Saudade, saudade
"" (; stylised in all lowercase) is a 2022 song by Portuguese singer Maro (Mariana Secca). The song is scheduled to represent in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy after winning 2022, Portugal's national final. Background and release. "Saudade, saudade" was one of the 20 songs that competed in Festival da Canção 2022, Portugal's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. Maro was one of the songwriters invited by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (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: "[it] is 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, have often worked together. The whole song originated from a Blanda's guitar riff. 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 streaming as part of the Festival da Canção 2022 compilation album on 21 January 2022 via Universal Music. A piano-driven version titled "Saudade, saudade (Live in Studio)" was released on 7 March 2022. Composition. "Saudade, saudade" was written by Maro and produced by Maro and John Blanda. It is an indie pop track with a length of three minutes and one second (3:01). With background vocals, the song has an instrumentation consisting of strings, percussion and clapping. The song's lyrical theme is "saudade", a Portuguese word with no direct English translation . Dictionary.com defines "saudade" as a "deep emotional state of melancholic longing for a person or thing that is absent". In the chorus, the song's character 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"'s Portugal Songs chart. Live performances. On 16 February 2022, Maro uploaded to her YouTube channel an acoustic version recorded in Avinyó , Spain. Maro appeared on radio station RFM on 17 March, singing a portion of the song during the interview. 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 Eurovision Song Contest 2022. 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 representative of Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. At Eurovision. The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 will take place at the in Turin, Italy, and will consist of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, followed by the final on 14 May 2022. Portugal has been placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2022, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. Portugal is set to perform in  position ten, following the entry from Moldova and preceding the entry from Croatia. Credits and personnel. Credits adapted from RTP.