Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012


Portugal participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Portuguese entry was selected through Festival Da Canção 2012, a national final organised by the Portuguese broadcaster RTP. Filipa Sousa represented Portugal with the song "Vida minha", which failed to qualify from the second semi-final, achieving 13th place with 39 points.
Portugal was considered to withdraw, because of the economic crisis in the country, but on 30 November 2011, RTP confirmed its participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Before Eurovision

Festival da Canção 2012

Festival da Canção 2012 was the 48th edition of Festival da Canção, the music competition that selects Portugal's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Competing entries

Artists were able to submit their applications through the RTP official website before 31 December 2011. Applicants then advanced to the auditions that were held in Lisbon and Oporto, where they had to sing in Portuguese or in a foreign language. An exception was made for applications from established artists, which they can directly send in their songs to RTP without having to go through the auditions. RTS received more than 400 applications, and a jury chose 12 candidates and 5 back-ups to compete in the national final, which were revealed on 13 January 2012. Three of the final twelve artists: Carlos Costa, Ricardo Soler and Rui Andrade didn't go through the auditions, using instead their recognition as moderate established artists. Soler competed in the 2008 edition of Festival da Canção, finishing fourth, while Andrade finished third in the 2011 edition.
RTP then directly invited six composers from various musical styles to compose songs for the selected artists. Composers and authors will create new songs specially for the 12 candidates, in order to suit their vocal skills. The songs must be no longer than three minutes, and had to be performed in Portuguese. Two music producers were also invited by RTP to work in coordination with the composers in produce the 12 entries.

Final

The final was held on 10 March 2012, hosted by Sílvia Alberto and Pedro Granger. The winner was determined by a combination of the votes from 20 regional juries and televoting.

At Eurovision

Portugal competed 6th in the second semi-final on 24 May. After the voting, Filipa Sousa finished in 13th position with 39 points, which meant that for the second year in a row Portugal did not qualify for the final.

Points awarded by Portugal[Eurovision Song Contest 2012]

Semi-final 2

Final

Jury points awarded by Portugal

Semi-final 2

Jury points awarded in second semi-final:
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

Final

Jury points awarded in the final:
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

12 points10 points8 points7 points6 points

  • 5 points4 points3 points2 points1 point