Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014


Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Latvian entry was selected through Dziesma 2014, a national final format that consisted of two semi-finals and a final, organised by the Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija. Aarzemnieki represented Latvia with the song "Cake to Bake" written by Guntis Veilands, which failed to qualify from the first semi-final, placing 13th with 33 points. This is the sixth year in a row that the nation has failed to qualify for the final.

Before Eurovision

Dziesma 2014

Dziesma 2014 was the second edition of Dziesma, the music competition that selects Latvia's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition commenced on 1 February 2014 and concluded with a final on 22 February 2014.

Format

The format of the competition consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. The semi-finals took place at Palladium Concert Hall in Riga and the final took place at the Jūras vārti Theatre in Ventspils. The three shows were hosted by Ēriks Loks and Nauris Brikmanis. The two semi-finals, held on 1 February and 2 February 2014, each featured twelve competing entries from which six were selected to advance to the final from each show. The winning song in the final, held on 22 February 2014, was selected over two rounds of voting: the first round results selected the top three songs and the second round decided the winner from those three songs.
Results during the semi-final and final shows were determined by a jury panel and votes from the public. The jury vote was calculated by having each member of the jury rank each song from first to twelfth. The song that came in first place would get one point, while the song that came in last place would get twelve points. These results were combined with the public vote which ranked the songs based on the number of televotes each entry received. Therefore, the song with the fewest points would achieve first place. Viewers were able to vote via telephone or via SMS. The online vote conducted through the official LTV website allowed local and international users to vote once per each accepted social network account: Draugiem.lv, Facebook and Twitter.

Competing entries

Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 1 October 2013 and 20 November 2013. LTV adopted the slogan "Made in Latvia" for the competition, meaning that all artists and songwriters were required to be Latvian unlike in previous years. 73 songs were submitted at the conclusion of the submission period, and an international and local jury panel evaluated the submitted entries and selected 24 entries to compete in the national final. The international jury panel consisted of Adam Klein, John Ballard and Maja Keuc. The local jury consisted of Aija Strazdiņa, Aija Vītoliņa, Ģirts Lūsis, Kārlis Auzāns and Kristaps Krievkalns. The twenty competing songs and their authors were announced on 2 December 2013. Songwriters had until 7 January 2014 to nominate the performers of their songs. The twenty competing artists were announced on 8 January 2014.
ArtistSong 'Music / Lyrics
Aarzemnieki"Cake to Bake"Guntis Veilands
Aminata Savadogo"I Can Breathe"Aminata Savadogo
Andris Kivičs"Pa vidu tu" 'Andris Kivičs
Anete Volmane"Breathe Slow"Edgars Viļums, Anete Volmane
Crazy Dolls"Bučas" 'Aldis Zaļūksnis, Mārtiņs Poļakovskis
DJ Dween & Sabīne Berezina"Dejo tā" 'Kaspars Dvinskis, Sabīne Berezina
Dons"Pēdējā vēstule" 'Artūrs Šingirejs, Ingus Bērziņš
Dāvis Matskins"I Need More"Alise Ketnere
Eirošmits"If I Could "Miks Žagars, Raitis Aušmuksts
Ivo Grīsniņš Grīslis"I've Got"Ivo Grīsniņš Grīslis
Katrine Lukins"You Are the Reason"Katrine Lukins, Kārlis Indrišonoks
Katrīna Bindere"Moment and Tomorrow"Edgars Beļickis, Kārlis Auziņš, Mikus Frišvelds
Mad Show Boys"I Need a Soul-Twin"Garijs Poļskis
Markus Riva"Lights On"Gaitis Lazdāns, Markus Riva
MyRadiantU"Going All the Way"Janis Driksna
Niko"Here I Am Again"Vladimirs Koževņikovs
Olga & Līgo"Saule riet" 'Tomass Kleins, Guntars Račs
Oskars Deigelis"Just Stop"Oskars Deigelis, Ruslans Kuksinovičs
Ralfs Eilands & Valters Pūce"Revelation"Ralfs Eilands, Valters Pūce, Ansis Grūbe
Sabīne Berezina"Pressure"Žanna Berezina
Sabīne Vidriķe"Is It Possible"Edgard Kokorevičs, Sabīne Vidriķe
Samanta Tīna"Stay"Ingars Viļums
Tamāra Rutkovska"I'm Happy"Tamāra Rutkovska
U.K."What If It Was"Rolands Ūdris

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 1 February 2014. Twelve of the competing entries performed, and six qualified to the final via a combination of votes from a jury panel and the Latvian public. The jury panel that voted in the first semi-final consisted of Kristaps Krievkalns, Jegors Jerohomovičs, Aija Strazdiņa, Ģirts Lūsis, Uldis Cīrulis aka DJ Monsta, Gabriel Broggini, Ivan Broggini, Vineta Elksne and Jānis Palkavnieks.
In addition to the performances of the competing songs, the show featured guest performances by rock group Dzelzs Vilks, ensemble Gapoljeri, folk duo Dimantas, hip-hop performer Pikaso and 2012 Swiss Eurovision entrants Sinplus.

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 2 February 2014. Twelve of the competing entries performed, and six qualified to the final via a combination of votes from a jury panel and the Latvian public. The jury panel that voted in the second semi-final consisted of Kristaps Krievkalns, Jegors Jerohomovičs, Aija Strazdiņa, Ģirts Lūsis, Uldis Cīrulis aka DJ Monsta, Gabriel Broggini, Ivan Broggini, Zita Lunde and Artūrs Ancāns.
In addition to the performances of the competing songs, the show featured guest performances by 2012 World Choir Games champions Latvian Voices, 2010 Latvian Eurovision entrant Aija Andrejeva, group Headline, Latvian Song and Dance Festival choir wars winner Latvian Academy of Culture mixed choir Sõla and 2012 Swiss Eurovision entrants Sinplus.

Final

The final took place on 22 February 2014. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and the Latvian public determined the top three entries to proceed to the superfinal: "Pēdējā vēstule" performed by Dons, "Stay" performed by Samanta Tīna and "Cake to Bake" performed by Aarzemnieki. In the superfinal, the winner, "Cake to Bake" performed by Aarzemnieki was selected by the public and jury vote.
In addition to the performances of the competing songs, the show featured guest performances by 2003 Latvian Eurovision entrant Lauris Reiniks, Normunds Rutulis, 2004 Latvian Eurovision entrants Fomins and Kleins, 2013 Latvian Eurovision entrants PeR performing together with Lithuanian singer Jurga and Estonian band Tenfold Rabbit.

At Eurovision

During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, Latvia was drawn to compete in the first half of the first semi-final on 6 May 2014. In the first semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Latvia would perform 2nd, following Armenia and preceding Estonia. Latvia failed to qualify from the first semi-final, placing 13th in a field of 16 songs and scoring 33 points.
The Latvian performance featured the four members of Aarzemnieki playing instruments. The LED screens projected a tree lined park decorated with lights.
In Latvia, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on LTV1 with commentary by Valters Frīdenbergs and Kārlis Būmeisters. The Latvian spokesperson revealing the result of the Latvian vote in the final was Ralfs Eilands.

Points awarded to Latvia

Points awarded by Latvia

Semi-final 1

Points awarded in first semi-final:
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

Final

Points awarded in the final:
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

Split voting results

The following five members comprise the Latvian jury:
The Latvian votes in the first semi-final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.

Final

The Latvian votes in the first grand final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.