On March 11th, Portugal celebrated the final of the Festival da Canção, the 57th edition of the Portuguese preselection contest. Mimicat became the winner and secured her place in Liverpool in May after receiving the highest score from the televote and breaking the tie with another contestant, an unprecedented event in the history of the contest. This, along with being the first time that a song submitted through an open call has won the Portuguese competition, will be an added incentive for “Ai Coração” to succeed and bring the Eurovision Song Contest back to the Iberian Peninsula for 2024.
Get to know Mimicat
Marisa Isabel Lopes Mena is the full name of the artist known as Mimicat. This self-taught composer and singer, born in Coimbra, began her career at an early age, recording her first album at just nine years old.
It wasn’t until 2014 when the singer became known with her debut album “For you”. The first single was “Tell me Why”, a song that served as the soundtrack for the telenovela “Jardins Proibidos”.
With a warm and powerful voice, characteristic of Anglo-Saxon soul-pop (her influences include names like Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, or Jill Scott), Mimicat has been compared to well-known voices such as Adele or Shirley Bassey.
Mimicat has a solid career that has allowed her to perform on Portugal’s most important stages such as Festa do Avante, Sol da Caparica, Edp Cool Jazz, Meo Marés Vivas, or Culturgest, among others. She is also known in Brazil, where she made her debut at one of São Paulo’s most important events, “Virada Cultural,” receiving critical acclaim.
In 2016, she released two singles, “Stay Strong” and “Gave Me Love”, which would be included in the album that was released in 2017, Back In Town. It wasn’t until 2019 when she released her first song in Portuguese, “Atua ao Fim” (“Done until the end”), a tribute to her parents’ 50 years of love, which coincided with the singer’s pregnancy.
Although Mimicat won the Festival da Canção this year, this is not the first time that the artist has tried to represent Portugal in Eurovision, as she attempted to do so in 2001, at the age of only 15, with the song “Mondo Colorido” under the artistic name Izamena. On that occasion, she was eliminated in the semifinals of the contest.
“Ai Coração”, Mimicat’s song for Liverpool
Although the song talks about a woman who is going through a very strong emotional crisis that has her confused, disoriented and without identity, the singer wants to convey a message on the Liverpool stage, her deep pride in being a Portuguese woman without fear of showing what Portuguese women are worth. In May, she will try to create a dramatic but intimate atmosphere by playing with the entire stage so that the message gets across.
The singer has defined the theme as something very retro but modern, Portuguese, “cabaret” and French.
“Ai Coração” is very different from everything else, the first time you listen to it, you don’t know what genre it is, you have to listen to it again to know what it conveys, and this is very fun.”
Mimicat
“Ai Coração” Lyrics
Original lyrics
Ai coração, que não me deixas em paz
Não me dás sossego, não me deixas capaz
Tenho a cabeça e a garganta num nó
Que não se desfaz, e nem assim tu tens dó
Sinto-me tonta, cada dia pior
Já não sei de coisas que sabia de cor
As pulsações subiram quase p’ra mil
Estou louca, completamente senil
O peito a arder, a boca seca, eu sei lá
O que te fazer? Amor p’ra mim assim não dá
Porque parece que nem sou mais eu
Ai coração, ai coração
Diz-mе lá se és meu (Hey)
As horas passam е o sono não vem
Ouço as corujas e os vizinhos também
O meu juízo foi-se e por lá ficou
Alguém me tire deste estado em que estou
O doutor diz que não há nada a fazer
“Caso perdido”, vi-o eu a escrever
Ando perdida numa outra dimensão
Toda eu sou uma grande confusão
O peito a arder, a boca seca, eu sei lá
O que te fazer? Amor p’ra mim assim não dá
Porque parece que nem sou mais eu
Ai coração, ai coração, ai coração
Diz-me lá se és meu
O peito a arder, a boca seca eu sei lá
O que te fazer? Amor p’ra mim assim não dá
Porque parece que nem sou mais eu
Ai coração, ai coração
Ai coração, ai coração
Diz-me lá se és meu, hey
English lyrics
Oh, heart that won’t let me be,
You won’t give me peace, you leave me unfit!
My head and throat are circling around,
That won’t undo itself, and yet you feel no sympathy!
I feel dizzy, and every day worse,
I don’t know things that I used to know!
My pulse is racing like mad,
I feel crazy, totally senile!
My chest is burning, my mouth is dry,
What’s happening to me?
What to do love, I can’t do it like this!
Because I don’t even feel like myself,
Oh, heart,
Oh, heart,
Tell me if you are mine?
Hours go by and I can’t sleep,
I hear the owls and my neighbours too!
My mind is gone, and it got lost in there,
Somebody please snap me out of this!
The doctor says there’s nothing to be done,
“Lost cause”, I saw him writing!
I’m lost in another dimension,
I am now a huge mess!
My chest is burning, my mouth is dry,
What’s happening to me?
What to do love, I can’t do it like this!
Because I dont even feel like myself,
Oh, heart,
Oh, heart,
Oh, heart,
Tell me if you are mine?
My chest is burning, my mouth is dry,
What’s happening to me?
What to do love, I can’t do it like this!
Because I don´t even feel like myself,
Oh, heart,
Oh, heart,
Oh, heart,
Oh, heart,
Tell me if you are mine?
Portugal in Eurovision
Portugal has participated in Eurovision since its debut in 1967, a total of 53 times. Antonio Calvário with “Oraçao” was the one who premiered the country in the contest, but he didn’t receive any points and finished in 13th place. Portugal is considered one of the countries with the poorest results: of the 53 songs sent, only 11 have finished in the Top 10 of the competition with 10 of them outside the Top 5.
At the Kiev 2017 final, the Portuguese country won its first victory with Salvador Sobral and the song “Amar Pelos Dois”, a jazz song composed by his sister Luísa Sobral, which scored 758 points, the current record score.
After the country’s non-qualification for the final in 2019 with Conan Osiris’s song “Telemóveis”, Portugal managed to qualify for the final of the Festival, achieving two good positions, 12th place in 2021 with the song “Love is on my side” by The Black Mamba and 9th place with “Saudade, Saudade” by Maro in the last edition.