PORTUGAL
Song: Para onde vai o amor?
Artist: Ines Goncalves
This year marks the tenth time Portugal will compete at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. For this year, Portugal selected 12-year old multitalented Ines Goncalves from the small Portuguese town of Ourique to represent. Ines won The Voice Kids Portugal this year and has performed alongside Portuguese superstar Buba Espinho live on stage. She’s also very skilled at playing multiple instruments.
Her song “Para onde vai o amor?” which means “Where does love go?” is a unique entry. Many of this year’s songs at Junior Eurovision are about chasing your dreams. This song’s theme is a sadder element of chasing your dreams. The possibility of leaving your home town to pursue them. Ines’s song is a case where she’s about to leave to pursue her goals but will still carry the love of her mother and the people of her home town with her. Ines doesn’t do the common showing off of vocals that we hear in a lot of songs at JESC. Her vocals are delicate but has a lot of feeling in them. The song has a good feel to it for those who will understand the message.
JESC Chances:
After years of mostly sending talented singers with lackluster songs, Portugal sent a gem last year with a heartfelt ballad that won the popular vote and finished second overall. I can see Ines unfortunately getting the unnecessary pressure to fill Victoria Nicole’s shoes. People easily forget 2024 was one year and 2025 is another. Both songs are full of feeling. While last year’s “Esperanca” was full of bold vocals, this song prefers to convey the feelings with softer vocals. This can make some listeners like the song while others may dismiss it as a ‘boring ballad.’ The song’s success in Tbilisi will depend on how well the public accepts this song, and having the right staging to fit it.
Listen to Portugal’s Junior Eurovision 2025 song
Lyrics of Para Onde Vai o Amor?
Portugese
Como é que o amor não se vê,
Se eu o sinto aqui, tão presente?
Como é que o amor só se sente,
Se ele é tão de mim, que é quase gente?
Para onde vai o amor,
Quando chega a hora de ir embora?
E para onde vai a saudade,
De quem foi e já não volta?
Vou guardar em mim
Esta estante de memórias,
É o lugar da nossa história,
Mesmo longe, estás aqui,
Afinal tu não partiste,
Não dá p’ra dizer adeus a quem eu sou
Como é que o amor…
Como é que o amor não se vê,
Se eu já vi quem não se dava virar amigo?
Se é capaz de encontrar quem está perdido?
Mais vale sentir que fazer sentido
E de onde vem o amor,
Que responde a todos os porquês?
Ele é da gente, é de quem sente,
Está nos olhos de quem o quer ver
Vou guardar em mim
Esta estante de memórias,
É o lugar da nossa história,
Mesmo longe, estás aqui,
Afinal tu não partiste,
Não dá p’ra dizer adeus a quem eu sou
Como é que o amor…
Afinal, é assim que o amor se vê
English
How is it that love can’t be seen,
If I feel it here, so present?
How can love only be felt,
If it’s so much a part of me, it’s almost human?
Where does love go,
When the time comes to leave?
And where does longing go,
For those who left and won’t return?
I’ll keep within me
This shelf of memories,
It’s the place of our story
Even far away, you are here,
After all, you never left,
I can’t say goodbye to who I am
How is it that love…
How is it that love can’t be seen,
If I’ve seen those who didn’t get along become friends?
If it can find those who are lost?
And if feeling matters more than making sense
And where does love come from,
That answers all the whys?
It belongs to us, to those who feel it,
It’s in the eyes of those who want to see it
I’ll keep within me
This shelf of memories,
It’s the place of our story
Even far away, you are here,
After all, you never left,
I can’t say goodbye to who I am
How is it that love…
After all, that’s how love is seen
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