Artist Profiles: Aminata

Aminata Savadogo, or Aminata as Eurovision fans know her, is a Latvian singer and songwriter who many would know as the 2015 Latvian representative. Since then, she has continued to influence the Eurovision world in various ways, as well as launching a career of her own.

Before her appearance at Eurovision, Aminata was no stranger to television or competitions. She started singing at the age of 13, and at the age of 15 she participated in the Latvian television show Krodziņā pie Paula, and at the age of 17 she then took part in the competition Muzikālā banka. She has also taken part in the Latvian version of Clash of the Choirs as part of the choir Golden.

Aminata came to the attention of international fans when she took part in the Latvian pre-selection for Eurovision, which was at that point Dziesma. Her participation came a year before she went on to win the national final, and in the 2014 her song was called I Can Breathe, and featured her signature unique style. She qualified through the first semi-final of the national selection, then placed 5^th in the final. Aminata then went on to win the Latvian show Jaunā talantu fabrika.

2015 was the breakthrough year for Aminata, after she returned to the Latvian national final, which was changed to the Supernova format the nation still has currently. Her song was called Love Injected, as many of you would know. She qualified through the heat and semi-final with the televote, and then in the final, she was announced the winner. She then went on to represent Latvia at Eurovision in 2015, She qualified in second place in the semi-final, which was Latvia’s first qualification in 7 years. In the final, she placed 6^th place, which was Latvia’s best placing since 2005, and their 4^th best placing ever. Before her performance at Eurovision, she also released her debut album titled Inner Voice.

The following year, Aminata returned to Eurovision, but this time as a songwriter. She wrote the song Heartbeat for the singer Justs, who went on to win Supernova 2016, and then took Latvia to the final once again, ending up in 15^th place in the final. At Supernova, she performed a new song called Fighter, and the music video was released in April.

Aminata’s second studio album was released in late 2016, and was called Red Moon. She went on to participate in the 5^th Season of Golos, the Russian version of the voice. During the blind audition, she joined the team of Polina Gagarina, who also participated in Eurovision 2015 for Russia. Aminata went on to the knockout rounds, but unfortunately was eliminated.

This year, she wrote a song for the Lithuanian national final, which was called I’m Like A Wolf. The song was performed by Aistė Pilvelytė, and overall in the competition she came 2^nd, just missing out on representing Lithuania, and Aminata just missing out on being a part of her 3^rd Eurovision.

Listen to some of Aminata’s singles down below: