Join Us on Eurovision: Exclusive interview with Suzy: 'I didn't made it to the final, but I left with a smile'

Suzy represented this year in Copenhagen her home country Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest with the party song 'Quero ser tua'. Unfortunately she missed one point to get her ticket to the final.

Watch her Eurovision 2014 performance of 'Quero ser tua':

We had the chance to talk to Suzy on 19th of July in Berlin in the hotel before she went to the Eurovision Weekend soundchek. Read our interview below to find out what she had to say...

Hello Suzy, WELCOME to Berlin!

How do you feel?

Suzy: Thank you, I'm feeling very good. I'm in Berlin, we have very hot weather and tonight I will perform for my Eurovision fans.

What happened after your participation in Eurovision?

Well, after my participation I did showcases in several cities in Europe, especially in Portugal. I did Musical which represents 1974 to 2014 music hits from around the world. I was one of the main singers. We were three couples and we did a musical of 2,5 hours. In this huge venue in Lisbon. I was starting to develop my album and I was trying to go in TV like hosting TV shows and something like that.

Is that still in progress or can you tell us more about that?

No it’s still in progress :) I’ve been going through castings and things like that. It’s for a international channel. We will see.. Hopefully, because everyone of you knows that in Portugal is a huge crisis in all areas of business, so things take a very long time to happen. I have to be patience. That’s one of my aspects. I’m very proactive and I like things to happen. But I’m happy because I’m doing what I love. I would love to come to Berlin to do my own show.. Well, maybe next year – you never know..

Seems you are working hard on your music career..

Yes, I really want to recard an album. Working on it to define a style, gathering a lot of material to make a selection for the best to put on the album as a consence. At the moment we are working on a final concept for the album.

Do you have any idea when will it be finished?

Next year, before summer. Much before summer. Normally the releases are in September or before Christmas. I don’t wanna rush . If you rush, something fails, it will be not that perfect as I wanna do it. So I have to be patient :) I have to be satisfied with what I will be singing, because I have to repeat the songs forever.

Have you already recorded some songs for the album?

Well we went to the studio to record some songs, but they are not finished yet. When you go to the studio you record a song and you have to stop hearing the song. After two days you hear the material again. Because your ear is addicted if you listen to it. If you hear it again after two days you put some harmony or some voices on the song. I have to be satisfied with the album. The general opinion has to be well done.

Let’s have a look back to May. It was only one point you missed and failed the ticket to the final. Can you tell us something about your emotions as you find out that you will not perform again in the Eurovision final?

Well to be honest , it was In the green room as I knew I’m not gonna go to the final. It was not because someone told me. It was a question of logic. If you analyze my first Semi Final you would know only with a miracle I would go to the final. I’m 34 going to 35 and I’m singing since I’m 5 years old. I know how to analyze and I don’t keep my hopes to high. I’m very rational for an artist. I just wanted to do the best performance I could do with the stress and nerves included for my Eurofans and for the general public. But, like I told you, unfortunately Eurovision should not be about politic. Eurovision should be only about music. I had five reasons for me not to go to the final:

Firsst I had the most of the middle east in the first Semi-Final.

I had the countries in the Semi-Final which didn’t had a public voting, only jury. If I knew I went to the final it would be only because of the public.

Jury loves ballads more than uptempo songs.

I only have one neighbor – Spain

San Marino was the third time competing in a row to go to the final. In a way it had to go to the final. Public voting for them I would be on sixth place. For the jury we (Portugal) went down and we missed the final only by missed one point.

If it would be only about the public I would have been to the final. And maybe I would have been to the Top 10 in the final, maybe. People really love the song and everyone was happy while singing and dancing with me to the song. I didn’t know about the reaction. Everything started in Amsterdam at the ‘Eurovision in Concert’ in April. Well, it started two days before Amsterdam. Because we received a lot of private messages on my ‘Suzy Official’ Facebook page. We got so much positive reaction to my song. I received so many compliments. That was a boost in my self esteem. Than, when I went to Amsterdam, I couldn’t believe and I thought "WOW, they really like my song... :)" I really was surprised. I remember if you receive so much love, instantly you give love. Life is about giving an receiving in any sort of aspects. Beeing a true singer it’s a very altristic profession.You start working whout knowing what’s going on if you earn money. You still continues to do that against all odds – just to make people happy, just to create emotions in the public. It’s not to be famous – that’s why I said true artist. You will never be always up, it’s like a rollercoaster and you have to deal with the ups and downs. A lot of people don’t do it. People they don’t deal with it they do it for the wrong reasons – for the fame. A true singer or artist does it from the heart. The best rewar we can have is a smile, a clap, a screaming, shinging eyes.. That’s everything for us. For me this EuroIvision experience and the Euro-Fans experiences I really can say – it was the best experience of my life. It doesn’t matter about your preferences, you support the artist that you like.. The fans don’t realize that they motivate us.
Well, it should be only about the music, but it’s also about the person. Sometimes it makes a difference Well I wasn't sad, I supported all my friends which stayed.

Did you had any favorites in this years competition?

Oh.. that’s hard to say. I liked a lot of them. It’s very hard for an artist to say. In every song you have things you don’t like that much and things that you like. I really liked the Swedish one,, the instrumentals. My Conchita, it’s like a James Bond song. I love Conchita’s voice, but only the instrumental is very strong. I like the wizzler from Switerland, the ‘Skuba duba dabda dididaj’- song from Denmark. That’s a perfect song for the teenagers. I like Ruth from Spain, she reached very high notes. I liked the instrumentals from ‘Not Alone’, it was very strong in the arena. The Greek one was very funny while they were jumping and they are so sweet, very nice guys. Well.. I liked so many songs from this year :)

Would you make some changes if you would have the possibility?

Well, you know I have a lot of input. The song wasn’t written by me, it wasn’t composed by me. In Portugal the singers are only invited to sing a already written song. So I couldn’t change it. About the singing and the performance itself. If RTP aloud us to put some more changes in the choreography we would made it much more what we wanted to do. There are some rules and regulations that we had to accept. We had so many surprises in the show itself. and the choreography. If we could have more elements, there were only aloud six, we would have used more dancers to give more rhythm. The second thing because I was so tired the last weeks. You know Portugal was one of the last countries which decided the winner and representative for Eurovision. I was very tired and that relaxed on the voice. More sleep, more dancers.. But that wouldn’t change the classification to go to the final.

‘Quero ser tua’ was also recorded in English. Who decided to perform in Portugese language?

RTP rule. The national broadcaster didn’t wanted in English. We tried. The song was in Portuges, the chorus was in English. But they told us – “NO, only Portugese language”. We really tried a lot of things.. I think maybe one day they will do only in English. We tried only in Portugese, we tried half / half.. We should try only in English. We tried Fado-style , we tried traditional styles, we tried pop, we tried dance, we tried latin style – but we never won the contest.

Tonight you will perform at the ‘Eurovision Weekend’ in Berlin. What can people expect?

Fun.. Fun.. Fun.. I will have something special and it will be on the beginning of the show – so don’t be late ;))

Will you play any new songs?

No, if I would perform new songs, they would be a part of my album.. That’s too early at the moment. But I really want that the audience have fun. I want they to connect and to recognize the songs. I will play uptempo, so the people can dance. I will perform aprox. 45 minutes. We always bring a surprise to the country, all the time. If I go to Spain, I will sing a Spanish song, if I go to Switzerland I will sing a Swiss song.

What are your wishes for the future?

My wishes are very simple. I wanna create emotions to my public. That mean I hope that I can do what I love most – just singing. I would love to continue to sing, to be a international singer. My private wishes are that my partner understands this part of my life. Actually whatever music takes me – I will be fullfield. Personal life comes as a consequence. I’m single, and if a person comes to my life would have to understand this part of my life. If I don’t sing I don’t have a profession, I could go to the university, not for long, because age doesn’t help, the more you get older that’s more difficult it is. I would like to be a international singer. If that doesn’t happen, I always have my proffesion. I could do corporate events a project manager, so I have some choices..

After the show we talked again with Suzy...

How was it for you to perform on Eurovision Weekend?

Performing in Berlin was amazing, no words to describe how I felt singing for the fans. It was almost the "same flavor" as singing in the Arena in Copenhagen. It doesn't matter the number of the people present at the event, what matters it's the connection and the energy felt, plus in Berlin I could be a 100% myself, with no stress involved.

What is your special connection to the Eurovision fans?

I could never imagine that the connection built between me and the Eurovision fans would be like this, so unique, positive, faithful and grateful on my behalf, I can say. The reaction towards me and my performance since Amsterdam, made me believe more about myself as an artist and gave me strength to continue my journey in the music business. So I am honestly grateful for all the love and support given to me until now...

If you missed Suzy performing on the Eurovision Weekend in Berlin in July you have the chance to join the EC Germany Club Event on 22nd of November in the center of Cologne. And who knows, maybe she have again some surprises, because as we know, Suzy is working on her next single at the moment..