With Eurovision having just ended, I was thinking about the fact that Portugal often seems to have a poor reputation in regards to pop. I can't speak for the country's recent Eurovision entries, but there's at least one Portuguese group that anyone with even a passing interest in dance-pop or pop in general should know about: Santamaria. Made up of five people, both boys and girls but with lead vocals almost always sung by a woman, the group has been releasing albums since 1998 and just released its most recent album, 8, in 2006; as you'd probably guessed from the title, it's their eighth album (excluding their greatest hits released earlier that year). With that much material, sometimes songs can start to blend together, but, from what I've heard, this most recent album has some of their best songs on it.Já Não Tens Nada a Ver--some of their songs, like "Vou entrar no teu olhar," are a little harder dance; this song, though, is more on the...ooo, OK, I'll use the word again--it's poptastic. It's still very danceable and perfect beachside material, but it's softer and cuter than something like, say, Cascada (though I'm not criticizing Cascada).
You can buy Santamaria's most recent album, 8, in all countries' iTunes stores; for example, if you live in the U.S., go here. I very much recommend investigating them further, as they've made loads of great songs over the years.
Next up: another act from Portugal, this time a male singer.
