Doce (in English: Sweet) were a Portuguese pop girl group that lasted from 1979 to 1986. The founding members consisted of Fátima "Fá" Padinha, Teresa Miguel, Lena Coelho and Laura Diogo. Fernanda de Sousa, who would go on to become known as "Ágata" in her solo career, was also occasionally part of the group, replacing Lena during her pregnancy, and Fá when she left the group for good.
They are credited as being one of Europe's first ever girl groups. They are also well-known for playing up a sexy image, reflected both in their lyrics and outfits, which was unheard of in Portugal at the time (at the time the group was formed, Portugal had abandoned a very conservative dictatorship just 5 years before). This made them rather controversial and likely cost them the first two times they competed at the Festival RTP da Canção to qualify for the Eurovision Song Contest. However, they were still very popular and commercially successful and did eventually manage to go to Eurovision in 1982 with the song "Bem Bom".
A biopic based on them was released in 2021, titled after the song that took them to Eurovision.
Tropes:
- Bedlah Babe: The (very revealing) outfits they wore to sing "Ali-Bábá" were meant to evoke odalisques.
- Girl Group: The band always consisted of four girls. They were one of Europe's first ever all-female bands.
- Ms. Fanservice: The band's image revolved around sexual boldness, as made evident just from looking at some of the outfits they wore throughout their career, especially when paired with the suggestive lyrics in their songs.
- Tamer and Chaster: After the odalisque outfits associated with "Ali-Bábá" were heavily criticized, they toned their act down a bit and wore far more modest (but still flashy) "musketeer" outfits for "Bem Bom". For better or worse, it did its job of getting them in Eurovision.
