LTV, the Latvian national broadcaster, has announced the 16 acts that will compete in the semi-finals of Supernova 2019.

The semi-finalists were selected by a professional jury alongside the People’s Jury. Fans were able to vote online for all 33 acts that made it to the second audition round by marking each song “For”, “Against” or “Reserve”.

The 16 semi-finalists are:

Carousel – “That Night”

Aivo Oskis – “Somebody’s got my lover”

Dziļi Violets feat. Kozmens – “Tautas dziesma” (Folk song)

Laime Pilnīga – “Awe”

Samanta Tīna – “Cutting the wire”

Markus Riva – “You make me so crazy”

Adriana Miglāne – “Scared of love”

Double Faced Eels – “Fire”

Elza Rozentāle – “You came on tiptoe”

Edgars Kreilis – “Fire”

Kristiāna Bumbiere – “Remedy”

Laika Upe – “Listen to the way that I breathe”

Kristīne Pastare (Peress) – “Smaragdi un pelni” (Emeralds and ashes)

Alekss Silvērs – “Fireworks”

Līga Rīdere – “Būšu tepat” (I’ll be there right now)

Kris & Oz – “Midnight streets”

A total of 83 songs were submitted for the Latvian Eurovision selection show for 2019. The contest is also undergoing a number of changes for next year. For the first time performers and songwriters aged 16 will be allowed to take part in the competition. LTV has also tightened the rules on the quality of the songs when they are submitted to the broadcaster. All of the songs submitted must be professionally recorded and represent the authors ideas as much as possible.

Supernova will once again be working with the Universal Music Group to promote Latvian music across the globe. While the selection continues to focus on Latvian performers, foreign producers, authors and singers will still be able to take part in the selection. For singers they must be part of a group formed of Latvian nationals.

Source: LTV

Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest Latvia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000, being the last of the Baltic nations to join the contest. On their debut, Brainstorm finished in 3rd place with the song “My Star”. Latvia won the contest for the first and only time in 2002, with Marie N’s “I Wanna”. Latvia only participated in 2002 thanks to the withdrawal of Portugal from the contest, as Latvia’s poor result in 2001 had relegated them from the 2002 contest. Latvia struggled in to the contest after 2002, failing to qualify for the final for six years between 2009 and 2014. In 2015 and 2016 Latvia has finished 6th and 15th in the final respectively.