🇵🇹 PORTUGAL
Song: “Where I Belong”
Performer: Júlia Machado
For a long time, Portugal got a lot of Junior Eurovision neglect. Low place after low place came. Then improvements happened starting in 2021 thanks to Simao Oliveira delivering a fado song. Last year, Nicolas Alves achieved Portugal’s first-ever Top 10 finish! Portugal’s eighth entry for Junior Eurovision is Júlia Machado.
Remember how last year they had Nicolas Alves, who was born in England but moved to Portugal when he was ten? Júlia Machado was born in the United States and moved to Portugal when she was twelve. Her victory in Portugal’s edition of The Voice Kids made her the entry this year. If you see the English translation of this song, you’ll be surprised about how deep they are. It’s about leaving home, moving to a new place, the loneliness that comes with it and the wish to find her place. Although her song’s lyrics is written by three other writers, it appears to mirror her own feelings when she moved. One day I should ask her. The song sounds like a mix of both sadness and hope. Her singing is very nice and shows a lot of her abilities, but her vocals didn’t blow me away.
JESC Chances:
Portugal’s last two entries achieved their best-ever Junior Eurovision finishes because they stood out. Even though this song is nice, that may be its biggest weakness. It may be a nice song but it risks being dismissed as ‘boring.’ Especially from the young voters. Also in a year where there are so many ballads, that may make it difficult to achieve a Top 10 finish. I think the right staging will be needed if it wants to finish higher.
Lyrics “Where I Belong” Júlia Machado
Portuguese
Lugar 31, aqui vou eu de novo
esperar que o tempo traga o que a vida não trouxe
14:14 e peço outro desejo
mais vale acreditar naquilo que não vejo
Perdida por 100, perdida por 1000,
talvez já nem faça sentido eu estar aqui
Quero ir para Lisboa, começar de novo
viver num “quase tudo”, sabe-me a tão pouco
Mais uma viagem sem saber ao certo
o que esperar de mim, o que esperar do mundo
Mais um pôr do sol que o céu nos promete,
mais uma razão para largar tudo
I wanna go to a place where I belong
I wanna go to a place that I can call
Call home, call home
to a place that I can call
Call home, call home
Procuro a luz no meu peito
e sinto a voz que me conduz
de volta para um lugar melhor
Escrevo o destino
nas linhas tortas à minha maneira
Que a vida seja para sempre assim
Mais uma viagem sem saber ao certo
O que esperar de mim, o que esperar do mundo
Mais um pôr do sol que o céu nos promete
Mais uma razão para largar tudo
I wanna go to a place where I belong
I wanna go to a place that I can call
Call home, call home
to a place that I can call
Call home, call home
A place where I can bury all my ghosts
A place to escape from this black hole
Um sítio onde eu possa voltar
I wanna go to a place that I can call
Call home, call home
a place that I can call
Call home, call home
Where I belong
English
Seat number 31, here I go again
Waiting for time to bring me what life didn’t
14:14, I make another wish now
Worth more believing in the things I can’t see
There is nothing left for me to loose
Maybe it doesn’t make any sense for me to be here
Want to go to Lisbon, start all over
Living a “almost all” just seems too small
Another trip without knowing for certain
What to expect from me, what to expect from the world
Another sunset that the sky promises us
One more reason to let it all go
I wanna go to a place where I belong
I wanna go to a place that I can call
Call home, Call home
to a place that I can call
Call home, Call home
I search the light inside my heart
And I feel the voice
That will guide me back to a better place
I write my destiny
In the crooked lines of life
Hoping that life is forever this way
Another trip without knowing for certain
What to expect from me, what to expect from the world
Another sunset that the sky promises us
One more reason to let it all go
I wanna go to a place where I belong
I wanna go to a place that I can call
Call home, Call home
to a place that I can call
Call home, Call home
A place where I can bury all my ghosts
A place to escape from this black hole
A place where I can return
I wanna go to a place that I can call
Call home, Call home
a place that I can call
Call home, call home
Where I belong
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