LATVIA 2022

The Latvian Final was be held on February 12th at the LTV TV Studios in Riga, hosted by Ketija Šenberga & Lauris Reiniks. Before the final there was a semi-final  which reduced the list from 17 to 11. The winner was chosen by a mix of televoting and jury and was Citi Zēni with "Eat Your Salad"

The six-piece group, whose name translates as 'Other Boys' first met in 2020 as part of a songwriting camp and from there they started working together as a band. They have catapulted to stardom in a rather short period of and time and this is mainly due to social media. Their music tends towards funk & rap with splashes of hip hop and soul and have self-proclaimed themselves as trading in "alternative unicorn pop". They have performed and released work in their native Latvian language as well as English and include some 'fun and satirical' lyrics.

After short bombastic brass intro the song follows a chorus-pre chorus-chorus structure which repeats twice through. After this there is what can only be described as a 'epic sax guy inspired instrumental' before going into another chorus. There is then another short instrumental before one last chorus. The verses are mainly rapped by one member of the band while the pre chorus/chorus is sung by another.

Let's engage with the elephant in the room. The reason this song has gained so much traction and publicity is because of *that* first line. Yes, there is similar crudeness and double entendre elsewhere but the opening gambit of this song - pardon the pun - has balls. The groove of the song is really fun and catchy, especially the chorus. The singer of the chorus has a very nice voice - and even looks a bit like James Newman -  and overall everybody is having a great time on stage in their smart casual suits. The rapping parts need a lot of listening to, in particular the live versions are a little garbled or over-emphasised. The meaning of the song, albeit sung in a slightly tongue in cheek way, is actually quite important and put across in this way gives it a different spin on the topic. Overall I think this is actually a really good fun song.... spoiled by a stupid first line. Will they be able to keep that first line? Will they get away with omitting it from the live version? This song has gone viral and people who don't know about Eurovision know about this song. People will vote for this because they already know it. No such thing as bad publicity...

ARTIST - Citi Zēni

SONG -Eat your salad

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - JJ LUSH, Jānis Pētersons, Dagnis Roziņš