Well, there are always surprises in the semis.
1) The jury is smaller, and it is often made up of former contestants of the festival. The semi-final jury is always one that tries to vote based on the quality of the songs themselves (never thinking in terms of going to Eurovision, because it's just the semi-final).
2) Fewer people vote in the semis. Personally i sent two votes only (a low amount).
I'm not surprised that Adamastor didn't qualify in the first round. That must have been due to a low jury score because Peculiar wasn’t vocally perfect and had some parts with autotune (or something similar), which doesn't help.
My qualifiers for the night would be, in order: Josh, Peculiar, Capital da Bulgária, Xico, and Marco.
But well, can we talk about Josh? And can we calm down a little?
Let’s forget what happened in the last few days... odds rising, high expectations, ego, and hope building up… and now it's a disaster? He shouldn't even go to the final? (I read this on Tugavision…).
It was the most complex, demanding, and artistic performance that has ever been on the Festival da Canção stage. Was it perfect? No, of course not! But we’re in the semi-final, guys, on a stage with limited resources, a small stage with no elevation at all. What did you expect? A flawless performance, ready to go straight to Eurovision? Only unrealistic people would think that.
This has all the potential—it has the concept, it just needs to be refined, improved, and placed on a stage like Eurovision’s, with professional camera angles (and this year, I do have some criticism for RTP on that). Josh took a risk; he possibly doesn’t feel fully comfortable with what he’s doing yet. I would definitely change the nails (but if it’s part of his personality, that’s fine, he shouldn’t change just because we want him to). Vocally, he was very good, and unfortunately, the sound that came through on TV wasn’t great (at least that’s what I felt, and my friends reported the same).
The song is the same, and the potential is there—it’s a process, but it’s still the best proposal. I’m not saying he should win; let’s lower our expectations, which is the most important thing. It’s the song with the most potential to get a good result at Eurovision!
Adamastor will most likely be killed by the jury.
Marco Rodrigues will score high with both the jury and televote.
Henka might struggle next week with this jury, but everything depends on her vocals and how it all comes across.
Fernando Daniel and Napa could benefit a lot from the fandom's apparent loss of love for Josh.
I feel sad that we don’t have the conditions for artists to shine. I’m sure that Josh and Henka would be incredible on stages like Sweden’s, Finland’s, or even our neighbors in Spain, etc.
If Josh doesn’t win, it will be because of the televote.
We’ll see, but it's getting interesting.