LATVIA

The Latvian Final was held on February 26th at the LTV Studios in Riga, hosted by Ketija Šenberga & Toms Grevinš (and ad break entertainment from Riga Beaver). Before the final there a series of quarter and semi finals to produce the 4 act final. The winner was chosen by an amalgamation of televoting/online voting/spotify listens. Going to Kyiv is Triana Rark with the song “Line”.

The visuals of this song are very striking – almost more striking than the song. The stage is filled with lasers and beams of light. These then show up the graffiti type boards behind them. These then flash and glow in neon colours like large advertising sign. I can see the mosh pit filled with glow sticks waving in the air like crazy! This motif is also captured in some of the band’s instruments and their outfits. During the middle part of the song the lead singer goes into a very full on dance routine which whips the crowd up really well. Overall this is a real attack on the senses and is a great standout track. However the intro and rather weak outro need looking at so it can shave just under the 3 minute mark.

This is, in essence, an uptempo in-your-face dance song although the structure of the song is much more complicated. It starts off low and quiet but the beat and instrumentation builds up in the chorus – I say ‘chorus’ but is more like the same line repeated over and over again. Although the chorus contains the main earworm of the song I would really say it is the instrumental part after the chorus where the song becomes most memorable. There is also a break down part repeating ‘All I see is you” but I find this part of the song quite stifling as I just wish the song would let go a little and go into full rave mode

This is a bold choice for Latvia – and I guess you don’t progress if you don’t take some risks. To their credit, this currently stands out a mile when compared to the Eurovision songs chosen up to now. It won’t be everybody’s cup of tea or to every viewers taste but it will be remembered any which way. I have serious concerns about the ability of the lead singer as her performances can be hit or miss -sometimes she pulls it off good and proper, other times it sounds off key and strained. My other concern is that the flow of the song it too stop/start and I just wish it would go into full on glow sticks mode for much, much longer. If I could, I would chop out all the ‘All I see is you’ parts, elongate the instrumentals then replace the slow part at the 2 min mark with the ‘all I see is you part’

Having been drawn in the second half of semi 1, it is looking good for qualification as  only one other known entry in that half is up-tempo, and even that one is very much done in a lighter style. Just due to its original nature, this should qualify and I think, with a confident vocal show, this could be top 10.

ARTIST - Triana Park

SONG - Line

MUSIC - Agnese Rakovska, Kristaps Ērglis, Kristians Rakovskis

LYRICS - Agnese Rakovska, Kristaps Ērglis, Kristians Rakovskis