"" () is a song recorded by Portuguese singer Maro. She collaborated on the song with American musician John Blanda. It was released for digital download and

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

on 21 January 2022 via

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

. It is an

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

track with the lyrical theme of ''

saudade ''Saudade'' (, , , ; plural ''saudades'') is an emotional state of melancholic or profoundly nostalgic longing for something that one loves despite it not necessarily being real. It often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of long ...

''. The song became commercially successful on

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

soil, peaking inside the top 5. "Saudade, saudade" represented in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2022 The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Måneskin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and h ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, Italy. The song finished in ninth place with 207 points. Maro performed on stage B accompanied by five backing vocalists forming a circle in a dark setting.

Background and release

"Saudade, saudade" was one of the 20 songs that competed in Festival da Canção 2022, Portugal's national selection for the

. Maro was one of the songwriters invited by

Rádio e Televisão de Portugal Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) is the public service broadcasting organisation of Portugal. It operates four national television channels and three national radio stations, as well as several satellite and cable offerings. The current co ...

(RTP). The composers both created the song and selected the performer for their entry. Maro decided to be the performer due to the song's personal nature: " tis about and for my grandfather who unfortunately is no longer with us, but who continues to be an essential part of me and who is and always will be greatly missed. That is why, I thought it would not make sense not to sing such a personal song." Maro and American musician John Blanda, one of her best friends, composed the song during a trip to Brazil. The whole song originated from a Blanda's guitar

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompani ...

. Maro thought it was beautiful and wanted to use it. She then wrote the lyrics over the melody. "Saudade, saudade" was released for digital download and

as part of the Festival da Canção 2022

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

on 21 January 2022 via

. A piano-driven version titled "Saudade, saudade (Live in Studio)" was released on 7 March 2022.

Composition

Maro collaborated on "Saudade, saudade" with John Blanda. It is an

track with a length of three minutes and one second (3:01) that moves at a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 83 beats per minute. It is composed in the

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

B♭ minor B-flat minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has five flats. Its relative major is D-flat major and its parallel major is B-flat major. Its enharmonic equivalent, A-sharp mi ...

and written in

triple metre Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 (compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , , ...

. With background vocals, the song has an instrumentation consisting of

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

and

clapping A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), b ...

. The track is influenced by Spanish

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

, in addition to

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

and Brazilian music. The song's lyrical theme is ''

'', a Portuguese word with no direct English translation.

Dictionary.com Dictionary.com is an online dictionary whose domain was first registered on May 14, 1995. The primary content on Dictionary.com is a proprietary dictionary based on ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'', with editors for the site providing new a ...

defines ''saudade'' as a "deep emotional state of melancholic longing for a person or thing that is absent". The character in the song focuses on the uniqueness of the word to express her true feelings: "Saudade / Saudade / Nothing more that I can say / Says it in a better way".

Commercial performance

"Saudade, saudade" entered the Portuguese singles chart at number 176, before moving up to number 4. The track debuted at number 3 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

s Portugal Songs chart.

Live performances

On 16 February 2022, Maro uploaded to her

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel an acoustic version recorded in

Avinyó Avinyó is a Catalan municipality in Spain. It is located in the province of Barcelona Barcelona (, ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarrag ...

, Spain. Maro appeared on radio station RFM on 17 March, singing a portion of the song during the interview. On 29 April 2022, the third episode of ''Eurovision House Party 2022'' featuring Maro premiered, and her stand-alone performance became available on 5 May of that year. On 7 May 2022, Maro's interview and performance became available on radio station TSF's website. On the same day, Maro's ''Wiwi Jam at Home'' acoustic performance was uploaded to

Wiwibloggs Wiwibloggs is a fansite and YouTube channel focusing on the Eurovision Song Contest, launched in 2009. It has a seasonal audience, peaking at 250,000 page views per day during the week of Eurovision in May 2016, based on Google Analytics data. ...

' YouTube channel.

Eurovision Song Contest

Festival da Canção 2022

On 4 November 2021, Maro was announced as a participating songwriter of Festival da Canção 2022, Portugal's national selection for the

. On 21 January 2022, Maro was announced to be performing her song, titled "Saudade, saudade". She competed in the first semi-final on 5 March 2022, placing first with 22 points after winning the jury vote and coming second in the televote. In the final, held on 12 March of that year, she won both the jury vote and the televote, placing first overall with 24 points, becoming the Portuguese representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

At Eurovision

The

took place at the in

, Italy, and consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, followed by the final on 14 May 2022. Portugal was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2022, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. Portugal performed in position ten, following the entry from Moldova and preceding the entry from Croatia. For the grand final, Portugal was drawn to compete in the first half. Portugal was subsequently placed to perform in position 3, following the entry from Romania and before the entry from Finland. Maro wore an outfit with a gradient color scheme and performed on stage B accompanied by five

backing vocalists A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

forming a

circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

in a dark setting. During the performance, the background LED screens displayed the word ''

''.

Track listings

* Digital download / streaming # "Saudade, saudade" – 3:01 * Live in studio # "Saudade, saudade (Live in Studio)" – 3:10

Credits and personnel

* Maro – lead vocals,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, songwriting * John Blanda – production * Alan Silverman – mastering * Pedro Calloni – mixing

Charts

Release history

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2022 2022 songs 2022 singles Eurovision songs of Portugal Eurovision songs of 2022 Portuguese songs Portuguese-language songs Songs about nostalgia