Portugal: Simão Oliveira to sing “O Rapaz” at Junior Eurovision 2021

Portugal: Simão Oliveira to sing “O Rapaz” at Junior Eurovision 2021
Wednesday, 27 October 2021

  • Simão Oliveira, the Portuguese Junior Eurovision 2021 hopeful, will be performing the song “O Rapaz” in Paris on December 19. 

    Portugal is returning to the competition, after a one year break due to the covid-19 pandemic,  with Simão Oliveira, the song title of which has been revealed. The young Portuguese representative will be singing  “O Rapaz” (The Boy) in La Seine Musicale on December 19, 2021. 

    The song has been composed by Fernando Daniel and Diogo Clemente and will be released shortly in the following days. 

     

    A few words for Simão Oliveira

    Simão Oliveira is 13 years old  from Arouca. He lives with his parents and his 8-year-old sister, Rita. Everyone in the family likes to sing and are very excited, but no one has the dream of pursuing a career. The mother works at the Town Hall and the father at the Santa Casa. 

    He started singing at the age of 4  .When he started listening to fado , at the age of 6, he fell in love. There he wanted to start listening to the oldest and most traditional themes and fado singers.  

    He frequents the youth band of Arouca and plays the clarinet . Friends find it very funny to sing fado, because it is fashionable, but when they sing the classics they always think it is old. He does not care! His references are Tony de Matos, Amália, and recently Zambujo. 

    This year he participated in the Portuguese edition of The Voice Kids, which he won. 

     

    Portugal in Junior Eurovision

    Debuting in 2006, Portugal has a total of five participations in the contest in the edition of 2006-2007 and 2017-2019, with the best result being the 14th place of Pedro Madeira and Mariana Venâncio in 2006 and 2017, respectively. 

    In 2019 in Gliwice, the country was represented by Joana Almeida and "Vem comigo (Come with Me)", finishing in 16th place with 43 points, all from the online vote.

    Last year although RTP initially anniounced that it will take part in Junior Eurovision in Warsaw, the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and the implemented restrictions forced the broadcaster to rule out 2020 participation.