Ahead of her participation in Festival da Canção 2025, we interviewed emmy Curl. She last took part in the festival in 2018, and is participating in 2025 with the song “Rapsódia da Paz”.
emmy Curl, Welcome to That Eurovision Site! To get us started, could you tell us a
little more about your background in music, and also something that
people may not know about you?
Hello, thank you so much for having me! =)
I am one of the first female music producers/engineers in Portugal, launching
my first album when I was fifteen. I gained recognition on Myspace back in
2006, which led to me performing in music venues all over my country. My
musical background is very eclectic—I grew up listening to Sade Adu, Sting,
and The Police, then got into metal, followed by trip-hop in the early 2000s.
Around the age of 25, I immersed myself in electronic music and later fell in
love with jazz and classical music.
Aside from music, I’m also a visual artist, 3D and CGI video creator, and
performer.
You’ve competed in Festival da Canção before, but solely as a singer
rather than a composer. How was that experience, and has it influenced
how you are going to approach this year’s show?
That was back in 2018 when Júlio Resende invited me to interpret his song.
Just before the deadline, I decided to enter the competition under my real
name, Catarina Miranda, instead of emmy Curl because I felt the song didn’t
truly represent my musical style. Now, I feel I have complete freedom to be
myself and show the audience my real essence, which might be quite different
from last time I competed! eheh
You were directly invited by RTP to compose a song for the show. How
does it feel to have your work recognized in this way?
It feels great! It’s always a wonderful feeling when your own country
acknowledges your work.
You have a really distinctive and unique style of music. Where are some
of the places you draw influence from when making your music?
As I mentioned earlier, my musical background is quite extensive, so it’s hard
to pinpoint just a few influences. I’ve been making music for so long that I feel
like I’ve developed my own style, and I often draw inspiration from unexpected
places—many times from visual aesthetics. Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot
of Bulgarian music
You’re an advocate of promoting Portugal’s musical heritage, especially
Celtic-origin folk sounds. Can you tell us more about this?
I feel there’s a part of Portugal’s heritage that has been forgotten by our
people. I grew up believing that the only traditional music we had was fado,
and then I realized the obvious had been invisible to me all along. I was raised
with both pagan and Christian festivities where drums were the central
element, accompanied by flutes and choral singing. This style exists
throughout Europe, with variations in clothing and vocal techniques.
It fascinates me that before the Roman conquest, Europe wasn’t divided into
fixed national borders like we see today. Instead, it was a vast landscape of
tribal territories that often overlapped in culture, language, and traditions. The
Celts, for example, spread from the Iberian Peninsula to Ireland, Britain,
France (Gaul), and parts of Central Europe, forming a loose cultural network
rather than distinct nations.
Just as country music in America remains a powerful link to the past—rooted
in shared experiences of hardship, storytelling, and community—traditional
music across Europe carries the echoes of a time when our ancestors were
more united than divided.
Your song for Festival da Canção is called “Rapsódia da Paz.” What is
the meaning behind the song, and what was the process of writing and
producing it?
When I received the invitation, I immediately knew I wanted to create a
Rapsódia. I wanted to express how I’ve been feeling about the world lately—a
mix of influences, confusion, division, but also unity and rising empathy.
At the end of the song, I sing, “And there is so much music, I dreamt we were
melody.” I invited my mother, Marília Miranda Lopes, to co-write the lyrics with
me since she’s a poet. I wanted the structure to have a mathematical form
based on the numbers 5 and 7:
● 5 represents freedom, change, adventure, and curiosity.
● 7 represents spirituality, wisdom, introspection, intuition, and deep
thinking.
For production, I collaborated with Andreas Sidenius and Hugo Correia, and
we created around 50 different versions of this Rapsódia before finally
agreeing on the final version just in time for the submission deadline. On that
last day, Hugo and I had a shared, almost telepathic, thought: to “invite” my
brother, who passed away in 2021. Using AI, I isolated his voice from a song
he had recorded with friends and included it in Rapsódia Da Paz.
You’re a visual artist as well as a musician. Are you planning on
incorporating any of your visual art identity into your Festival da Canção
performance?
Yes!
Are there any artists from previous editions of Festival da Canção or
Eurovision that you are a fan of or take influence from in your own
work?
I think I can say that Nemo actually inspired me for Rapsódia. I thought their
performance was outstanding.
If people are just discovering you through Rapsódia da
Paz, where would you recommend they start if they want to listen to
more of your music?
It depends on their taste! If they’re looking for something similar, I’d
recommend my latest album, Pastoral. If they want to hear me singing in
English, they can check out my past works, like ØPorto.
About emmy Curl
emmy Curl is a musician, visual artist and performer from the North East of Portugal. She’s released five albums, the most recent being Pastoral in late 2024. Under the name Catarina Miranda, she participated in Festival da Canção 2018, as the interpreter of Júlio Resende’s song “Para Sorrir Eu Não Preciso De Nada”, coming second, losing a tiebreak to Cláudia Pascoal.
Portugal’s Eurovision Journey
Portugal debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest with António Calvário’s “Oração” in 1964. Since then, Portugal has participated in the competition 55 times – appearing the final 46 times. Their only win in the competition came in 2017 with Salvador Sobral, performing his heart-wrenching song “Amar Pelos Dois”.
Portugal’s most recent participation was with iolanda and the song “Grito”. iolanda managed to qualify for the Grand Final and once there, she finished in 10th place. She received a total of 152 points, of which 139 points came from the jury and 13 points came the televote.
What do you think of our interview with emmy Curl? What do you think of Rapsódia da Paz? As always let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Tumblr, Threads and Bluesky as we turn our attention to Eurovision 2025!
Photo Credit: João Monteiro
News Source: That Eurovision Site
Giwrgos Oiko