Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Latvia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "Bur man laimi", written by Asnate Rancāne, Aurēlija Rancāne, Elvis Lintiņš, Gabriēla Zvaigznīte, and Laura Līcīte, and performed by themselves as Tautumeitas. The Latvian participating broadcaster, Latvian Public Service Media (LSM), organised the national final Supernova 2025 in order to select its entry for the contest.
Latvia| Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2025 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Latvian Public Service Media (LSM) | |||
| Country | Latvia | |||
| Selection process | Supernova 2025 | |||
| Selection date | 8 February 2025 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Bur man laimi" | |||
| Artist | Tautumeitas | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (2nd, 130 points) | |||
| Final result | 13th, 158 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Latvia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 15 May 2025 and was later selected to perform in position 4. At the end of the show, "Bur man laimi" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and hence qualified to compete in the final, marking a second consecutive qualification for the country. It was later revealed that Latvia placed second out of the sixteen participating countries in the semi-final with 130 points, which matched the country's highest semi-final placing previously achieved in 2015. In the final, Latvia performed in position 11 and placed thirteenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring a total of 158 points, including a seventh place finish with the juries. This marked Latvia's highest placing since 2015.
Background
Prior to the 2025 contest, Latvian Television (LTV) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Latvia 24 times since its first entry in 2000. It won the contest once in 2002 with the song "I Wanna" performed by Marie N. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, it was able to qualify for the final between 2005 and 2008. Between 2009 and 2014, it failed to qualify to the final for six consecutive years before managing to qualify to the final in 2015 and 2016. Having once again failed to qualify to the final for six consecutive contests between 2017 and 2023, it managed to qualify to the final in 2024 with the song "Hollow" performed by Dons, placing 16th with a score of 64 points.[1]
After a restructuring that led to the incorporation of LTV into the current Latvian Public Service Media (LSM) on 2 January 2025, it was the latter who participated in the 2025 contest. As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, LSM organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2025 contest on 16 July 2024.[2] LTV selected their entries for Eurovision through a national final. Since their debut in 2000 until 2012, LTV had organised the selection show Eirodziesma, which was rebranded and retooled as Dziesma in 2013 and 2014. Since 2015, LTV organised the Supernova national final in order to select its entry, and on 24 July 2024, the broadcaster announced that it would return with organising Supernova 2025 in order to select its entry for the 2025 contest.[3]
Before Eurovision
Supernova 2025
Supernova 2025 was the tenth edition of the national final format used to select Latvia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition commenced on 1 February 2025 with a semi-final and concluded with a final on 8 February 2025. The two shows in the competition took place at the Riga Film Studio in Riga, hosted by Ketija Šēnberga and Lauris Reiniks and broadcast on LTV1 as well as online via the streaming platform Replay.lv and the official Supernova website supernova.lsm.lv. Alternative broadcasts of the final also occurred on LTV7 with a sign language translation as well as online at lsm.lv.[4][5][6]
Format
The format of the competition consisted of two shows: a semi-final and a final. The semi-final, held on 1 February 2025, featured nineteen competing entries from which the top ten advanced to the final from each show. LTV also had the right to advance a wildcard act to the final from the remaining non-qualifying entries in the semi-final, but ultimately opted against doing so. The final, held on 8 February 2025, selected the Latvian entry for Basel from the remaining ten entries. Results during the semi-final and final shows were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote, with both the jury and public vote assigning points from 1-8, 10 and 12 to the competing songs. Ties were decided in favour of the entries that received higher points from the public. Viewers were able to vote via telephone or SMS, with a single SMS counting as ten individual votes.[7][6]
The jury voted in each show and selected entries to advance in the competition. The panel consisted of:[8]
- Anna Platpīre – content editor for LTV
- Grettel Killing – Estonian artist manager
- Mārtiņš Pabērzis – presenter of Latvijas Radio 5
- Reinis Sējāns – musician, composer and producer, represented Latvia in 2006 as part of Cosmos
- Rob Gruschke – Dutch music industry collective rights manager
- Saulius Urbonavičius – television producer, represented Lithuania in 2006 as part of LT United
- Tommi Kyyrä – deputy director of IFPI Finland
- Una Stade – singer, composer, vocal coach and conductor
Competing entries
On 20 August 2024, LTV opened a song submission window for artists to apply, with the deadline set for 21 October 2024. Performers were required to be Latvian nationals or permanent residents of Latvia, while songwriters and producers could be from any country. Additionally, a songwriting camp was held in Riga in late August 2024 in order to create songs to be submitted for the competition. At the end of the submission period, 96 entries had been received. The participants were selected by a jury composed of representatives of the Latvian music and television industry, as well as foreign professionals, and were announced on 20 November 2024 on the programme Rīta Panorāma, broadcast on LTV1.[9][10][11][12][13]
Among the selected competing artists were Justs and Citi Zēni, who represented Latvia in 2016 and 2022, respectively.[14] On 28 January 2025, it was announced that Grēta had withdrawn her participation due to health problems.[15]
Key: Entry withdrawn
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Adelina | "Electric Love" |
|
| Bel Tempo and Legzdina | "The Water" |
|
| Chris Noah | "Romance Isn't Dead" |
|
| Citi Zēni | "Ramtai" |
|
| Emilija | "Heartbeat" |
|
| ||
| Julianna | "Something in the Water" | Julianna Tīruma |
| Justs | "Fit Right" |
|
| Katrīna Gupalo | "Scarlett Challenger" |
|
| KoBra | "Zelts" |
|
| Luka | "Stronger" |
|
| Markus Riva | "Bigger than This" |
|
| Marta | "Lovable" |
|
| Palú | "Delusional" |
|
| Rūta Dūduma | "Chemical" |
|
| Sinerģija | "Bound by the Light" | Madara Fogelmane |
| Tautumeitas | "Bur man laimi" |
|
| Tepat | "Sadzejot" |
|
| The Ludvig | "Līgo" |
|
| Toms Kalderauskis | "Domāju, tu nāc" |
|
Semi-final
The semi-final took place on 1 February 2025 where nineteen acts competed. The top ten entries qualified to the final based on the combination of votes from a jury panel and the Latvian public.[16]
| R/O | Artist | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marta | "Lovable" | Eliminated |
| 2 | Tepat | "Sadzejot" | Advanced |
| 3 | Justs | "Fit Right" | Eliminated |
| 4 | KoBra | "Zelts" | Eliminated |
| 5 | Adelina | "Electric Love" | Eliminated |
| 6 | Citi Zēni | "Ramtai" | Advanced |
| 7 | Emilija | "Heartbeat" | Advanced |
| 8 | Bel Tempo and Legzdina | "The Water" | Advanced |
| 9 | Palú | "Delusional" | Advanced |
| 10 | The Ludvig | "Līgo" | Advanced |
| 11 | Luka | "Stronger" | Eliminated |
| 12 | Chris Noah | "Romance Isn't Dead" | Advanced |
| 13 | Toms Kalderauskis | "Domāju, tu nāc" | Eliminated |
| 14 | Julianna | "Something in the Water" | Eliminated |
| 15 | Tautumeitas | "Bur man laimi" | Advanced |
| 16 | Rūta Dūduma | "Chemical" | Eliminated |
| 17 | Katrīna Gupalo | "Scarlett Challenger" | Eliminated |
| 18 | Sinerģija | "Bound by the Light" | Advanced |
| 19 | Markus Riva | "Bigger than This" | Advanced |
Final
The final took place on 8 February 2025 where the ten entries that qualified from the semi-final competed. The combination of votes from a jury panel and the Latvian public resulted in a tie for first place between "Bur man laimi" and "Heartbeat", but since "Bur man laimi" performed by Tautumeitas received the most votes from the latter, it was declared the winner. In addition to the competing entries, the show featured multiple guest performances by 2015 Latvian entrant Aminata.[18]
| R/O | Artist | Song | Jury rank | Televote | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Rank | |||||
| 1 | Chris Noah | "Romance Isn't Dead" | 4 | 27,808 | 4 | 5 |
| 2 | Palú | "Delusional" | 7 | 6,309 | 8 | 7 |
| 3 | Sinerģija | "Bound by the Light" | 8 | 6,184 | 9 | 9 |
| 4 | Citi Zēni | "Ramtai" | 1 | 22,562 | 5 | 3 |
| 5 | Tepat | "Sadzejot" | 9 | 4,848 | 10 | 10 |
| 6 | The Ludvig | "Līgo" | 6 | 69,933 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | Markus Riva | "Bigger than This" | 10 | 18,927 | 6 | 8 |
| 8 | Tautumeitas | "Bur man laimi" | 3 | 61,028 | 2 | 1 |
| 9 | Bel Tempo and Legzdina | "The Water" | 5 | 15,047 | 7 | 6 |
| 10 | Emilija | "Heartbeat" | 2 | 56,577 | 3 | 2 |
Ratings
| Show | Air date | Viewership | Avg. rating (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semi-final | 1 February 2025 | 158,700 | 9.2% |
| Final | 8 February 2025 | 179,100 | 10.4% |
At Eurovision
Latvia performed in the Second Semi-Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 at St. Jakobshalle in Basel on May 15. In January, they were drawn to perform in the first half of the semi-final, and they were later allocated 4th in the running order.[21] Tautumeitas qualified for the final in 2nd place with 130 points.
In the Grand Final, Latvia received 116 points from the juries, which included 12 points from Denmark, Lithuania, and the United Kingdom. They also received 42 points from the televote, with 12 points also from Lithuania.[22] They finished in 13th place with 158 points, Latvia's best result in Eurovision since 2015.
Voting
Points awarded to Latvia
|
|
.svg){kind=small}
Points awarded by Latvia
|
|
Detailed voting results
Each participating broadcaster assembles a five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. Each jury, and individual jury member, is required to meet a strict set of criteria regarding professional background, as well as diversity in gender and age. No member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.[24] The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.
The following members comprised the Latvian jury:[25]
- Rodrigo Fomins
- Toms Andris Putniņš
- Kristīne Pāže
- Liena Edvardsa
- Una Stade
| R/O | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juror A | Juror B | Juror C | Juror D | Juror E | Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  Norway | 17 | 10 | 25 | 15 | 13 | 18 | 10 | 1 | |
| 02 |  Luxembourg | 16 | 21 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 17 | |
| 03 |  Estonia | 5 | 6 | 18 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| 04 |  Israel | 24 | 25 | 13 | 21 | 11 | 23 | 4 | 7 | |
| 05 |  Lithuania | 6 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 10 |
| 06 |  Spain | 23 | 17 | 21 | 24 | 2 | 13 | 22 | ||
| 07 |  Ukraine | 8 | 4 | 19 | 16 | 20 | 12 | 5 | 6 | |
| 08 |  United Kingdom | 25 | 20 | 24 | 23 | 19 | 25 | 24 | ||
| 09 |  Austria | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 4 |
| 10 |  Iceland | 15 | 11 | 16 | 17 | 24 | 20 | 13 | ||
| 11 | Latvia | |||||||||
| 12 |  Netherlands | 4 | 9 | 20 | 18 | 21 | 14 | 11 | ||
| 13 |  Finland | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 3 |
| 14 |  Italy | 12 | 15 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 2 | |
| 15 |  Poland | 22 | 22 | 8 | 25 | 23 | 21 | 19 | ||
| 16 |  Germany | 13 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 5 |
| 17 |  Greece | 14 | 19 | 17 | 13 | 14 | 19 | 20 | ||
| 18 |  Armenia | 18 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 18 | |
| 19 |  Switzerland | 9 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 14 | |
| 20 |  Malta | 10 | 13 | 1 | 6 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 21 | |
| 21 |  Portugal | 21 | 23 | 23 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 16 | ||
| 22 |  Denmark | 19 | 14 | 6 | 20 | 10 | 16 | 23 | ||
| 23 |  Sweden | 7 | 7 | 12 | 14 | 22 | 15 | 3 | 8 | |
| 24 |  France | 2 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 15 | |
| 25 |  San Marino | 20 | 24 | 22 | 22 | 16 | 24 | 25 | ||
| 26 |  Albania | 11 | 16 | 15 | 19 | 25 | 22 | 12 | ||