Did they save the best for last?
That’s up to the Eurofandom to decide. But tonight, at the final of Festival da Canção, Maro was declared the winner and won the right to represent Portugal at this year’s Eurovision with the song “Saudade, Saudade”.
In total, 10 acts competed in tonight’s show. They were:
- Pongo and Tristany, “Dégrá.dê”
- Syro, “Ainda nos temos”
- Milhanas, “Corpo de mulher”
- Inês Homem de Melo, “Fome de viagem”
- Aurea, “Why?”
- Os Quatro e Meia, “Amanhã”
- FF, “Como é bom esperar alguém”
- Diana Castro, “Ginger Ale”
- Maro, “Saudade, Saudade”
- Pepperoni Passion, “Código 30”
The winner was decided via a 50/50 split of jury and televote. As is typical of Festival da Canção, the results began with points from the seven regional juries, with “Saudade, Saudade” receiving 12 points from four of the juries and 10 points from two more. Once the jury scores were tabulated, the points reset to Eurovision scoring, with the song in 1st receiving 12 points, the song in 2nd receiving 10 points, etc. Going into the televoting results, the standings were as follows:
Then it was time for the televoting, with Maro also placing 1st in the opinions of Portuguese voters. The 27-year-old soul singer is the first to sweep the jury and televote since Conan Osíris did it in 2019 with the song “Telemóveis”. (At both the 2020 and 2021 editions of FdC, the eventual winner placed 2nd in both.)
The final standings from tonight’s show are:
Portugal has momentum coming out of last year’s Eurovision. The Black Mamba‘s 12th place finish was the country’s second best result since the introduction of the semi-finals, only behind Salvador Sobral‘s 1st place finish in 2017. It remains to be seen whether or not Maro can keep that momentum going, but one thing is for sure: in the eyes of the Portuguese voters, her victory was decisive.
Do #YOU think Maro can keep Portugal in the finals this year? Were #YOU rooting for her? If not, where were #YOU rooting for? Sound off in the comments below, in our forum, or on social media @ESCUnited.
