Following a year off due to the covid-19 pandemic, the contest returns with the 65th edition, which takes place on Tuesday (first semi final), Thursday (second semi final) and Saturday (final). The Netherlands gained the right to organise Eurovision after winning the 2019 edition in Israel, with the song “Arcade”, performed by Duncan Laurence.
The 65th edition of the competition, which has been held annually in Europe since 1956, should have taken place in May last year, in Rotterdam, but the European Broadcasting Union, considering that conditions were not met for its realisation, due to the pandemic.
Altogether there will be 39 countries in competition and, in order to ensure that the contest can happen no matter what, the competitors recorded the performances in their countries, so that they could participate if it was not possible to travel to Rotterdam.
The recording, previously delivered by the participating television stations (in the case of Portugal is RTP), had to “happen in a studio and in real time (as it would be in the contest), without any editing of the voice or any part of the performance, after it is recorded ”. The organisation will have to use the recording from at least one of the 39 countries: Australia, whose delegation was prevented from traveling to the Netherlands.
Portugal will compete on Thursday for a place in the final, during the second semi final, in which San Marino, Estonia, Czech Republic, Greece, Austria, Poland, Moldova, Iceland, Serbia, Georgia, Albania, Bulgaria, Finland also participate, Latvia, Switzerland and Denmark. In the first semifinal, Lithuania, Slovenia, Russia, Sweden, Australia, North Macedonia, Ireland, Cyprus, Norway, Croatia, Belgium, Israel, Romania, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Malta compete.
With "Love is on my side" Portugal is competing in Eurovision, for the first time, with a song entirely in English, composed by Tatanka, the lead singer of The Black Mamba. Tatanka is one of the founders of The Black Mamba, a band formed in 2010 that falls into the blues, soul and funk genres. In parallel with The Black Mamba, Tatanka started a solo career in 2016, “on a more personal record and back to his roots, telling stories and presenting original themes in Portuguese”.
Portugal won the contest for the first and only time in 2017, with a song performed by Salvador Sobral and composed by Luísa Sobral. Following the victory, Lisbon hosted the competition the following year.