Every so often, a performance cuts through the noise, not because it’s polished but because it’s real. That’s what happened when Henka took the stage at Portugal’s Festival da Canção (Eurovision). They didn’t win the jury vote. In fact, they got zero points from them. But the public? They had a very different opinion.

With the song “I Wanna Destroy U”, Henka, real name Cat Pereira, unleashed something raw and unfiltered that clearly struck a chord. The track has pulled in more than half a million views on YouTube and caused a massive spike in streaming numbers. It didn’t go unnoticed.

Even though she won’t be heading to Eurovision, a strong case could be made that she was the true breakout act of the competition. The numbers speak for themselves, but more than that, there’s an emotional weight to what Henka delivered on stage and in the studio that’s hard to fake.

The Roots of Henka: From Derange to Present Day

Before launching Henka, Pereira was best known as the vocalist for London-based alt-metal band Derange. Speaking to Primordial Radio in 2020 about forming Derange, she stated:

We were playing an end-of-term showcase, and I gathered a few people to cover ‘Take the Power Back’ by Rage Against the Machine… I don’t want to be that person who has a bit of an epiphany, but a lightbulb lit up and I just went, ‘Yeah. I can do this. I want to do this.

But Henka is something else entirely. It’s more personal, more focused, and – judging by her recent output – a bit more fearless.

Formed in 2021, the Henka project is where Pereira digs deeper into emotional intensity, blending the drama of darkwave with the punch of post-hardcore and the urgency of modern alt-rock. It’s not boxed in by genre, and that’s kind of the point. It shifts. It stings. It soars when it needs to.

Describing the meaning behind “I Wanna Destroy U,” she explained:

It’s the raw explosion of anger that has been building up – years of repressed frustration from watching injustice go unchallenged. It’s a response to a world where a man’s anger is seen as power, while a woman’s is labeled as insanity. This song breaks that silence.

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To check out more new bands on Primordial Radio, listen to Cat Wright every Sunday from 12:00 -14:00 (BST) for our new music show Primordial Presents.

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