The nominees for the 2025 Play Awards are now known.

Capitão Fausto, Dillaz and Plutónio are this year’s most nominated artists, with three nominations each, in an edition that brings new features to the Critics’ Awards and which continues to feature the performance of Filomena Cautela and Inês Lopes Gonçalves on April 3, at the Coliseu de Lisboa.

The Play – Portuguese Music Awards are back. The great celebration of national music, promoted by AUDIOGEST and which annually recognizes artists, their works and the most innovative projects on the Portuguese music scene, presents the Nominees today, marking the beginning of the countdown to the long-awaited night of revealing the winners, which will take place on April 3, at the Coliseu dos Recreios. The ceremony will be broadcast live worldwide via RTP1, RTP África, RTP Internacional, RTP Play and Antena 1.

Capitão Fausto, Dillaz and Plutónio stand out this year with three nominations each, thanks to their latest works: “Subida Infinita”, “O Próprio”, and “Carta de Alforria”, respectively. Here are three female voices with two nominations each: Ana Moura, Bárbara Bandeira and Sara Correia.

One of the new features of this edition is the introduction of nominees for the Critics’ Award, a category that until now only included the announcement of the winner on the day of the gala. This change, which aims to give more visibility to artists and their respective works, will have the following 4 nominees this year: “Carta de Alforria” by Plutônio, “Subida Infinita” by Capitão Fausto, “Suspiro…” by Maria Reis and “Vou Ficar Neste Quadrado” by Ana Lua Caiano. The nominees and winners of the Critics’ Award are chosen by a group of critics, journalists and music promoters, who qualitatively highlight albums released in 2024.

The nominations in the categories Vodafone Song of the Year, Best Female Artist, Best Male Artist, Best Group, Best Album, Lusofonia Award and New Artist are chosen by the PLAY Academy, made up of around 200 professionals linked to the music industry (agents, managers, artists, producers, show promoters, technicians, journalists and music promoters).

The nominations in the categories Best Fado Album, Best Light and Popular Song, Best Music Video, Best Jazz Album and Best Classical/Erudite Music Album were made by specialized committees, which analyzed the works in competition and decided on the winners.

In addition to the 13 awards mentioned, there is the Career Award, which will only be revealed on April 3rd during the Gala and which is decided by the management of Audiogest, which, after the suspension of support for PLAY by GDA, assumes sole responsibility for promoting the event.

Once again, the entire process of registration, nomination and selection of winners is audited by the prestigious global firm PWC.

Vodafone Portugal, a partner since the first edition of PLAY – Portuguese Music Awards, continues as the main sponsor, with emphasis on Vodafone Song of the Year, the only category in which the winner is chosen by the public.

“The 7th Edition of PLAY – Portuguese Music Award is one of consolidation. Over the last 7 years we have been introducing improvements to the competition rules, of which I highlight the recent introduction of the Best Light and Popular Song category and the change in the rules of the Critics’ Award, which in this edition now has 4 Nominees, with the clear objective of making more artists and their works known. Furthermore, given the constant growth in the consumption of Portuguese music over the last few years, the PLAY Awards are increasingly a reason to celebrate, believing that the event also has a contribution to this growth”, says Miguel Carretas, general director of Audiogest.

The PLAY Awards gala will once again be hosted by Filomena Cautela and Inês Lopes Gonçalves, who this year will have two important reinforcements as digital reporters: Hélder Tavares and Joana Sequeira will be responsible for showing everything that happens behind the scenes of the 7th edition of the PLAY Awards.

The PLAY – Portuguese Music Awards are promoted by Audiogest, a non-profit association that represents in Portugal not only the phonograms (musical albums or songs) recorded and originally edited by its members and beneficiaries, but also the phonograms (“foreign” repertoire) edited by them in Portugal, under license from their respective original producers.

Created in 2019, the PLAY Award aims to celebrate and promote the talent and career of Portuguese and Portuguese-speaking artists and has since become the great celebration of national music, contributing to the cultural and economic development of the country.

The full list of nominees for the 7th Edition of PLAY – Portuguese Music Awards:

VODAFONE´S SONG OF THE YEAR:
“Alô”, Dillaz feat. Plutonio
“Benção”, Mizzy Miles & Van Zee & Bispo
“Carro”, Bárbara Bandeira feat. Dillaz
“Desliza”, Ana Moura
“Garota”, Maninho feat. Mariza Liz
“Tata”, Slow J

BEST ALBUM:
“Carta de Alforria”, Plutónio
“Liberdade”, Sara Correia
“O Próprio”, Dillaz
“Súbida Infinita”, Capitão Fausto

BEST FEMALE ARTIST:
Ana Moura
Bárbara Bandeira
MARO
Sara Correia

BEST MALE ARTIST:
Dillaz
Nininho Vaz Maia
Plutónio
Slow J

BEST GROUP:
Calema
Capitão Fausto
D.A.M.A
Os Quatro e Meia

BEST FADO ALBUM:
“Ao Vivo no CCB – Homage to José Mário Branco”, Camané
“Canta Carlos do Carmo”, Marco Rodrigues
“Fado Camões”, Lina
“Sem palavras”, Marta Pereira da Costa

BEST LIGHT AND POPULAR SONG:
“Alô”, Rui Bandeira
“É no meio delas”, 4 Mens
“Reviravolta”, Toka & Dança
“Vou beijar na Boca”, Toy

NEW ARTIST:
Bandidos do Cante
Bluay
Buba Espinho
Iolanda

LUSOPHONIA AWARD:
“Cavalinho”, Pedro Sampaio & Gasparzinho
“Crack com Mussilon”, Matuê
“Macetando”, Ivete Sangalo & Ludmilla
“Sagrado Profano”, Luisa Sonza & KayBlack

BEST JAZZ ALBUM:
“11:11”, Carlos Bica
“Algodão” Maria João & André Mehmari
“Farol”, Orquestra de Jazz de Matosinhos
“Not Far From Paradise”, Eduardo Cardinho

BEST CLASSICAL MUSIC ALBUM:
“Anima”, Luís Figueiredo
“Bach”, Sete Lágrimas
“J.S.Bach: Goldberg Variations”, Pedro Burmester
“Talkin(g) (A)bout my Generation”, Pedro Lima

BEST VIDEO CLIP:
“Laurinda”, Karetus, Vitorino, iolanda, directed by Aidan Kless
“Towards the Sun”, Moulinex GPU Panic, directed by Ruben do Valle
“Reverie”, J. Mystery, directed by André Tentúgal
“Godd Morning”, Memória de Peixe, directed by Miguel Nicolau

CRITICS AWARD:
“Carta de Alforria”, Plutonio
“Subida Infinita”, Capitão Fausto
“Suspiro…”, Maria Reis
“Vou Ficar Neste Quadrado”, Ana Lua Caiano

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