Portugal’s super fun Mimcat took some time out of her busy schedule at the London Eurovision Party to talk to us. She was rushed around the press room though kindly took some time to talk to us.
For me, she was my first ever in person Eurovision interview and she could never have been nicer about everything. We discussed her participation in FdC over 20 years ago and whats changed along with how she found love for singing in her native language.
So I want to thank you, this is my first ever interview of a Eurovision artist –
Really?! Seriously?
Yeah!
Ah that’s so fun!
So thank you very much for taking the time! It’s an honour to talk to you, I am loving your song this year, so I’m so glad I get to talk to you this year.
Thanks so much!
So how did the song come about, how did the writing process happen, and how did you just create it?
Well the song actually I wrote it ten years ago, I was at this house bored as hell, and I was looking at the ceiling and I started singing — [sings hook of the ‘Ai Coração’ chorus] — and I immediately knew I had something there. Because it sounded old, and it sounded like Portuguese old, and I loved it. Uh, because it immediately came to mind the memory of Festival da Canção in the 70’s and the 60’s, and I loved it. So the song came out in five minutes actually, and it was the first in Portuguese actually because at the time I only wrote in English, and I was releasing my first album in English. So it was very strange to me to write a song in Portuguese that I actually liked because usually whatever I attempted to write in Portuguese sucked.
Is there a reason for that, why you didn’t like it? Did it just not flow as well, or?
No, usually I didn’t like the words, the combination of words I was using, the style of the song, it sounded like bleh. So this was actually the first time that I sang it, and I wrote it in five minutes, and I liked everything that I wrote. But I think I liked it because I didn’t see it as a song for myself! I thought I was going to give it away to some more traditional singers in Portugal, but my husband kept telling me, “no, you can’t give that song away, you’ve gotta keep it for yourself, bla bla bla,” and I listened to him. So I pushed, I pushed, and then I submitted to Festival da Canção this year and voilà, here I am!
And it’s not your first time in Festival da Canção is it, you’ve done it before.
It’s my second, I was there in 2001. But since I didn’t have any creative part in the song, I almost forgot that I was there. [Laughs] I was 15 at the time so.
So how different is it now, having grown up now and it’s what, 20 years later, how different is that as an experience to do that again?
Well, now is the time, right? So this one I did it for myself. The other time I was only the singer so the producers made it, you know. It was not my time. This time I want it to be me. So I took the time to submit the song, and I took the chance, you know, to see whether I was going to be selected or not and I was lucky enough to get selected and I was lucky enough to win. And yeah, yeah I’m super happy because people connected to the song and that’s the most important thing.
And it’s a very energetic song, how do you warm up before the performance, do you have a ritual you have to do to get yourself ready for it?
Yeah, it’s the boring stuff, you have to warm up the vocal chords and you also have to warm up your body. You know, all those things that athletes do, before, you know, going to perform something, which is the same. The dancers are the same, so yeah.
And looking, you’re now a couple of weeks away from Liverpool, how are you feeling, are you feeling ready?
Not yet, I have some steps to go through to feel completely ready. But I will be in time, I hope. [Laughs] Uh, I do have some rehearsals there so it will also be cool to polish everything. But I’m super excited to present it. Because I want to show [it] on a different stage with the different lighting and different LED work, so I want to show it really really bad.
Well, I wish you the best of luck.
Thank you so much!
And I’m looking forward to welcoming you to my country and to Liverpool, it’s a beautiful city. So best of luck to you and enjoy tonight!
MIMICAT: Thank you so much, you too, enjoy the show!
Mimicat represents Portugal in the First Semi-Final on the 9th of May. She performs 5th in the semi with her song “Ai Coracao” in Portuguese.
Are #YOU Mimicat’s entry for Eurovision this year? Let us know in the comments below, on our forum, our Discord, or on social media, @ESCUnited!
