Latvia haven’t been all that successful at Eurovision in recent years, apart from their standout entries from Aminata, and then Justs in the following year, but apart from that, we’re lucky to find Latvia in the final. This year it will be up to Laura Rizzotto to help redeem the last place finish last year with her song Funny Girl, but will it follow the same fate, or will we be welcoming Latvia back to the final?
Points to Latvia for one of the most misleading song titles of the year, as on first impressions, you’d be mistaken to think this song would be an upbeat entry. Instead, we’ve got a bit of a fifty shades style jazzy tune. We get the 007 Bond tune from Belgium this year, but Latvia is also on the film soundtrack path, as this song is quite theatrical and different from what we’ve heard from Latvia before.
After a fairly underwhelming national final, Latvia probably did choose correctly with this song. There will be a certain audience who will go for this song, but unfortunately I don’t think I’m that audience. Despite that, objectively I can see the appeal in this song, as it’s classy and it’s sensual, and it has a melody that’s fairly easy to follow, at least the choruses. For me I don’t really feel connected to this song, and in a way the theatrical nature of the song is a bit too extra for me.
Judging off the national final performance, I actually find that Laura at times vocally gives too much. At times I feel the songs needs a bit less vocal power to make certain parts of the song stand out a bit more, for example, the choruses. Despite that, I think she’s a confident performer who isn’t afraid to use some sex appeal to boost her performance. It certainly is the song for it, but the staging we saw at Supernova was definitely a positive. It’s a song that needs simplicity in staging, and I think having her on stage alone, and featuring just the one colour in lighting and costuming makes this performance really stand out. Laura oozes confidence in her performance and so you wouldn’t need any other fuss on stage. Supported with some strong backing singers, and this will take it up a notch from the national final performance.
All aboard… 50 shades train!
Being in the second semi-final where the results perhaps could be a bit more unexpected, Latvia certainly has a chance of qualifying, but just as much as they have a chance of not qualifying. I think this could go either way, and it’s one that depends on the night, not only on her performance but the performance of others. Being late in the running order could help her out, but she’s sandwiched between the hard rock of Hungary, and Sweden’s killer pop track, so it’s hard to predict this one.
Our rating: 6/10
If you support Latvia at Eurovision, make sure to vote for Laura in our poll! Watch her official video below, and follow our Eurovision 2018 playlist on Spotify.
