Latvia’s Eurovision 2022 act Citi Zēni have released the official music video for “Eat Your Salad”. The clip is a humorous representation of the style during the 1970s, old-school TV shows like Blind Date, as well as Bollywood inspired dancing. It incorporates local Latvian celebrities such as Beta Beidz (Beāte Bērziņa), Marģers Majors, Edgars Bāliņš as well as the dance ensamble “Daiļrade” in the lead actor roles.
Citi Zēni “Eat Your Salad” (Official Music Video) | Latvia Eurovision 2022
The video’s director is Niklāvs Vētra, who teamed up with creative producers Mārtiņš Goldbergs and Elīna Sargune. The editing and cinematography was overseen by Ritvars Bluka. Artist Diāna Rābante participated in creation of the clip and choreography was done by Beāte Svarinska. The video was created with the support of Live Riga.
The live performance of “Eat Your Salad” at the Supernova final has already surpassed one million views on YouTube, while on Spotify the song has been streamed well over a million times worldwide. It has also managed to chart on an international level, where it is strongly positioned in the TOP 50 Viral songs of Sweden, Iceland, Finland and many more.
“The official music video is filled with humorous references about Eurovision, different European cultures as well as the trends of pop music,” that is how the singer of Citi Zēni. Jānis Pētersons describes the idea behind the video, “We deliberately held the hippie’esque style to the whole thing, in order to emulate a feeling of being in a different timeline for the viewers.”
Drummer Toms Kagainis comments on the filming process: “All in all this is the biggest music video in the history of Citi Zēni so far – both in terms of the team involved and also the overall complexity. Eurovision Song Contest is the biggest stage in the world, thus it seemed appropriate to create a music video that would challenge us to strive for more.”
“The road towards Eurovision has taken up all of our focus now. The goals are high, thus we are happy to spend all our energy and efforts towards it. We believe that we can suprise Europe with something unexpected from Latvia,” that is how the readiness for the contest is described by the bass player & producer Roberts Memmēns. “Latvia needs to return to Eurovision finals this year, so we are doing everything we can to make that happen,” the bands’ sax player Dagnis Roziņš adds.
Citi Zēni are a six-piece musical act from Riga, Latvia, whose music can be described as alternative unicorn pop. Self-proclaimed princes of rap & divas of 21st century pop sounds.
The band Citi Zēni released their debut album Suņi Iziet Ielās (Dogs’ take to the streets) in October of 2021. It has been critically acclaimed by receiving an award in “Zelta Mikrofons” (Latvian equivalent to the Grammys) and also placing second in the popular radio event “Muzikālā Banka”.
Citi Zēni will perform in the first semifinals on May 10 at the 66th International Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy. Albania, Switzerland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Denmark, Armenia, Austria, Croatia, Iceland and Greece will also take part. The second semi-final of Eurovision will take place on May 12, the final – on May 14.
What do you make of the “Eat Your Salad” music video? Let us know down below.
I like this but get why many don’t. I think this could have a bit of ‘shock value’ that helps it stand out, even against Norway who also sends something that isn’t to be 100% taken seriously either. I personally hope this qualifies and with good staging, I expect it to.
Personally, I like it. But I see why people hate it. This is that type of song that brings out either a positive or a negative reaction. There is no inbetween. I feel like in a competition it is crucial to have a song that gives some sort of an emotion, positive or negative. That’s why I feel like they will get enough attention to go through. Broadcasters and media will like to see this through in comparison of Iceland, Croatia that are entries that no one really hates but also no one cares about.
I might be downvoted, I don’t give a damn, but when a joke entry is produced well, it’s impossible to fail. I enjoy this song so much, if not for the chorus, just for the insrtumental and the crazy, fun vibe it carries, it belongs in my personal top 10.
As quirky as it is, I really don’t think it’s actually a joke. And I love it.
in a year full of cringe…this is the cringiest…
No, that’s Norway lmao
eurofans are gonna be so mad when latvia qualifies and i’m so ready to see it
This is the worst Latvia ha sever sent to Eurovision.
2001, 2006, and 2009 say hi!
I like the official video here. I always appreciate when they try to give us a story.
2006 wasn’t that bad. I’d sooner call out 2008 (with which they qualified), 2010, 2013 and 2014
I actually liked 2008, especially compared to the other joke entries of that year. 2014 is kinda cute, even if noncompetitive. 2010 is not a bad studio song at all, but I don’t mind someone putting is really low if they’ve only seen the performance.
After watching the video this is my #40
The shorty guy looks like a pervert. Just plain vulgar music.
It’s trying so hard to be something, everything, anything. I just cringe, that’s not how you do a good novelty act. It’s trying to be funny, shocking, sexual, childish, rude and make a social statement all at once. I feel like it’s sweaty and none of this really works.
I hate the lyrics (they’re too preachy for me to like them) and the beat gets annoying very fast. Still, I like it better than Norway’s entry xd
can’t help but cringe during the whole song…
Wait, I thought they would change the lyrics because they can’t say like a quarter of the lyrics at Eurovision!?
The video is brilliant! What a great use of a concept.
I eat veggie and peepee
This song is enough to make you a full carnivore
You could just say I eat meat
I really love Latvia’s entry this year and I wish they will qualify, but they likely won’t which is ok. I’m just glad they made it to ESC 🙂
When trying to make a joke entry, at least make it funny and captivating.
Totally unbearable and wrong on so many levels. There is so, so much that I dislike about this entry. The worst bit is that it is supposed to be fun, but yet it is completely excruciating. And there is no joy to be found in that irony either.
The veggies and pussy lyric is so inappropriate and I am here for it!
This is the act that I find very annoying and yet I can’t stop listening to it. The fact that the blond singer bugs me so much and gets on my nerves is why I like him so much (For me it’s better if I feel something (good or bad) rather than feeling nothing (Belgium, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Switzerland, Cyprus are just a few that don’t do anything for me but a lot of people would say that these are “quality” when compared to Latvia)). This will definitely make my TOP 10 in the semis and in the finals! This is… Read more »