Latvia LATVIA 2019 - Carousel - That Night

[Geborgenheit]

So you believe it's because of the language and not the song/performance themselves?

Okay, song wasn't good either.

For me understanding lyrics is essential when evaluating songs. There are some exceptions, songs which can be understood without words, but most songs which are in languages I do not understand leave me cold. I think it is the same for the majority of people.

 

[RevNet]

THE GOOD:
-This song has lovely vocals and instrumentals.
-It's also memorable, too.

THE BAD:
-It's kind of an old sound, as I'll explain in my verdict.
-A minor thing, but this is not the type of music I'd normally go for.

THE VERDICT:
This is perfect coffeehouse music from Latvia. Do you remember when Starbucks had released those compilation albums? I believe it was in the 2000s. Well, this song would have been perfect on any of those compilations. Therefore, based on that, I don't think it'll win. Mainly due to the song being the kind of old sound that isn't on trend at the moment. In the meantime, though, we have a nice song here from Latvia. 10 points

 

[Courtzer]

If this was internally selected I probably would only give this 6 or 7
But it's the first time ever my favourite has won a national final so it gets 10

 

[tuorem]

Seriously, who in Europe would vote for a song in Latvian ? And I remember 2004 quite well - Dziesma par laimi failed miserably in semi-final. Lesson learned.

Sorry, I'm just passing by, didn't follow supernova, didn't listen to "That Night", but I'm loving this post.

Let me show the receipts

Indeed "Dziesma Par Laimi" bombed in 2004. Thank God you've sent songs in English since then because it clearly showed result-wise that Latvian was the issue

Come on! Your worst results ever are one song in Russian and three songs in English. Time to learn this lesson too, don't you think?

Any language (that's not English) isn't an impediment when the song appeals to people.

 

[Geborgenheit]

Indeed "Dziesma Par Laimi" bombed in 2004. Thank God you've sent songs in English since then because it clearly showed result-wise that Latvian was the issue

Statistics can be turned around as you wish. Latvia has won Eurovision with a song in English in 2002. The second best result - the third place- My Star by Brainstorm, was in English too. The third best result was with a song in English. And so on.

 

[tuorem]

Statistics can be turned around as you wish. Latvia has won Eurovision with a song in English in 2002. The second best result - the third place- My Star by Brainstorm, was in English too. The third best result was with a song in English. And so on.

All I did was posting your track record since 2004. I didn't invent those results.

I don't know how you can claim a song in Latvian would automatically crash and burn due to the language itself because you happened to send one that failed to qualify fifteen years ago.

On the contrary, you've sent nothing but songs in English this decade, which gave you three times your worst results ever, with two additional bottom 2 results and only two qualifications in ten years... Based on that, I fail to see how English is supposed to be an asset compared to Latvian. It didn't really improve your chances of success.

It's the music (meaning the composition) that matters first and foremost.

 

[Daybreak]

There's no reason why Latvia can't have successul results with both English and their own language like Estonia has done. I understand that Latvia joined Eurovision after the language rule was lifted and probably got used to writing only English songs for the contest, but quite often non-English songs have a sort of "exotic" and interesting appeal and for lots of people the language doesn't matter if the music speaks to them and they can feel the emotion of the singer. One slightly old-fashioned rock song in Latvian (from the ESC era before Lordi when rock songs were pretty much an anomaly at Eurovision) performing badly is hardly proof that Europe wouldn't like a Latvian song

 

[Geborgenheit]

Let me clarify it... I do not say that a song in Latvian will automatically not qualify. My opinion is that a song in English automatically has more chances to qualify than a song in Latvian ( and in any other small European language), because audience can understand lyrics and meaning of the song only in English some other big languages. Personally, I am a multilingual person. For example, I speak French, but I do not speak Italian. In Italian I would listen and like only outstanding songs. In French, I would like even quite average songs because I understand lyrics. Average songs in Italian will never have a chance for me.

 

[pastablanche]

Most people don't even pay attention to the lyrics unless they're extremely out there, like 1944's were. The only thing that English does is it gives the song an international sound.

In Geborgenheit's defense, the two Baltic languages aren't very melodic and it's not easy to come up with good lyrics in Lithuanian, I think it's the same for Latvian.

 

[Daybreak]

Let me clarify it... I do not say that a song in Latvian will automatically not qualify. My opinion is that a song in English automatically has more chances to qualify than a song in Latvian ( and in any other small European language), because audience can understand lyrics and meaning of the song only in English some other big languages. Personally, I am a multilingual person. For example, I speak French, but I do not speak Italian. In Italian I would listen and like only outstanding songs. In French, I would like even quite average songs because I understand lyrics. Average songs in Italian will never have a chance for me.

Well, English can give you an advantage. The thing is, if the vast majority of the songs are in English, some of them with fairly cheesy or cliche lyrics, a song can stand out just by being in another language. It ultimately comes down to the specific song. I also depends on how much importance is actually placed on a good result; the initial idea behind Eesti Laul was specifically to stop trying to find the perfect "Eurovision song", to treat ESC success as secondary and just focus on Estonian music that represents our culture, a song that we like, and if it manages to do well at Eurovision, all the better.

 

[Brandt]

Seriously, who in Europe would vote for a song in Latvian

I would have voted for an ordinary Astro'n'out song in Latvian.

 

[EscGeek]

I don't mind english but latvian is just as melodic as anything else.

This masterpiece (masterpiece, yes, don't at me) sounds the same to me as this

 

[Geborgenheit]

the initial idea behind Eesti Laul was specifically to stop trying to find the perfect "Eurovision song", to treat ESC success as secondary and just focus on Estonian music that represents our culture, a song that we like, and if it manages to do well at Eurovision, all the better.

I think it is a good idea, really good. But look what has happened yesterday in Tallinn: where is the fantastic Sandra Nurmsalu and where is the guy from Sweden who has just come for 5 minutes from the ferry Stockholm-Tallinn ? The audience has made a clear choice. All the language diversity idea is fantastic, the problem is that it fails in reality.

 

[Geborgenheit]

sounds the same to me as this

I remember being extremely ashamed when this was on stage. It was specially changed to Russian to please Russians in Moscow and then it has got well-deserved 0 f. It was a lot of Schadenfreude in that moment for me, a joy for the failure of that cacophony.

 

[Daybreak]

Eesti Laul has veered from its original idea a bit definitely, and we should get it back on track, but this Sandra song was never going to have a huge mainstream appeal in Estonia regardless of what it was competing against.

 

[tuorem]

Let me clarify it... I do not say that a song in Latvian will automatically not qualify. My opinion is that a song in English automatically has more chances to qualify than a song in Latvian ( and in any other small European language), because audience can understand lyrics and meaning of the song only in English some other big languages. Personally, I am a multilingual person. For example, I speak French, but I do not speak Italian. In Italian I would listen and like only outstanding songs. In French, I would like even quite average songs because I understand lyrics. Average songs in Italian will never have a chance for me.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't being mean or anything. But I'm not sure I understand your point.

So technically if you understand the lyrical content of a musically-average song, you'll like it more than a song that's as average but sung in a language you don't understand?

Where is the difference if you consider both songs to be average from the start?

 

[EscGeek]

I remember being extremely ashamed when this was on stage. It was specially changed to Russian to please Russians in Moscow and then it has got well-deserved 0 f. It was a lot of Schadenfreude in that moment for me, a joy for the failure of that cacophony.

My 2nd favorite that year. it's so "in your face" & he acted like a lunatic on stage. It makes me smile everytime
The translation to russian didn't make much sense to me, but it's stil the same song.

fyi he got 7 pts :twisted:

 

[Geborgenheit]

So technically if you understand the lyrical content of a musically-average song, you'll like it more than a song that's as average but sung in a language you don't understand?

Exactly, and I think it is not only me, but for most of people. People like what they understand.

Where is the difference if you consider both songs to be average from the start?

There are not so many chef-d'œuvres which can be listened forever and regardless of language.

Salut!

 

[Antho]

6 points. It's cute and it kinda has that Common Linnets vibe. It was probably a decent choice considering the low quality of Supernova this year.

 

[MyHeartIsYours]

This is nice enough! I like the black/gold picture, I hope they keep that for Eurovision! 5 points for Latvia.