Portugal PORTUGAL 2023 - Mimicat - Ai Coração

[ESC United Mod Team]

 

[lacrymea]

I think she can qualify, on the first half of semi 1 she and Alessandra are the only female singers, so she will stand out, the song has an intergenerational appeal and a more, let's call it, "old eurovision" song may gather the votes of the public that typically doesn't enjoy alternative styles of music and in a semi filled with that maybe she can Viktor Crone her way into the final.
What worries me is the running order, I can see it being a great opener, the end just pumps you up for what comes next, but it opening the show could also be a way to lose the public that tunes to the show a bit late and a lot of votes.
My ideal placement would be right before Käärijä, "Ai Coração" literally ends with "cha cha cha" so it would only make sense to have him performing next and although Finland doesn't really need it, the contrast would help both songs stand out.
The staging needs some work, but she has a solid concept and things can be polished and perfected for Liverpool, the portuguese delegation have been doing a good job in the last 2 years and I'm hopeful that things will be much better in may.

I think we need way more close shots overall. Hands and face, but mainly her face, she has a good expression.

I would also go more burlesque and less can-can. But they have a lot of options for this, it's not hard to stage.

Not my cup of tea, but I think if they oomph the package a bit, it may have a shot at qualifying.

 

[Brandt]

The last time I genuinely enjoyed a Portuguese entry was in 2011 (and then 2009). This is the third time I am enjoying a song from Portugal.

 

[PollyWantsACracker]

This song is a reminiscent to old Meditarranean festivals bops and I'm happy we'll finally hear something like this at Eurovision.

Staging and styling is a disaster though. It's literally ugly kitch. Change that and you're in my top 10. Best of luck!

 

[Gera11]

It wasn't one of my favourites back when I listened to the FdC line-up earlier this year. That said, Portugal sending something with a pulse is a welcome change. But...Nasci Maria and A Festa were right there. Oh well.

 

[Fluke]

Oh boy, this is hard to place. The song itself isn't that great IMO, but well performed and obviously the stage performance is what's going to sell it, but it might as well flop. No idea if there's actually any mass appeal right now, for 1920s burlesque kitsch, surprisingly without any modern musical elements at all. If they can promote it well and get a momentum going, even top 10 is possible, but it might as well fall completely flat in the scores. A daring choice either way, and another addition to the incredible variety of this year's edition.

 

[Semra]

Mimicat was my second favourite after Edmundo. For me this is a HUGE step up from last year. Normally I love the slow melancholic portuguese songs. But I actively disliked Saudade Saudade last year. The song was actually last on my list in the final.

Wow
Is it actually possible to dislike Saudade? One of my all time favorites. Well, I haven't followed ESC close for a long time, but you get what I mean. We however agree completely on Edmundo... My nr 1.

 

[gigi_copp3]

Wow
Is it actually possible to dislike Saudade? One of my all time favorites. Well, I haven't followed ESC close for a long time, but you get what I mean. We however agree completely on Edmundo... My nr 1.

It isn't. I'm thinking to rewrite my "Eurovision books" (basically, an Excel file with all my tops since 2010) and I feel for 2022 win it's either Maro or S10 (when actually it's written 1. Netherlands 2. Spain 3. Portugal)

 

[Semra]

It isn't. I'm thinking to rewrite my "Eurovision books" (basically, an Excel file with all my tops since 2010) and I feel for 2022 win it's either Maro or S10 (when actually it's written 1. Netherlands 2. Spain 3. Portugal)

Nice! For me MARO is 1, Netherlands 2 and Spain 3. Spain I didn't like the song but the performance was AMAZING.

 

[NemesisNick]

Tonight I've watched the Portuguese national final, Festival da Canção 2023 Final on demand online from the UK. Of the thirteen finalist songs, the winner was Mimicat "Ai coração". For the record, I ranked that 4th in My Eurovision Scoreboard.

So Mimicat will represent Portugal with the song "Ai coração" at the Eurovision Song Contest in May. Portugal is drawn to perform in the first half of the ESC First Semi-Final on 9 May 2023. The United Kingdom does not vote in that semi-final, so I won't be able to vote for Portugal that evening. Good luck to Mimicat in the Eurovision Song Contest First Semi-Final, and in the Grand Final if she gets there.

I must admit, at around three and a half hours, I thought Festival da Canção 2023 Final was a bit long for a national final that contained just 13 finalist entries. I liked the interval act "Hey Jude" in Portuguese at the start of part 2, and the medley of various British hits from OMD, Dead or Alive and Frankie Goes To Hollywood in part 3 (presumably that was included as this year's Eurovision Song Contest is in Liverpool). However, I think that, considering there was only one more competing finalist song than Melfest 2023 Final (Sweden) last night, two and a half hours would have been adequate for Festival da Canção 2023 Final.

 

[lacrymea]

Tonight I've watched the Portuguese national final, Festival da Canção 2023 Final on demand online from the UK. Of the thirteen finalist songs, the winner was Mimicat "Ai coração". For the record, I ranked that 4th in My Eurovision Scoreboard.

So Mimicat will represent Portugal with the song "Ai coração" at the Eurovision Song Contest in May. Portugal is drawn to perform in the first half of the ESC First Semi-Final on 9 May 2023. The United Kingdom does not vote in that semi-final, so I won't be able to vote for Portugal that evening. Good luck to Mimicat in the Eurovision Song Contest First Semi-Final, and in the Grand Final if she gets there.

I must admit, at around three and a half hours, I thought Festival da Canção 2023 Final was a bit long for a national final that contained just 13 finalist entries. I liked the interval act "Hey Jude" in Portuguese at the start of part 2, and the medley of various British hits from OMD, Dead or Alive and Frankie Goes To Hollywood in part 3 (presumably that was included as this year's Eurovision Song Contest is in Liverpool). However, I think that, considering there was only one more competing finalist song than Melfest 2023 Final (Sweden) last night, two and a half hours would have been adequate for Festival da Canção 2023 Final.

We all think the same over here xD It's too long without much happening in between. But I don't think that will ever change

 

[Remembrance]

Almost forgot to comment on this one - my favorite won. Great song. A real rollercoaster of emotions and surprises. And just pure fun.
Another year with Portugal in my top 10? Yes, I think so

Good luck, Portugal.

 

[Iker]

This is artsy, vibrant and quite amusing. The instrumental is pretty. However I suspect that Portugal will NQ for the GF, the song has no hook whatsoever for me so I disagree with @mauve.

 

[Iker]

These genre songs (traditional folk, heavy metal, opera, whatever) often represent a high technical quality, but would I listen to them in other contexts? No. So that's why I rarely give them a rating higher than average. They tend to do fairly well with the juries, unless they are too odd.

Curiously, people who tend to describe pop entries as "generic", often praise this kind of songs, forgetting that they too are (sometimes even extremely) generic within the genre.

Pop music often leans towards generic because it is often produced according to a low common denominator. And it tends to be based on 3-4 the same chords all over again. See Ed Sheeran songs (I like some but not a fan of Ed in general), the advantage is... that they're easy to learn to play on guitar. The music does not have irregular beat pattern either like 3/5. It is not written in minor key. But what that wide term of pop music is changes over time, it wouldn't be wrong call The Beatles a pop group of its time.

But yes you're correct - there is generic folk, metal, jazz, rock, trance etc. music.

 

[jatojo]

Pop music often leans towards generic because it is often produced according to a low common denominator. And it tends to be based on 3-4 the same chords all over again. See Ed Sheeran songs (I like some but not a fan of Ed in general), the advantage is... that they're easy to learn to play on guitar. The music does not have irregular beat pattern either like 3/5. It is not written in minor key. But what that wide term of pop music is changes over time, it wouldn't be wrong call The Beatles a pop group of its time.

But yes you're correct - there is generic folk, metal, jazz, rock, trance etc. music.

I think in most countries, traditional music is verses with a fixed rhythm and length throughout. Sometimes there is a sort of chorus, sometimes not. There are no bridges or key changes. It's generic, and that's the point - otherwise people couldn't sing along to it or dance to it.

Modern pop music is actually less generic.

 

[Decayingbooks]

However I suspect that Portugal will NQ for the GF, the song has no hook whatsoever for me so I disagree with @mauve.

The hook would be when she sings "ai coração" or, as it could also be understood in english, "hi coracao", but I understand what you mean, if it ain't memorable enough people won't vote for it.

 

[Iker]

I think in most countries, traditional music is verses with a fixed rhythm and length throughout. Sometimes there is a sort of chorus, sometimes not. There are no bridges or key changes. It's generic, and that's the point - otherwise people couldn't sing along to it or dance to it.

Modern pop music is actually less generic.

Traditional music has a lot of variety and can range from simple to very complex. Would you call Bulgarian or Lithuanian polyphonic chants easy to sing along for an individual? Slavic "white singing" (see Tulia) vocal style is not natural for most us but is traditional.

Modern pop is far more generic and samey (in particular we get that impression as we get an overabundance of Anglo-Saxon stylised pop now from many countries) than folk/folk-influenced music, and if you consider the richness of all cultures around the world and so-called "World music" then the difference is greater by whole magnitudes.



Gone are the days of Nelly Furtado that would hit the charts with her material in 00s. And curiously enough her first two albums contained a lot of folk rhythms and instruments. Especially her 2nd one called ... Folklore. This was my favourite of Nelly.

 

[jatojo]

Traditional music has a lot of variety and can range from simple to very complex. Would you call Bulgarian or Lithuanian polyphonic chants easy to sing along for an individual? Slavic "white singing" (see Tulia) vocal style is not natural for most us but is traditional.

Modern pop is far more generic and samey (in particular we get that impression as we get an overabundance of Anglo-Saxon stylised pop now from many countries) than folk/folk-influenced music, and if you consider the richness of all cultures around the world and so-called "World music" then the difference is greater by whole magnitudes.

Gone are the days of Nelly Furtado that would hit the charts with her material in 00s. And curiously enough her first two albums contained a lot of folk rhythms and instruments. Especially her 2nd one called ... Folklore. This was my favourite of Nelly.

I know folk music is a very wide range of music, just like pop music is. But at least in the western world, folk is mainly repeated verses. Just take folk from the 1960's when that became very popular in the US and other places. That was traditional music based on verses, then typically played on a Spanish guitar. So you could call Bob Dylan and Joan Baez very generic - or you could stop using the term to the extent it is used nowadays by some. Too many say "generic" when in fact they just mean "pop music".

I also regard "world music" as mainly generic.

I know non-Western, non-contemporary music would sound "different" at first to somebody who is not used to listening to it, but if a style of music is (or has been) represented broadly in a culture, it's mostly generic: Each song within the genre is typically based on a limited set of recognizable conventional rules of musical structure.

But probably, the most generic music in any country is the one you listen to in religious contexts. My word, hymns in churches are generic. And yet, some have that extra thing that makes them stand out.

 

[goncalovieira]

So, there is some updates.

They will start the staging process for Liverpool today. Seems that everything will change.
She is about to start the videoclip recording.

 

[Decayingbooks]

So, there is some updates.

They will start the staging process for Liverpool today. Seems that everything will change.
She is about to start the videoclip recording.

I missed her interview on tv, but do they really have time to revamp the staging? The delegations will have to send the info of how the songs will be staged at the of this or next week

 

[goncalovieira]

Guys... the semifinals results were just a WTF moment. Mimicat and Edmundo got just 7 points from the televote on their semifinals
Bárbara Tinoco took ONLY 1 point from televote on semi 2.

https://cdn-images.rtp.pt/mcm/pdf/ec...1fea19fdb1.pdf