Portugal was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "", written by Isaura and performed by Cláudia Pascoal. The Portuguese participating broadcaster, (RTP), organised the national final in order to select its entry for the contest. In addition, RTP was also the host broadcaster and staged the event at the Lisbon Arena in Lisbon, after winning the with the song "Amar pelos dois" performed by Salvador Sobral. After two semi-finals and a final which took place in February and March 2018, "" performed by Cláudia Pascoal and featuring Isaura emerged as the winner of the after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from seven regional juries and a public televote.
As the host country, Portugal qualified to compete directly in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Portugal's running order position was determined by draw. Performing in position 8 during the final, Portugal placed twenty-sixth (last) out of the 26 participating countries with 39 points.
Background
Prior to the 2018 contest, (RTP) until 2003, and (RTP) since 2004, have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Portugal forty-nine times since their first entry . They had won the contest on one occasion: with the song "" performed by Salvador Sobral. Following the introduction of semi-finals for , They had featured in only four finals. Their least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on three occasions, most recently with the song "" performed by Célia Lawson. They has also received nul points on two occasions; in 1964 and 1997.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTP organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster has traditionally selected its entry for the contest via the music competition , with exceptions and when the entries were internally selected. On 25 July 2017, RTP revealed details regarding its selection procedure and announced the organization of in order to select its 2018 entry.
Before Eurovision
was the 52nd edition of , the national final organised by RTP to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Twenty-six entries competed in the competition that consisted of two semi-finals held on 18 and 25 February 2018 leading to a fourteen-song final on 4 March 2018. All three shows of the competition were broadcast on RTP1, RTP África, and RTP Internacional as well as on radio via Antena 1 and online via RTP Play with commentary by Joana Martins and Rita Correia. For the first time in the history of the competition, the shows were broadcast on RTP Acessibilidades with Sofia Figueiredo and Cláudia Dias presenting in Portuguese Sign Language.
Format The format of the competition consisted of three shows: two semi-finals on 18 and 25 February 2018 and the final on 4 March 2018. Each semi-final featured thirteen competing entries from which seven advanced from each show to complete the fourteen song lineup in the final. Results during the semi-finals were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel appointed by RTP and public televoting, while results during the final were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from seven regional juries and public televoting, which was opened following the second semi-final and closed during the final show. Both the public televote and the juries assigned points from 1-8, 10 and 12 based on the ranking developed by both streams of voting.
Competing entries Twenty-six composers were selected by RTP through four methods: twenty-two nominated by journalist and music critic Nuno Galopim and Antena 3 presenter Henrique Amaro and invited by RTP for the competition, two selected from 346 submissions received through an open call for songs, one personally invited by the winner Salvador Sobral and one selected from the Antena 1 radio show MasterClass featuring composers without any published work. The composers, who created the songs and selected the performers, were required to submit the final versions of their entries by 31 December 2017. Songs could be submitted in any language. The selected composers were revealed on 27 September 2017, while the competing artists were revealed on 18 January 2018. Among the competing artists were José Cid, who represented and (the latter as part of the group Alma Lusa) and Anabela, who represented .
Artist Song Songwriter(s) Selection Anabela "P'ra te dar abrigo" Fernando Tordo, Tiago Torres da Silva Invited by RTP Beatriz Pessoa "Eu te amo" Mallu Magalhães Bruno Vasconcelos "Austrália" Nuno Rafael, Samuel Úria Catarina Miranda "Para sorrir eu não preciso de nada" Júlio Resende, Camila Ferraro Cláudia Pascoal "O jardim" Isaura Daniela Onís "P'ra lá do rio" Daniela Onís MasterClass winner David Pessoa "Amor veloz" Francisco Rebelo, Márcio Silva Invited by RTP Diogo Piçarra "Canção do fim" Diogo Piçarra Dora Fidalgo "Arco-íris (Assim cantou Zaratustra)" Miguel Ângelo Janeiro "(Sem título)" Janeiro Invited by Salvador Sobral Joana Barra Vaz "Anda estragar-me os planos" Francisca Cortesão, Afonso Cabral Invited by RTP Joana Espadinha "Zero a zero" Benjamim José Cid "O som da guitarra é a alma de um povo" José Cid JP Simões "Alvoroço" JP Simões Lili "O vôo das cegonhas" Armando Teixeira Maria Amaral "A mesma canção" Paulo Praça, Nuno Miguel Guedes Maria Inês Paris "Bandeira azul" Tito Paris, Pierre Aderne Minni and Rhayra "Patati patata" Paulo Flores Peter Serrado "Sunset" Peter Serrado Open call winner Peu Madureira "Só por ela" Diogo Clemente Invited by RTP Rita Dias "Com gosto amigo" Rita Dias, Filipe Almeida Open call winner Rita Ruivo "Anda daí" João Afonso, José Moz Carrapa Invited by RTP Rui David "Sem medo" Jorge Palma Sequin "All Over Again" Bruno Cardoso Susana Travassos "Mensageira" Aline Frazão Tamin "Sobre nós" Capicua, Luís Montenegro, João Rodrigues, Sérgio Alves
Shows
Semi-finals The two semi-finals took place at RTP's Studio 1 in Lisbon on 18 and 25 February 2018. The first semi-final was hosted by Jorge Gabriel and José Carlos Malato while the second semi-final was hosted by Sónia Araújo and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira. In each semi-final thirteen entries competed and seven advanced to the final based on the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of Júlio Isidro, Ana Bacalhau, Ana Markl, António Avelar de Pinho, Carlão, Luísa Sobral, Mário Lopes, Sara Tavares and Tozé Brito, and a public televote. Following the first semi-final, a mistake with the televoting results was detected and corrected following the show. Diogo Piçarra, who qualified from the second semi-final, withdrew his song "Canção do fim" from the final on 27 February 2018 following plagiarism accusations. The entry was replaced with the song "Mensageira", performed by Susana Travassos, which placed eighth in the second semi-final.
In addition to the performances of the competing entries, João Pedro Coimbra and Nuno Figueiredo performed as the interval act in the first semi-final, while Herman José performed as the interval act in the second semi-final.
+ Semi-final 1 – 18 February 2018 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place 1 Bruno Vasconcelos "Austrália" 0 0 0 13 2 Rui David "Sem medo" 2 5 7 7 3 Beatriz Pessoa "Eu te amo" 4 0 4 11 4 Anabela "P'ra te dar abrigo" 3 10 13 4 5 Catarina Miranda "Para sorrir eu não preciso de nada" 8 8 16 3 6 Joana Espadinha "Zero a zero" 5 2 7 6 7 Janeiro "(Sem título)" 12 4 16 2 8 José Cid "O som da guitarra é a alma de um povo" 1 6 7 8 9 Joana Barra Vaz "Anda estragar-me os planos" 7 1 8 5 10 Peu Madureira "Só por ela" 10 12 22 1 11 Rita Dias "Com gosto amigo" 0 3 3 12 12 JP Simões "Alvoroço" 6 0 6 10 13 Maria Amaral "A mesma canção" 0 7 7 9
+ Semi-final 2 – 25 February 2018 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place 1 Maria Inês Paris "Bandeira azul" 7 5 12 3 2 Dora Fidalgo "Arco-íris (Assim cantou Zaratustra)" 0 0 0 12 3 Sequin "All Over Again" 0 0 0 12 4 Diogo Piçarra "Canção do fim" 12 12 24 1 5 David Pessoa "Amor veloz" 5 4 9 6 6 Tamin "Sobre nós" 6 2 8 9 7 Cláudia Pascoal "O jardim" 10 10 20 2 8 Minnie and Rhayra "Patati patata" 4 6 10 4 9 Rita Ruivo "Anda daí" 0 1 1 11 10 Susana Travassos "Mensageira" 8 0 8 8 11 Lili "O vôo das cegonhas" 3 7 10 5 12 Daniela Onís "P'ra lá do rio" 2 3 5 10 13 Peter Serrado "Sunset" 1 8 9 7
Final The final took place at the Pavilhão Multiusos in Guimarães on 4 March 2018, hosted by Filomena Cautela and Pedro Fernandes. The fourteen entries that qualified from the two preceding semi-finals competed and the winner, "" performed by Cláudia Pascoal, was selected based on the 50/50 combination of votes of seven regional juries and a public televote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Luísa Sobral, Simone de Oliveira (who represented and ), and Doce (who represented ), performed as the interval acts. Catarina Miranda and Cláudia Pascoal were both tied at 22 points each but since Cláudia Pascoal received more votes from the public she was declared the winner.
+ Final – 4 March 2018 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place 1 Rui David "Sem medo" 4 4 8 5 2 Susana Travassos "Mensageira" 4 0 4 10 3 Peter Serrado "Sunset" 0 3 3 11 4 Joana Espadinha "Zero a zero" 5 0 5 9 5 Lili "O vôo das cegonhas" 1 5 6 8 6 Catarina Miranda "Para sorrir eu não preciso de nada" 12 10 22 2 7 Joana Barra Vaz "Anda estragar-me os planos" 7 0 7 7 8 David Pessoa "Amor veloz" 0 0 0 14 9 Minnie and Rhayra "Patati patata" 0 2 2 13 10 Janeiro "(Sem título)" 6 6 12 4 11 Maria Inês Paris "Bandeira azul" 2 1 3 12 12 Anabela "Para te dar abrigo" 0 7 7 6 13 Cláudia Pascoal "O jardim" 10 12 22 1 14 Peu Madureira "Só por ela" 8 8 16 3
+ Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" TotalPoints 1 "Sem medo" 3 5 5 2 3 1 194 2 "A mensageira" 5 2 1 3 4 4 194 3 "Sunset" 1 6 70 4 "Zero a zero" 2 1 4 8 7 225 5 "O vôo das cegonhas" 2 7 4 2 151 6 "Para sorrir eu não preciso de nada" 8 12 12 12 8 7 12 7112 7 "Anda estragar-me os planos" 6 4 8 7 6 10 10 517 8 "Amor veloz" 1 5 60 9 "Patati patata" 2 20 10 "(Sem título)" 7 8 6 7 12 8 486 11 "Bandeira azul" 4 5 4 1 2 162 12 "Para te dar abrigo" 3 3 3 1 3 130 13 "O jardim" 10 10 10 10 12 6 5 6310 14 "Só por ela" 12 7 6 8 10 5 6 548 Members of the jury North: Tiago Novo, Pedro Gonçalves, Valter Hugo Mãe Central: Adelaide Ferreira, André Sardet, David Fonseca Lisbon Area: João Carlos Calixto, António Manuel Ribeiro, Marta Hugon Alentejo: Cristina Branco, Jorge Benvinda, João Adelino Faria Algarve: Gil Silva, Nuno Guerreiro, Viviane Parra Azores: Pedro Lucas, Herberto Quaresma, Tiago Ribeiro Madeira: Pedro Azevedo, Vânia Fernandes, Joana Machado
Promotion Prior to the contest, Cláudia Pascoal specifically promoted "" as the Portuguese Eurovision entry on 21 April 2018 by performing during the ESPreParty event which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain and hosted by Soraya Arnelas.
At Eurovision
All countries except the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and the host country, are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As the host country, Portugal automatically qualified to compete in the final on 12 May 2018. In addition to their participation in the final, Portugal is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals, which was decided via a draw held during the semi-final allocation draw on 29 January 2018. Portugal was assigned to broadcast and vote in the first semi-final, to be held on 8 May 2018.