Earlier in the week, 30 shortlisted acts performed their Supernova entries in the live judging round. And now the judges have made a decision. But we won’t find out who is heading to Latvia‘s national final until January.
Sixty-three songs made it to the Supernova longlist. They were voted on by the People’s Jury and assessed by an expert panel. From there, 30 were invited to the live audition round, held at Riga’s Alfa shopping centre.
The judges viewed live performances of all 30 acts and have now made their decision on who will make it to the Supernova heats in the new year. The panel was made up of Supernova producer Ilze Jansone, music producer DJ Rudd, Supernova host Toms Grevins and jazz singer Jolanta Gulbe.
But while the artists themselves know if they have been successful, fans won’t find out who is in until January.
LTV has revealed that ten of the successful acts were unanimous favourites of the panel. The rest, however, were less clear. The jury needed a bit of constructive debate before they could agree on the rest of the acts.
LTV has not confirmed the number of acts who have made it to the heats. Last year 22 acts made it to the Supernova shows. This year it is expected that between 18 and 24 acts will have qualified.
DJ Rudd revealed that not all of his favourite songs had made the cut. “But”, he said, “this is also the task of the jury – to offer as many angles as possible.”
Fellow jury member Jolanta Gulbe said she was surprised by some newer artists. “It seemed that there was nothing special in the recording,” she said, “but the perception changed completely when watching the live performance.”
The line-up of Supernova 2018 will be revealed by late January 2018. The acts will soon start preparations with the broadcaster.
SUPERNOVA 2018: ARTISTS AT THE LIVE AUDITIONS
These 30 songs made the live audition round earlier this week. Around two-thirds of these songs have made the shortlist of acts who will perform at the heats in February.
- “1000 Roses” — Monta
- “Be Here” — Augusts Vasilonoks
- “Circles” — Sandija Vigante
- “Colors Everywhere” — Annemarija Moiseja
- “Esamiba” — Madara Fogelmane
- “Eyes” / “Just Fine” — Sudden Lights
- “Feel Your Lips” — Pavels Fomkins
- “Flashbacks” — Kristiana Bumbiere
- “Intoxicating Caramel” — Katrina Gupalo and The Black Birds
- “Lovers Bliss” — Lauris Valters
- “Morning Flight” — Kris & Oz
- “Not Afraid” — Madara Dzintara
- “Oh Longriver” — Rahu the Fool
- “Pray” — Hypnotic
- “Running Red Lights” — Katrine Lukins
- “Save Me” — Annemarija Paula
- “Soledad” — Maija Stuge
- “STOP THE WAR U2” — Riga Reggae
- “Sunset” — In My Head
- “The Way Back Home” — Elizabete Gaile
- “Take Me Home” — Miks Galvanovskis
- “This Time” — Markus Riva
- “Voodoo doll” — Oskars
- “Walk the Talk” — Liene Greifane
- “Weekend Warriors” — Tamara Rutkovska
- “What I Had With You” — Ed Rallidae
- “Who’s Counting?” — Ritvars Vulis
- “YOU” — M I O N I A
- “You Are My World” — Agnese Stengrevics
- “Younger Days” — Edgars Kreilis
What do you think? Who would you like to see in the Supernova live shows? Who can give Latvia their second Eurovision win? Tell us what you think!
READ MORE LATVIA EUROVISION NEWS
Photo: Supernova/Lauris Viksna
I’m praying for Intoxicating Caramel or Eyes. If either of them goes to Eurovision, Latvia will probably be in my top 3 🙂
Staccato at least deserved to make it though for it catchiness, even if it was generic — 1000 Roses, Esamiba, Running Red Lights, Walk the Talk , Weekend Warriors, Younger Days are in the top group for me — but how the HECK did “Intoxicating Caramel” actually MAKE IT??
Very few of my favourites made it through…some of these choices are just awful…so, I’m cheering for Esamiba because it’s the one that stands out most. 🙂
Esamiba is a clear favorite of mine. It would definitely be an original and emotional composition for ESC. Few others are quite good too. Several songs are catchy, but generic. Few are just bad.
‘Soledad’ is one of the worst songs I’ve heard. It’s not only a bad copy of ‘Despacito’, but also the lyrics are bland and her accent is cringy. If at least the music or the lyrics were good… Maybe for non-Spanish speakers who don’t understand the lyrics and how to pronounce some words this is okey, but for me is just a bad joke.
‘Soledad’ must not qualify for Supernova heats. The jury shouldn’t favour that.
Just pick Esamiba and spare all the costs with a NS.
Kristiana – Flashbacks didn’t get through…
Yes it did get through, Staccato didn’t
Monta with “1000 Roses” needs to win.
esam?ba must win, tbh it’s one of the most beautiful songs i’ve ever heard
Soledad is like Despacito… just saying
I’m still mad that 3 of my favourite Songs (Staccato, Baltic and Are You My Friend) didn’t make it…ITS UNACCEPTABLE
I’m now rooting for Running Red Lights and Younger Days but I wouldn’t be surprised if Soledad or Stop the war u2 wins… .-.
Aww, someone liking Are You My Friend and even putting a quote from the song in the comment: you’re the best!!! It could have been quite remarkable with a good staging. Sad… Maybe they decided to select Stop the war U2 as a troll act but it’s not nearly as good.
Baltic was totally amazing and I really find it a crime that it did not make it to this stage!
Let’s see what Latvia chooses in the end…
Jolanta Gulbe – “It seemed that there was nothing special in the recording,” she said, “but the perception changed completely when watching the live performance.”
That proves that the recordings were not done properly. Just record yourself in an organic way, be honest, say your name/age/genre of music, from the beginning and after that, describe the song will you sing (yours or a cover), and this is it. Be real, record yourself in the environment you feel comfortable with, this is what I would do if I could sing.
Likely most of these were just demos, roughly made without the fine touches needed to reach a song’s potential. Doing so would require some extra cash which is risky if the song entered did not make the cut in the early rounds of the selection process.
The article says the songs were better live. If LIVE sounded better, it means expensive studio versions were not needed anyway.