Junior Eurovision 2021 Review - Portugal: Simão Oliveira O Rapaz

The Artist 

Simão Oliveira is 14 years old, and has been singing since the age of four. He was actually the first contestant announced for this year’s contest all the way back in April after he won The Voice Kids in Portugal. He tends to gravitate to Fado music. 

He likes animals, playing the clarinet, and visiting the countryside but is not a fan of technology. 

The Song

O Rapaz is a very very Portuguese ballad with a Fado feel. It’s about being an individual who loves love songs from yesteryear and how he feels like he is stuck in a different time. The song is completely in Portuguese. 

O Rapaz was written by Diogo Clemente (a musician and producer from Lisbon). 

The song is available on our Youtube and Spotify playlists.

Portugal at JESC 

This will be Portugal’s 6th appearance at JESC since their debut in 2006. They took a big break from the contest between 2007 and 2017 and their best results have been 14th in 2006 and 2017: Pedro Madeira with Deixa-me sentir, and Youtuber by Mariana Venâncio.

They did not take part in the contest last year. 

OGAE Australia JESC Team scores and thoughts: 

Ally: 4/10 ✭✭✭✭✩✩✩✩✩✩

Good on you Portugal for being brave enough to send something very different, but it’s just not my kind of song. Sorry

Blake: 2/10 ✭✭✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

This is definitely not my thing BUT Simão's vocals are amazing, especially for his age. I'm not sure if this is right for JESC though, we'll just have to wait and see! 

Danie: 5/10 ✭✭✭✭✭✩✩✩✩✩

We have to remember, like in the senior contest, Portugal only does Portugal. They are not here to people please, they are here to showcase their unique sound and art. This is a rather lovely listen for me and Simão seems so sweet and much older than his years -  pretty sure he’s a time traveller. A lot of people will have this last on their rankings which is unfortunate. 

Kurtis: 4/10 ✭✭✭✭✩✩✩✩✩✩

This song feels unique and mature. Simão is very expressive with his vocals. The song has a good flow and journey. Enjoying the instrumentation. Would I listen to this willingly? No. But do I enjoy it and appreciate it? Yes.

Raquel: 1/10 ✭✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

Literally 20 seconds in, I stopped listening, I already knew the song. I dislike it. It’s fine if you listen to it but in my opinion it’s just a slow boring song.

Average Score: 3.2

The JESC Team score does not reflect the views of all OGAE Australia