In the capital city of Latvia, Riga, 19 hopefuls competed for the chance to fill one of the 10 slots available in the Grand Final of Supernova. The main focus of the Semi Final show was on the acts — no superfluous guest stars, just the contestants. The show ran like this: host intro, parade, all songs, voting opens, recaps, interview with artists, more recaps, voting closes, results. One thing that makes Supernova stand out from other national finals is that, halfway through the televoting sequence, they show the current results. And so, we knew that Emilija, halfway through the voting, was leading with 13.36% of the vote. The top 10 at this point in the voting sequence closely resembled the final results. Sinerģija overtook Marta, who was in the 10 th spot partway through the voting, gaining them a spot in the final. The final results were chosen 100% by public vote.
Here are a few quicks thoughts and impressions of each of the 10 acts that made it through to the final:
Tepat – “Sadzejot” (By the way) Indie feel – Friends from high school vibes – A stand-out
Citi Zēni – “Ramtai” Shaggy monsters – Ridiculous – Were the other band members actually there?
Emilija – “Heartbeat” X Factor performance – Wanted more from the performance – Seemed to have nerves
LEGZDINA & Bel Tempo – “The Water” Enjoyed the performance better than the studio cut – Great vocals – Minimalist staging
PALÚ – “Delusional” Questioning if I was becoming delusional – Went all out – Memorable
The Ludvig – “Līgo” (Midsummer) Weird sex cult vibes – God complex vibes – Studio cut better than the live performance
Chris Noah – “Romance isn’t Dead” Professional performance – Better live than the studio version – Almost knocked over the drum kit
Tautumeitas – “Bur man laimi” (Bring me luck) Fully realised staging – Visually and audibly pleasing – Pleased to not have them become
Harmonija Disonance 2.0 Sinerģija – “Bound By The Light” Great costuming – Audibly pleasing – The other lady needs to just pretend that she’s singing to justify her having a mic
Markus Riva – “Bigger Than This” His dancing at times felt lazy (not the choreography) – Felt like the crowd was just happy to see Markus Riva perform – Generic
It’s been a strong year for Supernova, and on February 8 th , the Latvian public — along with a jury — will decide who will represent Latvia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel this May. They have many great options to continue their qualification streak that Dons started last year in Malmö. All the best to Latvia and I will be awaiting the results with bated breath on February 8 th .