João Diogo Santos Borges (; born 2000), known professionally as João Borsch (), is a Portuguese singer, songwriter and musician. They competed in .

Early life

Borges was born in

Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

, Portugal, in 2000. They were the drummer in a local trash metal band during their childhood and became regional champion in the game ''

Guitar Hero ''Guitar Hero'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead guitar, lead, bass guitar, bass, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Players match ...

''. In 2018, they moved to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

to study Jazz and Modern Music at Lusíada University.

Career

In 2021, Borges released their debut album under their pseudonym. Their second full-length album, , was released in 2023. Borsch performed at the

Paredes de Coura Festival The Paredes de Coura Festival, currently named Vodafone Paredes de Coura for sponsorship reasons, is a music festival that is held every year, in August, at Praia do Taboão in Paredes de Coura, Portugal. The first edition was held in 1993. It is ...

in 2022 and the

NOS Alive NOS Alive (formerly Optimus Alive) is an annual music and arts festival held in the Algés riverside, close to Lisbon, in Portugal. It is organized since 2007 by the Portuguese live entertainment company Everything is New. Its naming sponsor is ...

festival in 2023, among others. They were invited by RTP to compete in , the Portuguese selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo (Loreen song), Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Br ...

, entering the competition with the self-penned song ""; they performed in the first semi-final and qualified for the final, where they won the public vote but ultimately came second behind

Iolanda Iolanda is a given name used in Italian, Portuguese and Romanian languages. Notable people with this name include: * Iolanda Balaș (1936–2016), Romanian Olympic athlete and high jumper * Iolanda Batallé (born 1971), Catalan writer * Ioland ...

Personal life

João Borges has an older brother and used to work in musical projects with him since an early age. They are

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

. They chose the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

Borsch because there was already a Brazilian singer called João Borges and they liked the sonority and visual aspect of the word to replace their surname. They identify as

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

References

2000 births Living people People from Funchal Portuguese non-binary people Portuguese LGBTQ singers Portuguese LGBTQ songwriters Non-binary singers Non-binary songwriters 21st-century Portuguese singers 21st-century Portuguese songwriters 21st-century Portuguese male singers 21st-century Portuguese LGBTQ people {{Portugal-musician-stub