Twenty-one artists will take part in Supernova 2018.
Latvian broadcaster LTV has revealed the twenty-one artists that will be taking part in Supernova 2018. The selection process started with 63 shortlisted submissions uploaded to their website for the public to listen to, and express their opinions of each song by clicking the “like” or “dislike” buttons. The names of the artists were not revealed this year as to prevent potential influences to the voting. The jury then selected 30 artists to put through to the next stage of the competition, taking into consideration the results of the online voting. Supernova producers later revealed that 72% of online votes were “dislikes”.
The 30 artists then had to perform live in front of the professional jury. The jury was made up of Supernova producer Ilze Jansone, music producer DJ Rudd, Supernova host Toms Grēviņš and jazz singer Jolanta Gulbe. It was revealed that 10 of the successful acts were unanimous favourites of the jury, while the rest needed more deliberation.
The twenty-one participating artists are:
- Agnese Stengrevics – You Are My World
- Liene Greifane – Walk the Talk
- MIONIA – You
- Laura Rizzotto – Funny Girl
- MADARA – “Esamiba”
- Katrine Lukins – Running Red Lights
- Monta – 1000 Roses
- Jenny May – Soledad
- Markus Riva – This Time
- Edgars Kreilis – Younger Days
- Ritvars – Who’s Counting?
- Lauris Valters – Lovers Bliss
- Ed Rallidae – What I Had With You
- In My Head – Sunset
- DVINES – More Than Meets The Eye
- Hypnotic – Pray
- Sudden Lights – Just Fine
- Kris & Oz – Morning Flight
- Rahu the Fool – Oh, Longriver
- Riga Reggae – STOP THE WAR U2
- Katrina Gupalo & the Black Birds – Intoxicating Caramel
LTV has not revealed exactly how many artists will be selected for the Supernova live shows. Supernova was first used to select the Latvian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015. It proved successful, as Aminata Savadogo finished 7th in the final with “Love Injected”, Latvia’s first appearance in the final since 2008 and first top 10 placing since 2005.
Source: LTV
Latvia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000, being the last of the Baltic nations to join the contest. On their debut, Brainstorm finished in 3rd place with the song “My Star”. Latvia won the contest for the first and only time in 2002, with Marie N’s “I Wanna”. Latvia only participated in 2002 thanks to the withdrawal of Portugal from the contest, as Latvia’s poor result in 2001 had relegated them from the 2002 contest. Latvia struggled in to the contest after 2002, failing to qualify for the final for six years between 2009 and 2014. In 2015 and 2016 Latvia has finished 6th and 15th in the final respectively.
My favorite is SOLEDAD – JENNY MAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6FregkdWN4