Rarely any Eurovision news leave me so disappointed as this one, when I heard it late last night. When my faves don't win a national final: sh't happens. When Finland doesn't qualify: sh't happens and I move on. But somehow this one left me rather disappointed and even sad. Canção do Fim was my clear favorite in the Portuguese selection Festival da Canção and on top of that Diogo Piçarra is one of my favorite Portuguese artists I never dared to dream of participating. So, it was all a bit too good, and I was hoping Portugal could do very well in their own contest in Lisbon, as theere's no way he wouldn't have won the final and be there. Now I'm not so sure....
So, what happened? Once he performed his song last Sunday it didn't take long he was accused of plagiarism. The song in question would be Abre os meus olhos by certain Walter McCallister, a clergyman and founder of New Life Christian Church. A song from 1979. A chaos started online with comments supporting Diogo, and those not. He stated on Facebook he wasn't aware of that song and never heard it being born in 1991, and that it was born while writing songs to his 2016 album.
In the end the media fuss and al got too much, and had nothing to do with the song anymore as he said, and he decided to withdraw from the competition. End of a song. Canção do Fim indeed. Such a shame.
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