Portugal 2022: Maro with ‘Saudade, Saudade’

National Final season came to a close with Maro’s convincing victory in Festival de Cancao:

This is one of the really tricky songs to try and place- half a flat, typical Portuguese entry that acts as a toilet break and half the engaging, emotionally striking ballad that really engages viewers. We've seen that throughout the performances too with this improving markedly from semi to final and delivering a great winners reprise.

This also extends to Maro too who I find really telegenic for this in spite or more because of how casually this is delivered. Its an effortlessly classy performance but there are more gears to go through for RTP who look like they know they have something with this given the running order given and rare win with both the TV and juries. They have of course done good work taking Salvador and The Black Mamba to the Eurovision stage and this could pop up in rehearsals like those too.

Unfortunately, there are perhaps more similarities to their host entry ‘O Jardim’ which finished last further showing the range of outcomes ‘Saudade, Saudade’ has. NQ? I can see how that would happen. 4th? Sure, why not in this field? I'm afraid I'm not much use here and will just place this right in the middle of that huge range for now whilst keeping an eye on the path this takes. There's nothing more to say.

Personal Rating: 9/10

Competitve Rating: 7/10

Early Prediction: Semi 1, 4th-8th, 8th-12th in the final.