Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) have announced the 16 artists and songs that will compete in this year’s Festival da Canção. The contest has been used as the selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest since 1964, except for a couple of years when Operação Triunfo and internal selections were used in the early 2000s. Since 2017 there have been no language restrictions in the competition.
14 of the artists were invited by the broadcaster, while Cláudio Frank was selected by Antena 1's radio show MasterClass. Dubio feat +351 was selected via an open call by RTP. 320 submissions were received.
The artists and their respective semi finals are:
The first semi final on February 22:
Blasted- ‘Rebellion’
Felipe Sambado- ‘Gerbera Amarela Do Sul’
Ian Mucznik- ‘O Dia De Amanhã’
Elisa- ‘Medo De Sentir’
MEERA- ‘Copo De Gin’
JJaZZ- ‘Agora’
Throes + The Shine- Movimento’
Bárbara Tinoco- ‘Passe-Partout’
The second semi final on February 29 will feature:
Kady- ‘Diz Só’
Elisa Rodrigues- ‘Não Voltes Mais’
Jimmy P- ‘Abensonhado’
Luiz Caracol e Gus Liberdade- ‘Dói-me O Pais’
Cláudio Frank- ‘Quero-te Abraçar’
Dubio feat +351- ‘Ceguiera’
Judas- ‘Cubismo Enviesado’
Tomás Luzia- ‘Mais Real Que O Amor
You can listen to all 16 songs on the Festival da Canção YouTube channel
Festival da Canção 2020 will see the same format as last year with two semi finals with eight artists each and a final. The semis will be held on February 22 and 29. The final will take place on March 07. Filomena Cautela who hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2018 will co-host the Final.
The semi-final qualifiers will be decided by two scores (from 3-8, 10 and 12). One is determined by a jury and the other by televotes from the Portuguese public, thus each makes up for 50% of the final score. The top 4 artists from each semi will qualify for the final.
The winner of the final is determined a little differently. Although the final score is determined by 50%/50% jury and public televotes, each of the 7 regions will submit their jury votes and the points will be distributed accordingly for the final jury score.
Although debuting in 1964, Portugal have only won Eurovision once. That was with Salvador Sobral in 2017 and his jazz waltz song ‘Amar pelos dois’. Last year Conan Osíris failed to qualify for the final with ‘Telemóveis’, it placed 15th in the first semi final.
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