After taking a year off, Latvia is shooting for the stars again with the return of their national final Supernova. Broadcaster LTV confirmed details for the 2022 edition of the Latvian national final.
Supernova was put on hold for 2021 when 2020 winner Samanta Tīna was internally selected for Rotterdam. But the show is back for 2022 and the broadcaster isn’t just looking for familiar faces.
Jana Semjonova, Director of the LTV Programs Department, said, “We are looking forward to new performers and songwriters who still want to break into the Latvian popular music industry, as well as to the songs of already experienced and popular authors.”
The standard Eurovision rules apply. As well, the contest is open to Latvian citizens and permanent residents aged 16 or over, However foreign music creatives are able to be involved with the production of a song but with no more than 33% of the songwriting credit.
LTV also notes that Supernova 2022 acts may be required to present proof of Covid-19 vaccination before being allowed to compete.
Entries for Supernova 2022 opened today and will close on 7 December. Eurovision 2022 hopefuls can submit their entries via the Supernova website.
The Supernova 2022 selection process
The songs will be assessed by an expert jury selected by LTV. The jury will evaluate the songs, considering the song structure, the international potential of the entry, the personality of the artist and the artist’s past experience and future potential.
The jury will reveal their shortlist of entries some time in December. In recent years, the shortlisted acts have performed their songs at a live audition phase to further assess their suitability.
Supernova 2022 will take place in February 2022. At this stage, LTV has not confirmed any details about the 2022 edition of the show, but will confirm its structure by January 2022. The 2020 edition of Supernova used a single grand final with nine competing acts.
Supernova and Latvia at Eurovision
Supernova was launched in 2015, replacing the previous national final Dziesma. The show has produced mixed results for Latvia. In 2015, Aminata placed sixth in Vienna with her song “Love Injected”. The following year, Justs placed 15th in the grand final with his Aminata-written song “Heartbeat”.
But since then, Supernova acts have not done as well at Eurovision. Easy listening artists Laura Rizzotto and Carousel failed to create a memorable moment for Eurovision audiences and did not qualify for the grand final. Avant-garde acts Triana Park and Samanta Tīna were evidently too divisive for Europe and each placed last in their semi-finals.
What do you think? Who would you like to see enter Supernova? What sort of act should Latvia send to Eurovision 2022? Tell us your thoughts below.
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I mean whatever. Latvia is one of those “whatever” countries at eurovision. They are not anything great at eurovision and people dont check for them either. like a belarus or a montenegro
Latvia should get rid of Supernova (which only worked for the first two years) and do an internal selection instead.
yeah, like an internal selection worked this year
Though I agree with those who mentioned that the level of its entries has been falling over the last few years, I’m glad to know that Latvia is still insisting with Supernova, which was rumored to be at risk a while ago. Erasmus pointed something that I agree with, it’s a rare case where the show per se is actually better than the songs it normally has in contention. I could say the same about DMGP.
Dude, that’s dystopian
Not really. Vaccine passports have been around for ages. I bet even you have one from your childhood. It’s just as “dystopian” as a work permit, which includes a medical check up. Yet no one complains about that one.
I really hope they will improve the quality of the songs, because I saw that decreasing little by little every year since 2017 and if they keep doing like this their results won’t get any better.
It depends on what gets submitted, LTV has no power over that.
This time artists had 2 years to write songs, so something good might appear, but will see.
Yes, that’s true. Hope for something creative. It’s sad to see them doing so bad each year, so it’d be nice if they manage to send a good song
exactly! I think Latvia is one of the rare examples where it’s actually not the broadcaster’s fault that they’re doing poorly.
I’d like to see Latvia have a better crop of songs for 2022, and like Kaija wrote, Any interested artist has had two years to compose something so we might get something better next year. I don’t know what is the financial state of the Latvian broadcaster, but maybe they should take a cue from their neighbor Lithuania and ride some kind of financial assistance to help improve the quality of the songs and performances.
I am happy for Supernova comeback but please a bit more originality and dare I say quality in next year’s songs!
I would also love to see Madara but with a song more similar to her first entry and I wonder if we will see Markus again..
Surely yes, let’s just vote for him so he can go and then we can get rid of him like the same with Uku
If Markus ends up going, then I can just see another non-qualification for Latvia because he’s been in the national final so many times. and I’ve noticed that the more times an artist has participated in a national final before they finally win, they’re more likely to be eliminated in the Eurovision semi finals.
May Madara come back, I miss a song in Latvian
After failing to qualify in four consecutive contests over the last five years, plus getting two last places In the semi finals, 2022 better be the year that Latvia gets itself together and choose something That will push it to the final. This year’s last place overall needs to serve as a wake up call to bring forth some high-quality choices for the Latvian public to pick for eurovision. I’m getting really sick Of seeing Latvia getting left behind year after year, and I hope they get a high-quality national final So there are great options and have the potential… Read more »
What’s your obsession with comparing the Baltics winning/qualifying? I see your comments under so many articles constantly emhasizing the Baltic thing. Imo at least here in Estonia nobody really pays attention to Latvia & Lithuania qualifying or not. I feel quite weird when people from abroad mention that “2015 Baltic dream” while it gets so little attention locallly.
That’s interesting! Maybe Eurovision is less of a deal in Estonia, but here in Lithuania we celebrate if Latvia or Estonia qualifies. Especially when we don’t. It’s like moral support lol, like “at least our brothers will represent our small region!”
Exactly ! I remember how this year comentator at LRT was like “Let’s hope either Latvia or Estonia gets it” when it was only one place left unannounced in SF2