Music is always on the frontfront of the minds of everyone and when the analysis of the second semi-final is put forward, it seems that one track seems to stick to mind with all of the others fighting it out for the remaining qualification spots. The amount of quality in this years' competition of the Eurovision Song Contest is quite high, so much so that it has been noted to be an open field at least until a couple of weeks ago when a number of tracks had been touted as potential winners. Nevertheless, the sixth song to be heard on the night of Thursday, will be none other than Vida Minha composed by Andrej Babic and penned by Carlos Coelho and ultimately performed by Filipa Sousa. The entry will be representing Portugal, the longest competing country yet to score a victory.

Filipa Sousa was born on March 2, 1985, in Albufeira. Her musical dreams started early: at the age of 6, she started learning music, and later entered the Conservatory. From the age of 12, she started participating in festivals and karaoke contests, in which she won a few prizes and several amateur Fado competitions in the Algarve.

After Filipa participated in workshops and theatre plays, she became part of the Fado group Al-Mouraria in 2003, and performed in various parts of the country, Spain and Morocco, and in TV shows. In 2007 she managed to get into the casting show Operação Triunfo, in which she remained for seven weeks, getting a very positive reaction.

In April 2008, she won the 1st Big Fado Soirée of the Algarve, in Loulé. In May 2010, she participated in the gala nights Nasci para o Fado (I Was Born For Fado), broadcast by the RTP, and whose goal was to select artists for the musical Fado: História de um Povo (Fado: The History of a People), by Filipe La Féria. She was selected for the final gala. She did various shows in different styles, from Fado to rock, accompanied by musicians on stage or by instrumental playback.

The Critics Voice Their Opinion

Magnus Kaxe

• Another ballad. The melody has too many notes and a complicated structure. Boring performance, only thing that interests me are the dancers due to their outstanding choreography. Too bad it’s not a dance contest though, I would like to give them two (2) points.

Marion Welter

• Portugal remains musically always loyal to itself, I like this influence of Fado Harmonies! Nevertheless, I just cannot see this standing out amongst the other songs and I believe that it will not make it to the finals hence giving it a total of four (4) points.

Tobias Larsson

• A ballad that really wants to be emotional, dramatic and bombastic but that never really goes anywhere. The singer is good and nails the camera with her eyes, but it doesn't help much when your song is as static as this one. Agreeing with my colleagues above, I would like to give this song a total of four (4) points.

Entry Background

Performer: Filipa Sousa

Composer: Andrej Babic

Author: Carlos Coelho

Song: Vida Minha

Language: Portuguese

Broadcaster: RTP

History of the Nation

This will be the nations' forty-sixth attempt for Portugal who remain the longest participating country not to win or at least finish in the top five at the Eurovision Song Contest. The fact of the matter remains that they have only reached the elite top ten on nine occasions, which means a handful unfortunately but their music has always shined through and in recent years have somewhat seen a bit of a resurgence making the final for three of the past four years with their best song in years sent back in 2008 entitled Senhora Do Mar performed by Vania Fernandes finishing in thirteenth position following a runner-up finish in the semi-final. Their best result was back in 1996 when the singer Lúcia Moniz performed the song O Meu Coração Não Tem Cor finishing in sixth place. It will be interesting to see what result Filipa will ultimately achieve. 

Source: Eurovision.tv for the Biographical Information and all respective media