LATVIA 2024

 

No surprise here (for once): your winner of Supernova 2024, one of the biggest names in Latvia, is Dons with "Hollow":



About the Artist

Artūrs Šingirejs, who goes by Dons for unclear Baltic reasons, is probably Latvia's most popular singer. He's won 23 Latvian Music Recording Awards, including twice for Best Pop Album and once for Best Rock Album. He also voiced Olaf the snowman in the Latvian dub of Frozen. Dons has tried to make Eurovision twice before, placing 2nd in both 2010 and 2014.

Best Things We Lost Along the Way

Supernova's never a great national final, but it was extra bad this year. Still some diamonds in the rough, though:

  • Vēstulēs, "kur?", 2nd: My personal favorite; it would've gone straight to my top three overall if it had won, though I accept it would've done poorly at Eurovision. "Kur" means "where" - this is a song about having nowhere to put your emotions when you're alone. Like last year's entry, this is so unique and so beautifully constructed - and these kids are in high school. I really hope they're back in future years.
  • Katrīna Gupalo, "The Cat's Song", 3rd: She's a cat.

Song Analysis

Man ballad! Dons is a great live singer, and that's the selling point of this song. If this makes the final, juries will love him. The song itself is just okay - I wish he'd used the Latvian version, personally - and the staging is rather uninspired.

Latvia's History


Latvia started off strong, placing 3rd in their 2000 debut and winning in 2002. Since then, it's been kind of a disaster. Two qualifications since 2008, five semifinal last-places. Latvia's tied with Georgia for the longest NQ streak at 6 years.


So officially, Latvia struggles in my personal rankings, too, placing 38th of 48 countries since 2000. But I honestly love them despite their many bad entries. When they're good, they're really good. I have two Latvian winners (2002 - the actual ESC winner, and 2015), "Aijā" is one of the most beautifully-constructed entries to ever NQ (Sudden Lights is an awesome band, too), and "My Star" is an incredible ESC debut.

Prognosis

I do think this can break the NQ streak if the staging gets better - and if one thing's been a bright spot for Latvia in their years of suffering, it's been the staging. The second semifinal should be pretty open, they're in the second half of it, and I don't see much ballad competition there. Maybe I'm just wishcasting. 

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