Latvia: Final reviews for the Supernova songs

Latvia will be selecting their representative tonight. 10 acts initially advanced to the final, but there was a wildcard given to one of the acts because of technical difficulties with their performance. After having discussed the first six songs yesterday, let’s take a look at the final 5 songs and give our reviews!

On today’s review panel we find:

• Boris Meersman, our Belgian correspondent.
• James Maude, our Californian based writer.
• Roy Postema, our Dutch correspondent.
• Tyler Griffiths, our Alaskan resident and writer.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the reviews are those of the person making the statement, and not of ESCUnited as a whole, nor of Matt or Sean. If you take umbrage at what will be written below, take it up with the person who said it.

We will go by each song in order of the official running order, now let’s get it started!

 

Citi Zēni – Eat Your Salad

Boris – 8.5 – “Okay, this may be controversial but I think “Eat your salad” is really f’cking based. Even if we assume Citi Zeni didn’t enter Supernova after a college dorm bet to shove as much sexual innuendo in a 3 minute song as possible and get away with it, the idea of dressing up “Eco-Friendly Guys” as “Chads That Land All The Girls” is a stroke of well-endowed genius. AND THE SONG BANGS ON TOP OF THAT. F’cking twitter babbys had better be prepared to eat a concrete mixer of full humble hummus once this does well in Supernova and beyond.”

James – 2 –“I never thought there’d be a day where I would hear a national selection number where the singer threatens to take a woman from behind while she’s rummaging through the bins for compostable items, but here we are. And they don’t really go for it like you’d expect someone like Bloodhound Gang to. There’s only a handful of sexual innuendos between multiple repetitive verses about being green, so you immature folk who giggle and snort about this entry are short-changed. Plus, you know they’ll have to change their lyrics to not run afoul of EBU obscenity rules, so it’ll just be some obtuse puns and lame environmental sloganeering on top of a Dad-funk track. This song fails at juvenile perversion, it fails at green messaging, and send it to Eurovision it will fail to qualify. The extra point is for the bin line, because in context it is sorta funny.”

Roy – 6.5 – “On one hand I really enjoy this song, but on the other hand I also feel like it is all a bit too much of ‘the good stuff’. The fact that they can’t sing the word p*ssy out loud definitely makes the live performance less good than it could be and it kind of makes it a bit ‘ehh’ for me.. It is still fun however and I applaud them for sending such a bold song to the selection.”

Tyler – 8.5 – “The opening line for “Eat Your Salad” gives you a perfect idea of what you’re getting yourself into–an “eco friendly” song that also happens to be about a form of love that isn’t talked about too much. Yes, the song does feel douche-y, but it also has a funky vibe that I dig. Yes, the song doesn’t really pick back up from the initial opening line, but it’s still overall quite fun! This song has the potential to become more viral to a wider audience, so if they go for the meme strategy, then this song would be a good choice as well.”

Total score: 25.5 (avg. 6.4)

Highest: Boris & Tyler (8.5)

Lowest: James (2)

 

Inspo – A Happy Place

Boris – 6 –“For the most part, Supernova has felt as the selection in which Latvia pick the act that will finish dead last overall. There’s only two exceptions to this: Aminata and this guitar ballad. “A Happy Place” makes for a refreshing change of pace in this NF full of Good (Mes Jus Milam), Bad (Bermudu Divsturis) and Ugly (Bujans) novelty. As a song it doesn’t light my world on fire, but if Latvia voted for Carousel to stop Markus/Samanta from winning in 2019, they should defo vote for Inspo in 2022 as well. ”

James – 9 – “I got a little too excited to see the eight-string guitar on stage as I waited for the guitarist to djent us to the happy place. He teased us with some deft and delicate finger-tapping but once he removed the capo, the pay-off was worth it as we rocked out the last minute with some djenty riffs. If you wanted Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” with a djent outro, this is your jam (and I don’t use “Fast Car” glibly – the lyrics are literally about getting money to move to a better place). I never thought I’d hear coffee shop folk blend with djent, but Inspo make it work.”

Roy – 9 – “’Do you have some cash on you so we could fly away to a happy place.’ Lyric of the season for me! It just perfectly incaptulates the capitalistic world that we live in. Sure you can be happy, it is easy, but do you have some money to make it happen? The vocals in this are wonderful too and very soothing. The rock breakdown in the ending embodie the frustration that one would feel at this world. The only 2 things are that the middle part could use a bit more and a bit of a revamp and that the staging needs some work. Hopefully they win so that they get professional assistance with that so that we can have an amazing performance at Eurovision. This is the one for me! Absolutely adore this!”

Tyler – 7.5 – “Is “A Happy Place” a competent song? Yes! Do I think this is one of the better chances Latvia has at qualifying? Also yes! Do I care for it? Not really lol whoops. I get Silversun Pickups vibes which I like, but I don’t really think this song works well with me liking it towards the last bit. When it goes off at the end, it goes off and I quite like it! It’s a good buildup, but unsure if it’ll be enough to pay off.”

Total score: 31.5 (avg. 7.9)

Highest: 9 (James, Roy)

Lowest: 6 (Boris)

 

Mēs Jūs Mīlam – Rich Itch

Boris – 9 – “Actual footage of me seeing “Rich Itch” live for the first time this Saturday:

While fan bubble fixated its Eye of Sauron on that pallid Ylvis clone in MGP, it was Supernova that established itself as THE place to be for Eurovision Novelty, where “Rich itch” emerged as one of the best acts of the night. The Drag Queen Protagonist. The Napoleon Dynamite References. Ralfs showing up during the middle-eight dressed as a vicar spewing a sermon of nonsensical catchphrases in Italian. All of this is ICONIQUE. And, just like “Eat my salad”, this song BANGS on top of all of this (I HAVE been humming “Livin’ like a Rich bitch on my playlist all today’s hits, everything is bonkers when I’m out” multiple times this week WHEN WILL YOUR FAVES START IMPACTING MY LIFE???). It would be such a darling last placer at Eurovision too and I want it to happen!!”

James – 4.5 –“Probably the best of the novelty acts. I am not sure how the EBU would feel about a staging where the main vocalist is mostly hidden for the duration, but it’s more the clunky ‘80s throwback track and the repetitive lyrics that do this one in. Whereas the other novelty acts flop due to being obscenely moronic with lazy songwriting, this one puts its efforts into staging a more polished skit. “Rich Itch” has an overused hook, but it doesn’t really stick around in the mind too long after the song is over.”

Roy – 7 – “I loved this song as a studio cut, but I am not so sure if this live-performance works for me.. It is just a bit too puzzling that you don’t see who sings the song the entire time.. I think they could still execute the concept if they have the person or persons who sing somewhere walking along faintly in the background. Nonetheless, this song is on my playlist and I really enjoy when it comes on shuffle!”

Tyler – 9 –“Love this entry so much. It gives me Devo vibes from the 80s and became a hidden gem for me in this selection, even without taking into account the performance. I think it’s unorthodox to have the vocals not shown on stage and instead go with a storyline. It’s pretty great, and I like the acting and dancing from everyone involved on stage! I don’t think this would qualify at Eurovision, but honestly, it’s a whole lot of fun so this is one of my highlights this year, congrats!”

Total score: 29.5 (avg. 7.4)

Highest: Boris, Tyler (9)

Lowest: James (4.5)

 

Aminata – I’m Letting You Go

Boris – 6.5 – “I’m letting you go is an underwhelming composition and Aminata was quarantining on the night of the semi. Normally you’d think this is a game over, but Aminata’s long distance performance actually worked for me? That woman is so talented she can turn a hopeless song and a hopeless situation into something worthy of my time. Can’t wait to see what she has on offer in the final. Having said that through, “I’m letting you go” is pretty mediocre in and of itself, so no high scores from me bae.”

James – 7 – “Aminata is Latvia’s Toyota, and with “I’m Letting You Go” she has crafted another Camry. Let’s be honest, she should probably go to Eurovision, especially in this year’s Supernova 2022 which is a parking lot full of used Ladas. Aminata has crafted a decent, heartfelt ballad, and delivers it passionately. Latvia’s conundrum is that they have a few novelty acts that will come in dead last in Semi-Final 1, but is “I’m Letting You Go” a little too safe? She does run the risk of being 2022’s Vincent Bueno.”

Roy – 8 – “Look, Aminata’s voice alone could be enough to make me like the song and that is kind of what happened here as well. Only really accompanied by a piano for most of the song, I feel like she could have come with a better piece overall, but this is still good and Latvia would be represented well at the contest. It sucks that we can’t judge her live-performance, but let’s hope that we will be able to on Saturday!”

Tyler – 7 – “I’m Letting You Go” works well as a song when it’s performed as a satellite performance. Live? I don’t think so, as the song doesn’t bring me as many dynamic moments as “Love Injected” did. This song is professional sounding and polished, but the life in it isn’t as strong to me as way back in 2015. If this wins, they need to either attempt to make this work on the stage, or go all out on the satellite performance. Otherwise, I don’t get the hype.”

Total score: 28.5 (avg. 7.1)

Highest: Roy (8)

Lowest: Boris (6.5)

 

Miks Dukurs – First Love

Boris – 4 – “Miks got himself qualified based on a technicality, but even if his ‘vocal filters’ or whatever stupid gimmick he’d planned had worked I strongly doubt he would have made it in. A song about your first relationship really should not feel like a funerary dirge. Whether he’s  singing about his first girlfriend or his dead dog, I will never know.”

James – 4 – “If you’re singing about first love, how can you have been there more than once? Let’s say that he wants to treat each new relationship like a first love, would it not make him vapid and immature if he’s wants God to make him forget all of the mistakes he made that led to those earlier loves’ demise? The lyrics of this dirge of an adult contemporary song, as basic as they are, encourage people to fail as adults. I don’t get what Miks is going for here. Usually tracks like this aim for dealing with love in complicated circumstances, but this is just a shallow pining for forgetting experience and maturity.”

Roy – 4 – “Miks has so much potential, yet all of the songs he submits to Supernova sound like album-fillers or leftover material… So unfortunate because I love his voice a lot!”

Tyler – 5.5 – “First Love” feels like something from an open mic night that sacrifices clarity for rawness. While there’s a lot of emotion involved in the performance I can appreciate, it doesn’t necessarily translate to me as that memorable other than the prolonged note at the end (which I didn’t care for as it felt like it was extending the song when I just wanted it to be over oops).”

Total score: 17.5 (avg. 4.4)

Highest: Tyler (5.5)

Lowest: The rest (4)

 

That concludes our Latvian reviews! Let’s summarize the scores for a nice overview! The songs in bold were in this article:

1. Inspo – A Happy Place (7.9)
2. Mēs Jūs Mīlam – Rich Itch (7.4)
3. Aminata – I’m Letting You Go (7.1)
4. Elīna Gluzunova – Es pabiju tur (6.8)
5. Citi Zēni – Eat Your Salad (6.4)
6. Linda Rušeniece – Pay My Own Bills (5.9)
7. Raum – Plans (5.9)
8. Miks Dukurs – First Love (4.4)
9. Bermudu Divstūris – Bad (4.1)
10. Miks Galvanovskis – I’m Just A Sinner (3.4)
11. Bujāns – He, She, You & Me (2.1)

Our winner would be Inspo with their song ‘A Happy Place’!!

Do #YOU agree with our opinions on the songs from the Latvian selection? Who do #YOU see as the favourites to win the selection? Let us know in the comments below, on our forum, or on social media @ESCUnited.