Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022

Eurovision Song Contest 2022
Country	Latvia
National selection
Selection process	Supernova 2022
Selection date(s)	Online vote: 10–14 January 2022 Semi-final: 5 February 2022 Final: 12 February 2022
Selected entrant	Citi Zēni
Selected song	"Eat Your Salad"
Selected songwriter(s)	Roberts Memmēns Jānis Pētersons Dagnis Roziņš Jānis Jačmenkins
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Failed to qualify (14th)
Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2021 • 2022

Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, with "Eat Your Salad" performed by Citi Zēni. The Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) organised the national final Supernova 2022 in order to select the Latvian entry for the contest.

Latvia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2022. Performing during the show in position 2, "Eat Your Salad" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Latvia placed 14th out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 55 points.

Background

Prior to the 2022 contest, Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-one times since its first entry in 2000.^[1] Latvia won the contest once in 2002 with the song "I Wanna" performed by Marie N. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Latvia was able to qualify to compete in the final between 2005 and 2008. Between 2009 and 2014, the nation failed to qualify to the final for six consecutive years. In the 2015 contest, Latvia managed to qualify to the final with the song "Love Injected" performed by Aminata, which placed 6th in the final, scoring 186 points, giving them their best placing since 2005. In 2021, Latvia was represented by Samanta Tīna and the song "The Moon Is Rising", but the country did not qualify for the final and finished last in the second semi-final with 14 points.

Before Eurovision

Supernova 2022

Supernova 2022 was the seventh edition of the Latvian national selection Supernova, which selected Latvia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. The competition consisted of 17 entries, of which 10 took part in a final that took place on 12 February 2022.^[2] The jury panel consisted of five Latvian music experts and two international experts: Anna Platpīre (LTV content creator), Māris Mihelsons (musician), Laura Jēkabsone (composer and singer), Toms Grēviņš (Radio and TV host, DJ, Latvian commentator at the Eurovision Song Contest), Iļja Lagutenko (musician), Nicolau Tudela (Portuguese artistic director of TV) and Julian Guiterrez (French TV director).^[3]

Competing entries

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On 7 October 2021, LTV opened a two-month submission period for interested singers and songwriters to enter the audition process for Supernova 2022.^[4] All entries were required to be by a singer-songwriter that was aged at least sixteen and a citizen of Latvia, with foreign writers allowed only if they contributed to one third or less of the entry. After all submissions were received, a jury formed of representatives of the main radio stations in Latvia assessed the songs, only being informed of the song title (not the singer). 16 acts were selected by the jury to take part in the competition.^[2] The selected entries were announced on 5 January 2022.^[5] In addition to the initial sixteen competing artists, LTV held an online vote between 10 and 14 January 2022 to determine a seventeenth act.^[6]

Semi-final

The semi-final took place on 5 February 2022. Ten entries were selected by a professional jury and a televote in a 50/50 split vote. On February 10th it was announced that LTV assigned Miks Dukurs a wildcard for the Supernova final, citing technical issues that impacted his semi-final performance.^[7]

Final

The final took place on 12 February 2022. The winner was determined by a professional jury and a televote in a 50/50 split vote.^[8] In addition to the competing entries, the final also featured Uku Suviste and the Roop (respectively Estonian and Lithuanian representatives at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 and 2021) as guest performers.^[8] The combination of jury and televoting crowned Citi Zēni as the winners of the national selection with the song "Eat Your Salad" and hence the chance to represent Latvia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

At Eurovision

A video postcard introduced Citi Zēni's performance in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. The postcard was filmed in Merano

in Trentino-South Tyrol and featured virtual projections of the band across the location.

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 25 January 2022, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Latvia was placed into the first semi-final, which was held on 10 May 2022, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.^[11]

Once all the competing songs for the 2022 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Latvia was set to perform in position 2 following the entry from Albania and after the entry from Lithuania.^[12]

In Latvia, all shows were broadcast on LTV1, with commentary by Toms Grēviņš [lv] and Lauris Reiniks.^[13][14] The Latvian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Latvian jury during the final, was Samanta Tīna, who previously represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.^[15][16][17]

Semi-final

Citi Zēni took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May. This included the jury show on 9 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Latvian performance featured the entire band on stage dressed in brightly coloured suits in a retro fashion to match the style of the song. The performance was fast paced and featured audience interaction and brightly coloured LED lights in the background. The performance ended with the lead singer of the band performing the split and the use of pyrotechnics concluded the entry.^[18]

At the end of the show, Latvia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. This was Latvia's fifth consecutive non-qualification to the grand final having last appeared in 2016. It was later revealed that Latvia placed fourteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 55 points: 16 points from the televoting and 39 points from the juries.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Latvia during the first semi-final. Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting.^[19] The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country's jury and televoting were released after the final; the individual results from each jury member were also released in an anonymised form.^[20][21] The Latvian jury consisted of Anna Platpire, Ģirts Lūsis, Ikars Ruņģis, Kaspars Ansons, and Laura Jēkabsone.^[20][21] In the first semi-final, Latvia finished in fourteenth place out of seventeen entries, marking Latvia's fifth consecutive non-qualification from the semi-finals. The first semi-final saw Latvia receive twelve points from Portugal in the jury vote. Over the course of the contest, Latvia awarded its 12 points to Ukraine in both the jury and televote in the first semi-final and the final.^[22][23]

Points awarded to Latvia

Points awarded to Latvia (Semi-final 1)[22] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Portugal 10 points  Lithuania 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points  Ukraine 4 points  Greece  Iceland  Moldova 3 points  Bulgaria  Slovenia 2 points  Armenia  Lithuania   Switzerland 1 point  Netherlands  Austria  Denmark  Italy Points awarded by Latvia Points awarded by Latvia (Semi-final 1)[22] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Ukraine  Ukraine 10 points  Lithuania  Greece 8 points  Moldova  Iceland 7 points  Norway  Norway 6 points  Portugal  Denmark 5 points  Iceland  Portugal 4 points  Armenia   Switzerland 3 points  Netherlands  Netherlands 2 points  Denmark  Armenia 1 point  Austria  Lithuania Points awarded by Latvia (Final)[23] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Ukraine  Ukraine 10 points  Lithuania  Sweden 8 points  Estonia  United Kingdom 7 points  Moldova  Greece 6 points  Sweden  Portugal 5 points  Norway  Norway 4 points  Spain  Netherlands 3 points  United Kingdom   Switzerland 2 points  Serbia  Australia 1 point  Finland  Lithuania Detailed voting results The following members comprised the Latvian jury:[20][21] Anna Platpire – Commissioning editor Ģirts Lūsis – Musician Ikars Ruņģis – Musician Kaspars Ansons – Musician Laura Jēkabsone – Composer, Singer Detailed voting results from Latvia (Semi-final 1)[22] Draw Country Jury Televote Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Average Rank Points Rank Points 01  Albania 16 16 16 15 15 16 16 02  Latvia 03  Lithuania 13 10 5 4 7 10 1 2 10 04   Switzerland 2 9 7 7 8 7 4 11 05  Slovenia 12 15 6 13 13 12 12 06  Ukraine 9 1 1 1 6 1 12 1 12 07  Bulgaria 15 14 14 12 11 15 15 08  Netherlands 8 8 4 11 3 8 3 8 3 09  Moldova 14 13 15 14 10 14 3 8 10  Portugal 6 7 9 2 9 6 5 5 6 11  Croatia 10 11 11 10 4 11 14 12  Denmark 3 5 8 3 12 5 6 9 2 13  Austria 11 12 12 16 14 13 10 1 14  Iceland 1 6 13 8 2 3 8 6 5 15  Greece 5 4 2 5 1 2 10 13 16  Norway 4 2 3 6 16 4 7 4 7 17  Armenia 7 3 10 9 5 9 2 7 4 Detailed voting results from Latvia (Final) Draw Country Jury Televote Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Average Rank Points Rank Points 01  Czech Republic 23 7 12 13 14 16 24 02  Romania 24 25 22 24 25 25 20 03  Portugal 8 3 5 11 5 5 6 11 04  Finland 19 13 21 20 22 22 10 1 05   Switzerland 7 20 2 16 15 8 3 21 06  France 12 23 23 25 16 20 14 07  Norway 20 11 3 1 13 6 5 6 5 08  Armenia 9 14 10 19 6 13 16 09  Italy 6 21 15 6 10 11 13 10  Spain 17 2 13 21 23 12 7 4 11  Netherlands 4 8 14 8 9 7 4 12 12  Ukraine 1 1 6 3 1 1 12 1 12 13  Germany 15 12 11 9 8 14 19 14  Lithuania 10 10 19 4 12 10 1 2 10 15  Azerbaijan 22 9 18 17 7 17 22 16  Belgium 21 24 16 10 19 19 23 17  Greece 5 6 9 5 2 4 7 25 18  Iceland 13 19 7 15 11 15 17 19  Moldova 18 15 24 23 20 23 4 7 20  Sweden 2 4 8 2 4 2 10 5 6 21  Australia 14 5 4 14 21 9 2 18 22  United Kingdom 3 17 1 7 3 3 8 8 3 23  Poland 16 18 20 18 17 21 15 24  Serbia 25 22 25 22 24 24 9 2 25  Estonia 11 16 17 12 18 18 3 8 References ^ "Latvia Country Profile". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 6 November 2014. ^ a b Granger, Anthony (5 October 2021). "🇱🇻 Latvia: Supernova 2022 Submissions Open on October 7". Eurovoix. Retrieved 1 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) ^ a b Granger, Anthony (16 May 2022). "🇱🇻 Latvia: Supernova 2022 Jury Revealed". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 May 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) ^ "Search for Latvia's Eurovision contender starts". lsm.lv. Latvijas Televīzija. 7 October 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2022. ^ "Iepazīsties ar "Supernovas" 16 pusfinālistiem! Vēl vienu dalībnieku izvēlēsies interneta balsojumā". lsm.lv (in Latvian). Latvijas Televīzija. Retrieved 5 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) ^ Granger, Anthony. "Latvia: Voting Commences for 17th Supernova 2022 Semi-Finalist". Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) ^ Terry, Connor (10 February 2022). "Latvia: LTV awards Miks Dukurs a wildcard for the Supernova 2022 final". ESCUnited. Retrieved 10 February 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) ^ a b Granger, Anthony (9 February 2022). "🇱🇻 Latvia: Supernova 2022 Final Running Order & Guests Announced". Eurovoix. Retrieved 9 February 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) ^ Terry, Connor (12 February 2022). "Citi Zēni has won Supernova 2022 and will represent Latvia in Turin!". ESCUnited. Retrieved 12 February 2022. ^ "«Citi zēni» LTV konkursā «Supernova» pārliecinoši līderi gan skatītāju, gan žūrijas balsojumā". lsm.lv (in Latvian). Latvijas Televīzija. 14 February 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2022. ^ "Eurovision 2022: Which Semi-Final is your country performing in? 🇮🇹". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). 25 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2022 Semi-Final running orders revealed!". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). 29 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2022. ^ "Eirovīzijas nedēļā LTV – raidījumi ar "Citiem zēniem", diskusijas un konkursa tiešraides". LSM (in Latvian). 5 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022. ^ Grace, Emily (8 May 2022). "Latvia: Toms Grēviņš And Lauris Reiniks To Commentate On Eurovision 2022". Eurovoix. Retrieved 8 May 2022. ^ "Eurowizja 2022: kto będzie prezentował wyniki głosowania?". Eurowizja.org (in Polish). OGAE Polska. 12 May 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022. ^ "Eurovision 2022 Spokespersons – Who will announce the points?". Eurovisionworld. 14 May 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022. ^ "Eurovision 2022, tante eurostars fra chi annuncerà i voti: l'elenco completo". Eurofestival News (in Italian). 14 May 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022. ^ Granger, Anthony (3 April 2022). "🇱🇻 Latvia: All The Details About Citi Zēni's Rehearsal". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 May 2022. ^ "Voting–Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2022. ^ a b c "Juries in the First Semi-Final of Turin 2022". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 15 May 2022. ^ a b c "Juries in the Grand Final of Turin 2022". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 15 May 2022. ^ a b c d "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Turin 2022". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 15 May 2022. ^ a b "Results of the Grand Final of Turin 2022". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 15 May 2022. External links Official LTV Eurovision site Official Supernova site