Latvia 2021- Samanta Tina with ‘The Moon Is Rising

We had a pretty good idea what was coming here with some of the clips released from the recording studio and, well, yeah…

The problem with this is that it is catering just to that very core eurofan audience. Maybe fan love has given Samanta the idea that playing up to the ‘slay queeen’ tropes is the way to go but she’s going to get a rude awakening with the televote in May as this will appeal to a very narrow audience. This may well be the least likeable and voteable performance of the year.

I’ve seen ‘Hvala Ne’ thrown in as the comparison but that is highly flattering- there was at least a proper melody, production and credibility there. This has none of those.

Samanta isn’t a bad vocalist, but everything else here screams car crash. The staging should be interesting, and there is room to elevate this into something enjoyably bonkers, but they’re 99% certain to go down the aggressive route and doom themselves.

Latvia never have the most support but their closest neighbours here of Poland in particular and Estonia are liable to fancy something more ‘normal’ along with the rest of Europe. I don’t see this qualifying and this is probably fighting to avoid last place in the semi.

Personal Rating: 1/10 Competitive Rating: 2/10 Early Prediction: Semi Two 14th-17th