Having narrowly secured victory at Portuguese national final Festival da Canção (FdC), Napa are poised to represent Portugal at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest! Keep reading to learn more about Napa, their career so far and their journey to Eurovision.
Who are Napa?
Originally formed in Madeira under the name Men on the Couch, Napa are an indie band consisting of Diogo Góis, Francisco Sousa, João Guilherme Gomes, João Lourenço Gomes, and João Rodrigues. The group formed in 2013, inspired by indie-rock bands such as Arctic Monkeys, The Beatles and Red Hot Chilli Peppers as well as traditional Brazilian composers such as Tom Jobim and Caetano Veloso. Although the band initially composed their songs in English, in a basement belonging to one of the member’s grandmothers, they soon swapped to singing in Portuguese and recording their songs in a studio.
In 2019, Napa released their debut album Senso Comum (Common Sense) which was an entirely crowdfunded effort with €3,500 raised entirely through fans of the band. This was followed by their 2023 effort Logo Se Vê (See You Soon) which was the band’s first appearance as Napa. In 2024, the band performed their first tour of Portugal and released the concert film O Mundo Continua a Girar (The World Keeps Turning) which was recorded over two sold-out nights at the Maria Matos Theatre in Lisbon.
FdC 2025
In early November 2024, Napa were announced as one of the songwriters for that year’s edition of FdC before later being revealed as participants. Their song ‘Descolado’ (Displaced) centres around their origins as Madeira-based musicians who moved to mainland Portugal to explore better opportunities. The song’s chorus highlights their alienation from city life and longing to be home in Madeira:
No matter how it may seem
I’ll never belong in that city
The sea of people, a different sun
The pile of concrete
It doesn’t move me
It doesn’t feel like home
Speaking to Portuguese newspaper Expresso, the band described ‘Descolado’ as “one of the most important songs we’ve ever done” and in further interviews have dedicated the song to all Portuguese emigrants who “had to leave the country to have a better life, instead of just surviving in Portugal.”
The lyrics of the song clearly resonated with Portugese FdC viewers, who gave the song the maximum 12 televote points in the show’s second semi-final, allowing them to progress to the show’s final. However, at the final itself there was much more discrepancy between jurors and televoters: while Henka achieved the maximum 12 televote points from the public with her song ‘I Wanna Destroy U’, they achieved zero points with jurors, placing them fourth overall! The jury awarded their top points to Diana Vilarinho with the song ‘Cotovia’ (Lark) but she only earned 5 points from the voting public, earning her 17 points overall. Napa, too, earned 17 points, with 7 being awarded by juries and 10 by televoters; in the event of a tie, precedence was given to the televote, meaning Napa were off to Eurovision!
Eurovision 2025
Napa will perform in the first half of the show’s first semi-final on Tuesday 13th May in between Sweden and Norway. Performing between two high-energy songs, including the current bookies’ favourite to win with Sweden, it remains to be seen whether this will hinder Napa or allow them to benefit from a quiet moment. Their staging features images of floating clouds and animated skyscapes that change colour along with the LEDs, tying the band’s island origins with the themes of their song. You can see an image of this below:
However, Portugal fare this year we wish them and Napa the best of luck in Basel!
You can follow Napa on social media!
Instagram – @os_napa
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