Moniz was still fairly unknown in Portugal when at the age of 19 she performed in the nationally regarded Festival da Canção with the song "O meu coração não tem cor" ("My Heart Has No Colour"). She unexpectedly reached the finals, which were held on 7 March 1996. Moniz went on to win first place, just four points ahead of the second-place winner. As the winner, she went on to represent Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, where she finished in sixth place among 23 contestants – at the time the best result Portugal had achieved, and continued to be so, until their eventual win in 2017.