Jonathan Currinn
Last night, the Latvian national selection final took place, titled Supernova 2017. The show saw four acts battle it out to become Latvia’s representative to the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. Triana Park won with their song “Line”.
The band shined during their performance, using neon colours and glowing words on boards throughout their performance. It was a visual experience that we hope they make bigger and better for the Eurovision stage.
Second place was My Radiant You who sang “All I Know”; third place was Santa Danelevica with “Your Breath”; and The Ludvig came fourth with “I’m In Love With You”. Triana Park beat them all; in May they will be jetting off to Kyiv, Ukraine. The band has attempted to represent Latvia a total of five times, in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012; it just shows that with persistence you can eventually win, although a break was probably much needed too.
Watch Latvian’s Eurovision Act Triana Park Perform “Line” Here:
The four-piece electronic band consists of Agnese Rakovska, Arturs Strautinš, Edgars Vilums, and Kristaps Erglis. So far, they have released a number of singles, as well as an EP. No doubt, representing Latvia at Eurovision has been their goal for a while, and it could push them into a bigger career in music.
Latvia has only won the contest once, back in 2002, thanks to Marie N with her song “I Wanna”. From 2009 onwards, they failed to qualify for the Grand Final, until they decided to reshape their national selection show in 2015. In doing so, they gained Aminata for that year, who came 9th in the Grand Final, with “Love Injected”. Then last year, Justs also made the Grand Final, placing 15th overall. Triana Park is hoping to replicate Aminata’s and Justs’ success, and maybe even win the contest for Latvia.
To do so they need to beat the other announced acts, as well as the ones that have yet to be revealed. Announced so far are: Cyprus’ Hovig, The Netherlands’ O’G3NE, Belgium’s Blanche, Macedonia’s Jana Burceska, Azerbaijan’s DiHaj, Ireland’s Brendan Murray, Austria’s Nathan Trent, Albania’s Lindita, Armenia’s Artsvik, Montenegro’s Slavko Kalezic, Greece’s Demy, Georgia’s Tako Gachechiladze, Belarus’ Navi, The United Kingdom’s Lucie Jones, Finland’s Norma John, Switzerland’s Timebelle, Germany’s Levina, France’s Alma, Spain’s Manel Navarro, Italy’s Francesco Gabbani, Israel’s Imri Ziv, Czech Republic’s Martina Barta, Croatia’s Jacques Houdek, Malta’s Claudia Faniello, Poland’s Kasia Mos, Hungary’s Joci Pápai, Slovenia’s Omar Naber, Denmark’s Anja Nissen, Moldova’s SunStroke Project, and Ukraine’s O.Torvald.
After Jamala won with “1944”, last year, the contest will be held in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. The semi-finals will take place on 9 May and 11 May, with the Grand Final taking place on 13 May.
