Alert the Riga Beaver — Latvia is one step closer to Supernova 2019. Entries for the national final closed on Sunday, and Latvian broadcaster LTV has now revealed that it has received a total of 83 entries for the upcoming edition of Supernova.
The broadcaster confirmed the tally on its official Facebook page. It wrote, “Application for “Supernova 2019″ has ended, we have received 83 applications with surprising, different songs, new and interesting collaborations, brave solutions! Season 5 looks promising so far!”
Pieteikšan?s "Supernova 2019" ir beigusies, esam sa??muši 83 anketas ar žanriski daž?d?m dziesm?m, jauniem,…
Posted by Supernova 2019 on Sunday, October 21, 2018
The number of entries is slightly down on 2018, where 93 were received. But this could all be part of LTV’s plan.
Earlier this year, the broadcaster announced some changes to the submission process for Supernova. LTV emphasised that it was looking for quality entries. The rules of Supernova 2019 specified that all submitted entries must be professionally recorded and must represent the author’s idea as best as possible, with “careless” submissions running the risk of being rejected by the broadcaster before the first review session. In other words, LTV doesn’t want songwriters to send in whatever random demos they have lying around.
The Supernova 2019 jury is looking for a “radio hit”. The submitted songs will first be evaluated by a special jury consisting of representatives from the leading Latvian radio stations.
In August, jury chairman DJ Rudd explained that decision. He said, “We are looking for a radio hit, so it’s only logical that radio people are the ones who first evaluate the songs. They are the ones who determine what’s on the radio station every day.”
Supernova has also lowered the minimum age to 16, the youngest age possible for the Eurovision Song Contest. The minimum had previously been 18, however Supernova producer Ilze Jansone explained that after much discussion, they made the decision because “we believe that overall the competition could benefit from it.”
The broadcaster has not confirmed if it will again use a “people’s jury” to help rate the initial batch of songs. Last year, the 93 received songs were internally reduced to 63 songs. The public was able to listen to and “like” or “dislike” those songs.
However, the process may not have been especially useful. Producers revealed that 72% of the Supernova 2018 people’s jury responses were dislikes.
Despite winning Eurovision in 2002, Latvia has not enjoy much success in the past decade. It has qualified for the final twice, both with songs written by Aminata Savadogo. Her own song “Love Injected” placed in 2015, while Justs’ song “Heartbeat” placed 15th the the following year.
Since then, Latvia has missed making the grand final, including in 2017 when Triana Park placed last in its semi-final. In Lisbon, Laura Rizzotto narrowly missed making final, placing 12th in her semi.
Despite this, Supernova remains a favourite national final among Eurovision fans and there is hope that Supernova 2019 will get Latvia back in the grand final.
What do you think? Who would you like to see in the Supernova semi-finals? Share your thoughts below!
Good cause last year there were some songs that sounded like they were recorded in a garage.
It was one of the best finals last year!
I want something like Baltic again! Robbed masterpiece.
Are you a radiologist?
I am rooting for another masterpiece like “Intoxicating Caramel” 😀 Call me crazy, but I love it <3
It was my favorite as well <3
Craaaaa-zeeh! I go crazy for your
That’s the right approach. Throw out everything sub-par and not-ready-to-go. Submission numbers mean nothing.
It only takes ONE awesome song for them to get back on top, quality not quantity! Their selection has been above average since Supernova.
My heart bleeds for Laura, she deserved to qulify
I loved the studio version of Laura’s song, but her live performance was very underwhelming. Too much standing in place and using boring hand motions and hairography throughout the entire song. Boring.
She did the same thing in Supernova though!
The point is simple. The song was boring and not immediate at all
I had disliked it in the people jury
I hope that Latvia will be back in shape as it was in 2015
That sounds VERY promissing. Since the first season of Supernova Latvia became one of my favorite ESC countries. Supernova in general is full of masterpieces!
You mean “promising”. Because “promissing” sounds like sth is missing. And I hope, nothing will be missing in Supernova 2019 <3
Jeder weiß was gemeint it, war jetzt wirklich wieder ein unnöger Versuch von dir, mit mir in Kontakt zu treten…
Sauber gekontert, ich habe nichts anderes erwartet, my German fellow 😀 Generell fand ich den Tippfehler übrigens einfach unterhaltsam und hätte das bei jedem geschrieben, auch bei mir selbst 🙂 Aber genug davon, auf wiwibloggs fange ich natürlich nicht mit dem Off-Topic an, no fear!