Latvia Sends a Disturbing Lullaby to the Grand Eurovision Song Contest in Aija

This year's national selection for the big "Eurovision" ended on Saturday evening on Latvian Television (LTV) In the "Supernova" contest, ten domestic artists competed for a ticket to Liverpool, and the honor of victory went to the boy band "Sudden Lights".

This year, the people and the professionals have decided that the group "Sudden Lights" will represent Latvia in the international song contest "Eurovision" with the song "Aijā" Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis, Kārlis Vārtiņš, Kārlis Matīss Zitmanis and Mārtiņš Matīss Zemītis play in the group "Sudden Lights".

The association has existed for 11 years Their self-written music is dominated by pop-rock style, supplemented with a slightly alternative vibe.

"Aijā" is sung in English, but Latvian is also heard, and the title of the lullaby does not lend itself to translation The piece combines the anxiety that surrounds us with a soothing sleep song.

"Aija" was created last summer as a reaction of the group to what is happening in the world, so it is a lullaby for themselves and for a raving world, the artists tell the portal "Delfi" "Lullaby, in my opinion, is the most beautiful and loving form of music.

Seeing the dark events in the world and people's lives destroyed by evil, we could not remain indifferent This is our attempt to comfort everyone who is hurt by what is happening," says soloist Andrejs.

Since the founding, the group has released three albums - "Priekšpilsētas" (2017), "Vislabāk ir tur kur manis nava" (2019) and "Miljards vasaru" (2022) The group spent last year in an active concert life - performed at the biggest Latvian festivals and went on a concert tour.

"Supernova" in the final, Louise was in 10th place, Artūrs Hatti was in ninth place, Alice Haijima was in eighth place, and Toms Kalderauskis was in seventh place The sixth place in the final was the singer Raum, the fifth place went to Ave, the fourth place went to the competition veteran Riva.

"24th Avenue" came in third, followed by Patricia The outcome of the national selection was determined by the evaluation of the viewers of the live tv broadcast as well as the still anonymous jury, or the total number of points given.

This year, the entire live broadcast time was devoted to voting by call or SMS "Delfi" already announced that Latvia will perform in the big "Eurovision" in the first selection semi-final, in which our closest neighboring countries will not participate.

Latvia will compete with Serbia, Sweden, Ireland, Moldova, Switzerland, Norway, Israel, Portugal, the Netherlands, Croatia, Finland, Azerbaijan, Malta and the Czech Republic We remind you that " 15 songs were initially entered in the "Supernova" semi-final, then one participant was disqualified and 14 remained.

In the semi-final on February 4, ten artists qualified for the next final: competition veteran Markus Riva with the song "Forever", Alice Haijima with the composition "Tricky", the group "24 avenue" with the composition "You Said", artist Raum with the song "Fake love", singer Avéi with the song "Let me go", Toms Kalderauskis with the composition "When it all falls", the already recognizable group "Sudden Lights" with the lullaby "Aija" ", Patriša with the song "Hush", Artūrs Hatti with "Love vibes" and Louise with the song "You to hold me".

The first semi-final of the big "Eurovision" is expected on May 9, the second on May 11, but the big final will gather millions of viewers on TV screens on May 13 Entry into the semi-finals of the competition "Supernova" was determined by a jury chosen by LTV, which includes representatives of the Latvian music industry, events and television, as well as foreign professionals.

Due to security reasons, again this year LTV will reveal the names of the jury representatives only after the "Eurovision" song contest in May In the "Eurovision" final on May 14, 2022, Ukrainian representatives "Kalush Orchestra" won with the song "Stedania", however, the Union of European Broadcasting Companies decided to entrust the organization of the 2023 contest on behalf of Ukraine to Great Britain.

Several countries refused to participate in "Eurovision" this year due to austerity - this was decided by Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro However, this year also introduced changes in voting, that is, those countries will also be able to vote who does not start in the competition.

For the last 14 years, the finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest were determined by the combined evaluation of the jury and the audience's votes, but now the audience's votes will have more weight Until now, the jury also evaluated the participants of the semi-finals, but now only the audience's vote will determine which countries from the semi-finals will go to the final.

On the other hand, in the grand final, the winner will be determined both by the audience's votes and the jury's evaluation According to Martins Osterdahl, CEO of Eurovision, anyone watching the show anywhere in the world will be able to vote for their favorite song, making the competition even more exciting.

The official video of the lullaby "Aija" Until now, the jury also evaluated the participants of the semi-finals, but now only the audience's vote will determine which countries from the semi-finals will go to the final.

The official video of the lullaby "Aija" thus making the competition even more exciting.

The official video of the lullaby "Aija" .