As the Dziesma 2013, the National Selection for Latvia’s 2013 Eurovision entry, approaches, ESC UNITED’s Zack were fortunate enough to talk with Filip Lindfors, composer of not one, but TWO entries: “Upside Down” and “Phoenix Fly.”
ESC UNITED: Hi Filip! Congratulations on your success in Dziesma 2013. “Upside Down” is one of my favorite songs from the bunch. How would you describe the song?
Filip: Upside down is a happy tune that makes you wanna drop everything in your (sometimes) ordinary life and just freak out! Sometimes you need the get a little crazy and just go all out! In this case, it’s for a big party, in the vein of the old “American Pie”-movies. You go out of town were there are no rules.
ESC UNITED: My favorite part of the song is “Latvia douze pointe.” It’s so fun and reminds me of Katy Perry! How did you come up with the middle 8 breakdown?
Filip: Hahahaha! Yeah that one was funny indeed! When we wrote this one we said that we need to aim high so why not aim for Malmö =P! And it would feel quite nice to hear the jury (Host of the show) say, “LATVIA DOUZE POINTS!” And if we don’t get a twelve-point, we at least will give ourselves twelve points! Hehehe.
ESC UNITED: With Dziesma 2013, you had to submit a song first, and then when hearing you made it to the National Selection, then select an artist to perform. What qualities did you look for when you chose Sabina?
Filip: Sabina, who’s gonna perform the song, is really talented and a big star in Latvia. She’s got a really good attitude and we felt that it was a perfect match! We wanted someone that could be both playful and at the same time, secure in her vocal performance!
ESC UNITED: Now “Upside Down” isn’t the only song of yours that made it! “Phoenix Fly” did so as well. How did it feel to find out BOTH songs made it?!
Filip: For me it felt great since I got the news that I had two songs selected. And those songs are different. “Upside Down” is more of a “party-up-tempo-song” and “Phoenix Fly” is more like a serious mid-tempo-ballad with a deeper purpose lyrically. So if the people want a happy-tune, they can vote for “Upside Down.” If they want a big beautiful ballad, they can go for “Phoenix Fly”!
ESC UNITED: What do you believe is the key to winning Eurovision? What made past winners like Loreen, Eli and Nikki, and Lena stand out?
Filip: That one is almost impossible to point out. But maybe the song has to be unique and at the same time not too unique, if you know what I mean. There’s a really big crowd that you need to catch in just three minutes. So the song really needs to go through both the television and into people’s brains, or hearts.
ESC UNITED: Filip, thank you so much! We wish you the best of luck.
Filip: Best regards!
Catch Filip’s entries “Upside Down” and “Phoenix Fly” at Dziesma 2013. “Upside Down” will be performed by Sabina Berezina on February 8, 2013. “Phoenix Fly” will be performed by Kristīne Šomase on February 9, 2013.
Roy van der Merwe
January 30, 2013 at 04:39
I am very found of Latvia and their 2008 entry, composed by Swedes and fromt he same stable SCANDINAVIAN SONGS is my top song for the past 10 years. I really hope Latvia picks a Seedish composed song again and it is a big hit