LTV confirms Latvia’s participation in Eurovision 2018

LTV, Latvia’s national broadcaster, has confirmed that they will participate in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. LTV confirmed this in a statement to our friends over at Eurovoix.com. It has yet to be revealed whether the Latvian entry will be selected via the Supernova national selection format as has been the case since 2015.

Nineteen participations in a row!

Latvia has participated in every single Eurovision Song Contest since they made their debut in the 2000 contest in Stockholm. The Baltic nation won the contest on their third attempt when Marie N narrowly beat Malta’s Ira Losco to victory in 2002 with I Wanna. After six consecutive non-qualifications between 2009 and 2014, LTV revamped their national selection format. The first two winners of Supernova, Aminata and Justs, both qualified for the final. Furthermore, Aminata achieved Latvia’s highest ever placing in a semi-final. Love Injected finished 2nd in the second semi-final in 2015.

Latvia will be hoping for a return to form

This year, Triana Park finally earned the opportunity to represent Latvia at the Eurovision Song Contest. The band had tried to do so on numerous occasions but missed out on victory. However, Line earned Triana Park that long-awaited win and travelled to the contest in Kyiv. Unfortunately, the quartet finished last in the first semi-final thus failing to qualify Latvia to the final for what would have been a third consecutive year.

Triana Park: “The feeling wasn’t the most pleasant”

In an interview with Latvian website Sejas, Triana Park lead vocalist Agnese Rakovska has admitted her disappointment at their result in Kyiv. “It was a huge responsibility”, says Agnese. “You don’t want to disappoint the people of Latvia who voted for you [to represent them]. The feeling isn’t the most pleasant.”

Latvia is now amongst 17 countries to have announced their intention to participate in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. The contest will take place in Portugal next May with exact dates expected from the EBU and RTP shortly.

Are you pleased to see Latvia returning for Eurovision 2018? In addition, do you hope that Supernova will return as the country’s selection process? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and via our social media pages @ESCXTRA!