during the press conference that Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmerim will, once again, host the grand final on the 8th March.
This year features several well-known faces and returners to the show, notably Fernando Daniel, who won The Voice Portugal in 2016 and was a coach on the Kids version between 2021 and 2023, where he coached 2021 JESC representative Simão Oliveira, whose song, O rapaz, he wrote. He previously finished 5th at FDC 2017 with the Nuno Feist-penned Poema a dois, behind eventual Eurovision winner Salvador Sobral. Other returners include EU.CLIDES, who made the final in 2021 with the song Volte-face, and Marco Rodrigues, who finished 3rd in 2008 with Em água e sal.
This year, Festival da Canção will be in its 57th edition, one of the longest-running national finals in the Eurovision catalogue, as the broadcaster RTP celebrates its 90th anniversary. The show has an eclectic mix of former winners who’ve gone on to huge success in the Portuguese music scene, such as Dulce Pontes, Fernando Tordo and Lúcia Moniz. This success has been especially apparent since Portugal won Eurovision in 2017, after which time they’ve qualified for the grand final on all but one occasion. Iolanda, who represented her country last year with Grito, finished a strong 10th in the final in Malmö.
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