Georgia, Austria, Netherlands, Norway, Estonia, Armenia, Israel, Greece and Switzerland also reached the finals.
Musician Dons triumphed in the Latvian national song selection “Supernova” with the song “Hollow”, which was originally created and released in Latvian under the name “Lauzto šepu karaļvalsts”. The Latvian version of the song won first place in the “Music Award 2023” competition in January.
Don managed to break Latvia’s six-year losing streak. The last time an artist from Latvia entered the Eurovision final was in 2016 – singer Just managed to do it with the song “Heartbeat”. On the other hand, a year earlier – in 2015 – Latvia was represented in the competition by singer Aminata with the song “Love Injected”, which ranked 6th. It should be noted that in 2020, when Samanta Tīna was going to represent Latvia, the Eurovision Song Contest did not take place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Looking back at other years when Latvian artists have performed in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, apart from the already mentioned Just, the group “Brainstorm” appeared on the big stage in 2000 with the song “My Star”, winning 3rd place, in 2001 – singer Arnis Mednis with the song “Too Much”, taking 18th place.
In 2022, singer Marija Naumova won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “I Wanna”. In 2003, the domestic band “FLY” performed in the final of the competition with the song “Hello From Mars”, winning 24th place. In 2005, Latvia was represented in the competition by the association “Walter & Kazha” with the song “The War Is Not Over”, which the audience ranked 5th.
In 2006, the group “Cosmos” performed in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “I Hear Your Heart”, winning 16th place, in 2007 – the association “Bonaparti.lv” with the song “Questa Notte”, which took 16th place. In 2008, Latvia was represented in the contest by the group “Pirates of the Sea” with the song “Wolves of the Sea”, which was awarded 12th place.
In 2017, Latvia was represented in the competition by the group “Triānas parks” with the song “Line”, in 2018 – singer Laura Rizoto with the song “Funny Girl”, in 2019 – duet “Carousel” with the song “The Night”, in 2021 – singer Samanta Tina with the song “The Moon Is Rising”, in 2022 – the group “Citi zēni” with the song “Eat Your Salad”. None of the artists made it to the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest.
If you look back at the failures of other years, in 2004 the group “Fomins & Kleins” did not qualify for the final of the competition with “Dziesma par laimi”. In 2009, the singer Intars Busulis did not qualify for the final with the song “Probka”, which was followed by five years when artists from Latvia did not make it to the final – in 2010, the singer “Aisha” with the song “What For?”, in 2011 – the group “Musiqq ” with the song “Angel in Disguise”, in 2012 – the singer Anmary with the song “Beautiful Song”, in 2013 – the group “PeR” with the song “Here We Go”, in 2014 – the group “Aarzemnieki” with the song “Cake to Bake”.
The final of the Eurovision Song Contest will be held on May 11 at 10 p.m. The official Eurovision slogan is “United in Music”. It is already known that musicians from the Big Six countries will participate in the final: France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Great Britain and Sweden.
