PREVIEW: Iolanda to win Festival da Canção 2024

It’s tonight! Tonight, the 60th final of Festival da Canção takes place, where the twelve qualified semi-finalists compete to represent Portugal at Eurovision. Since the reform of the contest in 2017, most editions maintained the competition and suspense until the end, except for 2019 when Conan Osiris was the favorite from the beginning and started its Grand Final just waiting for his confirmation as winner. Every other year, there were always two or three songs competing closely for victory.

However, 2024 appears to be an exception year. Since Iolanda’s song was released in January, and especially after her performance in the first semifinal, “Grito” is the 100% favorite song to win today’s edition of Festival da Canção. Regarding YouTube, her performance in the first semifinal has more than 300.000 views, around three times more than any other semifinal performance. Additionally, Iolanda’s song has around 115.000 views on Spotify, a much higher number than any of the other songs. On betting sites, the difference is even more overwhelming. On the 1XBET website, Iolanda has 71% of preferences, separated by a long distance from the second favorite, João Borsch, who only has 7% of favoritism.

Finally, analyzing the votes carried out by the four main Portuguese fanblogs related to Eurovision, they all gave first place to Iolanda, with three of them confirming João Borsch in second place.

Analyzing all this, it seems clear: if everything goes as planned, Iolanda will win the 60th edition of Festival da Canção, with a song that will certainly please juries and audiences tonight. This way, Iolanda should receive 12 points from the jury and the public, as happened with Mimicat, Maro and Conan Osiris, back in 2023, 2022 and 2019, respectively. 

If Iolanda represents the country at Eurovision, Portugal will put on a performance that certainly contrasts in the first semifinal with the numerous uptempo and less intimate songs that are already there. Will this be an advantage that will lead Portugal to stand out in qualifying for the grand Eurovision Final? Or could this be a reason for Portugal not being able to compete on equal terms with the other songs and resulting in a Portuguese non-qualification, the first since 2019?

The last chapter of Festival da Canção 2024 takes place tonight and we cannot wait!