The grand final of Supernova 2020 is one month away. Now Latvia broadcaster LTV has released videos of the live auditions of the 26 shortlisted acts. Among the 26 are Supernova regulars Markus Riva, Samanta Tīna and Edgars Kreilis, as well as 2018 fan favourite Madara.
The roster of shortlisted acts is a mix of Supernova regulars as well as newcomers. The list features Markus Riva, who has competed in the Latvian national final every year since 2014. He will compete with the song “Impossible”, cowritten with Latvian Eurovision star Aminata.
Also appearing is Samanta Tīna. This is her sixth appearance in the Latvian national final. However, “Still Breathing” is her eighth song after doubling up twice.
Rising star Edgars Kreilis also returns to Supernova. This time he has the song “Tridymite”. (In case you were wondering, tridymite is a high-temperature polymorph of silica. #science) Edgars is simultaneously competing in The Voice of Lithuania, coached by Donny Montell.
And fans of 2018 favourite Madara will be pleased that the cellist has returned to Supernova. She serves Earth Mother realness with “Māras zeme”.
Katrīna Dimanta may be familiar to Eurovision fans from her appearance in 2014. She was part of the Latvian folk group Aarzemnieki who had a “Cake to Bake” in Copenhagen.
What happens next with Supernova 2020?
From these 26 songs, just eight songs will be chosen by the jury to compete in the Supernova grand final. The jury will assess the songs and the live audition performances but they will also consider YouTube views.
The eight lucky finalists will be announced on 18 January.
This confirms that Supernova 2020 will not involve any semi-finals, with a slimmed-down national final focusing only on the grand final on 8 February.
Supernova 2020 received 126 entries. A selection committee whittled that down to 28 songs — though it appears that only 26 made it to the live audition phase.
The live auditions were filmed in mid-December and gave the jury a chance to see and hear the songs performed live with basic staging.
Supernova 2020 – Shortlisted entries
- Aivo Oskis – “Dive Deep”
- Alekss Silvers – “Again”
- Alise Haijama – “Me Me Song”
- Annemarija Moiseja – “Undo”
- ANNNA – “Polyester”
- Antra Stafecka & Atis Ieviņš – “Coming Over”
- Audiokvartāls – “Connection”
- Bad Habits – “Sail With You”
- DRIKSNA – “Stay”
- Edgars Kreilis – “Tridymite”
- Elizabete Gaile – “For You”
- Katrīna Bindere – “I Will Break Your Heart”
- Katrīna Dimanta – “Heart Beats”
- Laika Upe – “All My Roads”
- Līva – “Not That Important To You”
- Madara – “Māras zeme”
- Maia – “Make It Real”
- Markus Riva – “Impossible”
- Miks Dukurs – “I’m Falling For You”
- Rūta Ķergalve – “Izgaismots”
- Sabīne Blūma Blūmane – “Beauty Will Save the World”
- Samanta Tīna – “Still Breathing”
- Seleste – “Like Me”
- Shanti – “Voices In My Mind”
- Signe & Jānis – “Inner Light”
- Toms Kalderauskis – “Be My Truth”
What are your favourite performances from the Supernova 2020 live auditions?
Watch the performances from the Supernova 2020 live auditions and tell us what your favourites are. As always, you can vote for as many acts as you like, but you can only vote once — so make it count!
[polldaddy poll=10488237]What do you think of the Supernova 2020 auditions? Who would you like to make it to the grand final? Tell us your favourites below!
There will be a lot of women in Eurovision 2020
Well, of the revealed artists 5 are guys, 2 are girls and one is a band with 2 guys and a girl.
Why do I feel like this is Samanta Tina’s year? Not her best song, but it still has a strong point of view and pulls you in. Many songs in this selection lack that.
A great and variated selection of songs from Latvia. Bad Habits, Madara, Katrina Dimanta, Samanta Tina, Edgars Kreilis… are perfect options in order to get Eurovision final or even top10. Thank you, Latvia, for giving us this magnificent Supernova 2020.
Some more random comments of mine: – Either Madara or Ruta would bring something completely unique to the contest. They aren’t necessarily earworms, but are far more interesting than the last few Latvian entries. I am not holding my breath, but if so, they would certainly stand out. – Samanta Tina is the most likely winner and I am good with that. I’m still unsold on the rap, but the “industrial” instrumental is really good. – Aivo Oskis and Katrina Bindere are kind of the opposites when it comes to presentation. She sells her entry on stage, while he just… Read more »
I agree about Ruta and Madara being something unique. Ruta, in particular, can certainly take you to another world and at some stage I realised it could be a dance banger with a decent remix.
My first go to listen to all Supernova songs and here are my 8 finalists:
• Ruta Kergalve – Izgaismots (deserves winning)
• Katrina Dimanta – Heart Beats (deserves winning)
• Samanta Tina – Still Breathing (potential winner)
• Miks Dukurs – I’m Falling For You
• Madara – Maras zeme
• Bad Habits – Sail With You
• Antra Stafecka & Atis Ievins – Coming Over
• Katrina Bindere – I Will Break Your Heart
Agree with Katrina Dimanta ,Samanta, Madara,Antra/Atis, Miks
My first listen of all Supernova songs and here are my 8 finalists:
Ruta Kergalve – Izgaismots (deserves winning)
Katrina Dimanta – Heart Beats (deserves winning)
Samanta Tina – Still Breathing (potential winner)
Miks Dukurs – I’m Falling For You
Madara – Maras zeme
Bad Habits – Sail With You
Antra Stafecka & Atis Ievins – Coming Over
Katrina Bindere – I Will Break Your Heart
I’m not sure about Markus Riva’s chance to represent Latvia this year since Latvia doesn’t seem to choose ordinary pop songs and opt for something different and unique ( look at their previous entries, e.g 2019, 2017, 2012 etc. Last year ‘Cherry Absinthe’ , which was a favourite, didn’t win).
The first go to listen to all Supernova songs and here are my 8 finalists:
• Ruta Kergalve – Izgaismots (deserves winning)
• Katrina Dimanta – Heart Beats (deserves winning)
• Samanta Tina – Still Breathing (potential winner)
• Miks Dukurs – I’m Falling For You
• Madara – Maras zeme
• Bad Habits – Sail With You
• Antra Stafecka & Atis Ievins – Coming Over
• Katrina Bindere – I Will Break Your Heart
annna brings almost a billie eilish joke entry and samanta brings a bop, i want one of them to win
Just something: I’m kind of sure 2020 will be a repeat of 2011. It’s the time where most song would fall on the ‘beige’ side, but will make it an interesting and even competition, with such close gap of points per entry, when the point announcement commences.
who else thinks samanta tina is fanally going to win supernova
Rhejejejjewjmws Siemens iejie
Latvia is an unfortunate case. They’ve got a fairly decent NF in the making with lots of pleasant songs and the overall quality definitely improved in comparison with Supernova 2019. I just don’t think any of these entries is good enough to make Latvia qualify. “Polyester” by ANNNA is probably my favourite. I know, I know, it’s a song about T-shirts, yet this track somehow combines social commentary with a catchy beat in an adorably awkward way. I guess you can call it a guilty pleasure.
Edgars Kreillis “Trydimyte” is awesome fresh and top Sound.
This was actually harder than I expected but these are my 8 finalists (in random order):
ANNNA – “Polyester”
DRIKSNA – “Stay”
Edgars Kreilis – “Tridymite”
Katr?na Dimanta – “Heart Beats”
Laika Upe – “All My Roads”
Maia – “Make It Real”
Markus Riva – “Impossible”
Miks Dukurs – “I’m Falling For You”
(I’m from Latvia btw)
Can you please explain to us what are Madara’s and Ruta’s songs about? (I assume Madara’s has an environmental message.) At least give us a clue in a couple of words. Thanks in advance.
“M?ras zeme” is probably about environmental issues but I can also see it in emigration context (returing to motherland, taking care of it instead of forgeting about it, that kind of stuff). It’s a decent song, probably will be in the final, I just don’t get it at the moment, maybe it will grow on me. “Izgaismosts” is either about admiring a person and being passionate about a relationship and fighting for it (which is more likely) or fighting about social justice (but that’s probably looking too deep into it), being enlightened (enlightened is the translation of the title of… Read more »
You did help. Thanks. 🙂
M?ra is highest ranking Goddess in Latvian mythology / paganism, who takes care of the land.
The song is about loving your land and caring for it, so yes, it is environmental, it is about emigration, but it is also about the negativity and hate towards the country (government), you can even interpret it as a song written for the government – that they should love their land and take care of it better
Markus is very pretty but wow he totally butchered this song live
My favorite selection so far. Much much better than last year’s Supernova. My hihglights: Ruta – Great performer and gorgeously layered song. Probably too indie for Eurovision, but I’m all for it. Madara – Not as strong as “Esamiba”, but still beautiful, stands out. The essemble avoids her voice being too exposed, my only minor issue with her entry in 2018. Samanta – Awesome use of backing vocals, modern beat, showy notes, maybe her time has come. I would just ditch the rapping. Miks – Arguably the best vocals. Simple, yet pleasant song. Katrina Dimanta – Great vocals, sassy and… Read more »
I would say I prefer Supernova 2020 over Supernova 2019, while I find it tied with Supernova 2018. However, if the 2018 edition selected their top 21 correctly from online voting round, now that would be one very strong NF. If besides Esamiba and Just Fine we also got IKA, Pilites, Take Me Home, Sapnu dziesma, Eyes, ect.
It’s true, some good songs haven’t made the cut in 2018. I hope this time the jury finds a balance between pushing fan favorites to the final and saving some entries that deserved a bigger following online. Anyway, I’m glad with the selection. Too early to tell if it will be enough to get Latvia back to the final, but there’s a huge chance I’ll be rooting for them to achieve it.
It all comes down on who they pick. I mean, last year they ditched Miks Galvanovskis in favor of Awe and You Come On Tiptoe. This year, they might ditch Ruta to make way for Maia or Sabine. Urgh… I’ve already made peace with Markus Riva taking one available spot over a better act. I hope they don’t pick most of them badly.
I ended up loving “Awe” far too much last year!
And that’s cool. It shows that music is subjective and that there is an audience for most songs.
I hope they save Seleste, because that song is cool and underlooked
I wouldn’t mind that, I liked Seleste too.
Good selection Latvia! I enjoy 14 of the 26 songs. Does anyone know when the 8 finalists will be chosen?
January 18
Not 16 ?
My vote goes to precious “Cake To Bake” lady.
The only song that kinda stuck to my head after all the listenings.
A lot of these songs sound so normal and average that they are just plain forgetable. The lyrics need to be more original than that. Anyway, there are some hidden gems. Also, a lot of Latvian artist seem to have American influences: country, indie, indie folk… it’s kind of weird but nothing against it. These are the songs I like: 1. Samanta T?na – “Still Breathing” (7.25). The studio version with the video really grabed me but the live performance looks a bit empty, no concept just dancing like she’s crazy or something. Her vocals are on point and she… Read more »
“She needs to up the live performance” – these are AUDITIONS, ESC fans seem to struggle to understand it. Auditions are when you come and give a brief look at what your song sounds like, how you sing and MAYBE a brief insight in what the performance will be, but it’s mostly about the singing
Ok so my top 3 is:
Antra Stafecka & Atis Ievi?š – Coming Over
Katr?na Dimanta – Heart Beats
Madara – M?ras Zeme
Hooray! Madara is back! I hope this song is as good as Esamiba.
Cancel Supernova and send Madara straight away to Rotterdam.
Links missing to connection and stay, youtube views will matter…
Can’t wait to hear Madara’s song!
I’m still listening to Esamiba 🙂
There are some interesting entries, although they are not in their polished form yet. I’ll wait for the studio cuts to choose my favourites. Still, a better selection than 2018/2019.
The strongest latvian national selection ever! I like 18 songs, it will be hard to choose just 8 🙁
The juries will love Madara’s song but it will probably be a televote flop at ESC.
As long as it gets to ESC, I don’t care.
Could you please link DRIKSNA – “STAY”? ‘My Radiant you’ singer
The moment of truth is here. The auditions have been filmed professionally and I want to congratulate Latvia for stepping up in the production level. And this is why any of the flaws these songs show cannot be contributed to “technical issues”. The good news is, Madara is back with another stunning song! Edgars is also good. Many others not as much. I am really going to be fair this year and my lowest ratings in Albania and Estonia are 4/10. I do see a lot of 2s and 3s in Latvia. Perhaps even 1s. Some of these acts did… Read more »
I really appreciate the effort Supernova put on these clips. It’s also nice that it gives a level playing field to the contestats. Don’t know what the budget they have, but it would be lovely if Czech Republic did the same thing with their online selection.
Audition clips kind of look like little official videos. I really hope Czech Republic does the same, especially since our vote counts there too.
To “vote” in Supernova, it’s just a matter of rewatching the videos in Youtube, right? I guess I’ll listen Ruta and Miks a lot (I assume they’ll need more of my help than Madara and Samanta who are probably the fan favorites along with Edgars).
If that’s it, it’s a very clunky way of assuring votes IMHO. First off, I’d have to listen to *all* songs at least twice in order to rate them. Second, sometimes I re-listen the rock bottom (at least fragments of it) just to have fun with how bad it is. Third, often I re-listen my mid-list songs who I am still unsure whether I like them to get a better idea. A clear yes/no/maybe buttons would be more precise. Also, I agree with you that Ruta’s song is interesting. It’s not an earworm on the first, but I would totally… Read more »
I’d be careful though. Edgars hasn’t exactly done well in the public votes during his previous attempts.
Well, he has a better song this time. But maybe he’s more famous between the Eurovision fandom than in Latvia? I wonder if the same applies to Madara. Any Latvian here that can answer it?
Honorable mention Heart Beats! ??
Excited that Madara is back!
I really like Samanta Ruta Edgars and Madara. I think its Samanta’s year.
Really good picks, Thomas. About my thoughts exactly. I would be thrilled to hear the magic of Madara in ESC, but since Esamiba, I am a bit skeptical. Beautiful atmospheric songs in native language would do well in ESC (take Jonida or Jamala), but they rarely win their own NFs, especially in the North (fingers crossed for Aistay this Saturday). Markus Riva is doing worse and worse with each attempt. I do believe this might be Samanta’s long awaited moment. Her song is interesting and would stand out. It’s just mainstream enough to win.
I get exactly what you’re saying, I was a huge fan of Esmaiba but it is a risk to.send a song like that, just like her song this year. Its beautiful but its not the one that held me immediately, it took about till the 1:30 mark for me to get with the vibe. Ruta’s song really caught my attention cause it has a production difference from other songs where the vocals an the instruments are fighting each other but in the chorus they meld SO well together. An her vocals are solid too. Edgars song isnt as good as… Read more »
I don’t think it would’ve been a risk to send Esamiba in 2018, Madara could’ve rocked that dire semi-final 2.
It’s far too mainstream. We hear so many songs like it, and there will likely be many that are similar during NF season. Madara has a genuinely unique entry.
I politely disagree, it has way too much a frenetic sound to be considered mainstream. From drum and bass influences to even rap. We will see those songs in the NF seasons yes but in this way? No I don’t think so.
Madara is beautifully unique, but so is Samanta’s entry. Hopefully whoever wins (any of my four i listed plus Heart Beats) will do Latvia proud.
Glad to hear that I’m not the only one who’s paying attention to Ruta. I know she’s not exactly what most people would consider “Eurovision material”, but I’m really impressed by her audition.
There will be a lot of women in Eurovision 2020, I guess…
Sorry, Latvia. I don’t like any of your song this year. I’m scared we might only get winner material from the countries with the internal selections this year.
I think at the end it is going to be a battle between SAMANTA TINA and MADARA! But there are a lot of good songs at this year`s SUPERNOVA!
not as good as Esamiba, but still a pretty good effort.
who went through all of them please tell which ones I should give a try…?
Bad Habits is great.
Give a listen to all of them.
I think M?ras Zeme is better than Esam?ba, and the addition of the instruments and people on stage makes Madara more comfortable, and you can see an improvement in her vocals. Plus the backing singer is amazing
I like Madara, Laika Upe, Markus, Edgarts, Alise, Katrina Dimanta, Samanta, Annna, Elizabete, Bad Habits, Alekss, these songs impressed me in some way ….
I’m scared, that Markus Riva fanboys will try to 1) Buy votes in Spotify, because Latvia uses Spotify views as votes; 2) Spam ower twitter with #VoteMarkus, mostly in Russian (not the case, but shows that Latvian viewers dislike him), 3) Will again make fun of Madara, claiming that she can’t sing, her Latvian is bad (not true, as Latvian I understood every single word she sang), and that she has a piercing in her tongue (conservative Latvian pensioners hate anything about piercing).
Also, Markus will (most likely) push more into the show, lights, dancing, not singing. Sadly, in Latvia people still think that the show is more important than singing.
Jury will take care of Markus not winning, don’t worry 🙂
He doesn’t deserve to win, he will fail.
Well as a Latvian my self yes he is very popular,but its mostly in Russia,in Latvia he isnt as loved as other artists,so if he sings for Ukraine or Russia in eurpvision hr has better chances to get to eurovision,because latvians dont care if he is famous,we vote for what we like
For you is actually pretty underrated here , it’s a good song , better than most on here
And the lyrics make sense In it
Who wrote the lyrics for samanta tina and Markus ?
Sadly, Aminata. Both of these songs, and they’re both bad.
Who an Earth is voting for Markus Riva? He looks good, but his song is really weak…
Madara has to win! It’s simply magical, hypnotic and sung in Latvian!
Anything else is a NQ for Latvia!
Wait.. That Madara one is really good. :O Surprising coming from Latvia haha.
I’m kind of aware that Miks Dukurs might have a shot.
Don’t want to spoil my ranking or anything but……;)
On a first listen none of them screams ESC winner. One thing I know that if I was a judge in The Voice I wouldn’t turn my chair for half of them.
BTW, looks like Samanta is a fan of zumba classes. 😛 😛 😛
Can someone agree with me that Bad Habits is amazing?
The English enunciation is excellent- they sound like they could be British.
Madara is the only option for a comeback in the final for Latvia
The other songs are just …. bleeeeeee
Bad Habits, Katrina Dimanta & Samanta Tina can qualify as well. It just depends what kind of a year we will have.
Woah, this selection of songs is so interesting! I do like ANNNA’s Polyester though I don’t think it would do well in Eurovision. Elizabeth’s For You is so sweet and tender. Samanta Tina is very interesting indeed, I could see it doing well.
Wow Madara’s song blew me away, so beautiful. I could see this in a eurovision final tbh. Samanta is a bop, but i’m not sure if she will stand out enough in eurovision. Sab?ne Bl?ma Bl?mane is an odd fav of mine too, i guess i just like the old-timey ballads lol.
I thought Latvia had all but given up until I got to Samanta Tina. Give her the ticket to Rotterdam now.
Just ranking the songs now.
REALLY happy to see Janis Driksna back!