Portugal has already chosen! Nicolas Alves has been selected by Portuguese television RTP to represent Portugal in the upcoming Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022, which will be held in Yerevan (Armenia) on December 11.
The winner of the latest edition of the Portuguese version of “The Voice Kids“, Maria Gil, will turn 15 before December, so the rules of the contest do not allow her participation in the children’s festival. Therefore, RTP has decided to invite the runner-up of the contest, Nicolas Alves.
Nicolas Alves is 13 years old and comes from Torres Vedras. He lives with his parents and brothers. He has a cat, Ben, and a dog, Rocky. His parents’ family is Brazilian, but he was born in England, where he lived until he was 10 years old. He has been in Portugal since August 2019 and loves the country very much. He started singing at the age of 4, but it was at 8 when he entered at a music school in England. His sister also sings well, but he is the only one who is not ashamed to do it in front of people. As a child, he watched videos of Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury. He always thought that he wanted to be a singer like them. In his free time, he likes to play the guitar and play with his brothers.
The song with which Nico will represent Portugal in the 20th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be published soon. This will be the seventh participation of the Portuguese country in the children’s contest.
PORTUGAL IN THE JUNIOR EUROVISION FESTIVAL
Portugal was part of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in the Bucharest 2006 edition, after broadcasting the Hasselt 2005 festival a year earlier. Pedro Madeira with his song «Deixa-Me Sentir» did not get past the second-to-last position, same result which was obtained in Rotterdam 2007, with Jorge Leiria and «Só Quero é Cantar». In these first editions, RTP opted for the children’s version of the Festival Da Cançao to choose its participants in the Junior Eurovision.
The poor results, together with the cost of participation and the discreet audience data obtained, led Portuguese television to stay out of the contest for 9 editions.
Finally, in 2017, after the shock of Salvador Sobral’s victory in the Eurovision Song Contest, RTP decided to return to the contest with Mariana Venâncio and her song «YouTuber». During these last years, except for the 2020 edition in which it withdrew due to the health situation, Portugal has maintained its regular presence in the contest and with somewhat discreet results. Since 2021, RTP chooses its representatives through the Portuguese version of “The Voice Kids”.
In the last Junior Eurovision Song Contest edition, held in Paris (France) in 2021, the 101 points obtained by Simão Oliveira with his song «O Rapaz», took Portugal to 11th place, its best historical result to date.
JUNIOR EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2022
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 will be held in Yerevan, Armenia next Sunday, December 11. The Karen Demirchyan Complex will host the show where various artists aged between 9 and 14 from different countries in Europe will fight to take the prized crystal microphone, a trophy that accredits the victory in the contest.
The organization of the show by the Armenian public television ARMTV comes after the victory of Malena and her song «Qami Qami» on the stage of Paris on December 19, awakening a collective euphoria throughout her homeland and making the whole country face with great enthusiasm and responsibility the challenge of organizing the festival, that promises to be more special than ever given that this 2022 celebrates its 20th anniversary. It will not be the first time that Armenia organizes an edition of the Junior Eurovision, having had the opportunity to do so in 2011, also at the Karen Demirchyan Complex.
There are 14 European televisions that have already confirmed their participation in the festival so far, however, the ambition and efforts of the organization predicts a greater final number of participants, with the aim that this twentieth edition of the children’s contest being remembered as one of the most spectacular in its history.
Good choice! Now, please tell us that the EBU is working to bring the Nordic bloc back to Junior Eurovision. I miss Denmark. I miss Norway. I miss Sweden.