Iolanda’s scream will be heard in the Eurovision final | Television

iolanda won a place yesterday in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which will take place on Saturday, May 11th. The Portuguese representative entered the scene in the first semi-final of this edition, which takes place in Malmö, Sweden, and saw her Shout place among the ten selected songs.

On the stage of the Malmö Arena, in the third largest city in the country, 15 songs performed live, in addition to three songs that were already qualified for the final. They were two of the so-called Big Five, the countries that contribute most to the organization, in this case Germany, with ISAAK and Always On The Run, and the United Kingdom, with Olly Alexander and Dizzyas well as from Sweden itself, which as last year’s winner and organizer has this right, with the duo Marcus & Martinus and Unforgettable. This time, these songs were shown in full, unlike what has happened in recent years, where only excerpts are shown.

But only ten got ahead. With Portugal, nine other countries will also be in the final: Serbia, with Teya Dora and Ramonda, Slovenia, with Raiven and VeronicaUkraine, with the duo alyona alyona & Jerry Heil and Teresa & MariaLithuania, with Silvester Belt and LuktelkFinland, with windows95man It is No Rules!Cyprus, with Silia Kapsis and LiarCroatia, with Baby Lasagna and Kidney Tim Tagi DimIreland, with Bambie Thug and Doomsday Blueand Luxembourg, which returns to the festival after decades of absence, with TALI and Fighter.

There are moments of great typically Eurovision excess, whether in the songs or in the stage production, from the almost industrial rock notes to Silvester Belt’s Rammstein to the excess denim coming out of a giant egg by windows95man, which looks like the visual equivalent of the famous denim suits from Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake at the 2001 American Music Awards, or the hyperpop with its industrial touch from Bambie Thug, the first non-binary person to represent Ireland at the contest.

The interpretation of iolanda’s song, an electronic pop ballad written by herself in collaboration with the music of Luar, remained on the same wavelength as the performances that made her win the Festival da Canção in March, with a lot of white, in her own and in the dancers with lace covering their faces, on stage, but with even more maturity and confidence. The flame that still burns from the lyrics, said at the time the performer and composer who debuted in releases with the EP Cure in 2023 to PÚBLICO, it is an attempt at an “ode to inner liberation”.

Conducted by Malin Åkerman and Petra Mede, the show started with the Greek Eleni Foureira, the Cuban-Spanish Chanel (Terrero) and the Swedish Eric Saade, former competitors. Saade, son of a Palestinian refugee father from Lebanon, had in his hand a keffiyeh, the symbol of the Palestinian struggle. The competition begins surrounded by great tension and calls for boycotts due to the participation, at least in the second semi-final, of Israel.

All flags other than those of the contesting countries and the LGTBQIA+ rainbow flag are explicitly banned. This gesture, and the tattoos of Bambie Thug, who represents Ireland, which, in a very elaborate way, had symbols alluding to the liberation of Palestine and called for a ceasefire in the region, were the most openly political moments, even if brief.

There was still room, in the end, for Johnny Logan, the Australian-Irish three-time winner of the festival, to play Euphoriawhich made the Swedish Loreen win the contest for the first time in 2012, as well as for the Swedish Benjamin Ingrosso, who participated in Eurovision that took place in Portugal in 2018, to do a medley of your songs.