Welcome back to ESCBubble’s coverage for Eurovision 2021! It’s been a busy few days, and today marks the final set of first rehearsals for our semi finalists, with the countries performing in the second half of the second semi final getting their chance to take to the big stage.

As always, you can check out our ongoing coverage through both our Live Rehearsal Blog and also rolling  daily updates on our Twitter Account.

If you are avoiding potential rehearsal spoilers then don’t read any further! Semi Final Two will take place at 21.00 CET on Thursday 20th May 2021 with sixteen countries competing for ten qualifying spots for the final.

Next up to rehearse we have the legend herself, Samanta Tina for… Latvia!

First Rehearsal

Samanta Tina is one hell of a vocalist, right!? We know from her past performances just how clear her belting style is. The first minute of the song sounds fantastic and like a potential contender, vocally strong, she looks great in a long green dress & her walk to the front of the stage looks great. However when the trap beat kicks in it all got a little messy. Stage looked empty, the backdrop of orange/gold patterns (somewhat psychedelic in style) don’t really work and Samanta didn’t sound so solid for the second half of the performance.

The colours are very Irish, between the green and the orange in the background. They are also doing the Samanta Tina trademark crown dancing with their hands too, which looks pretty cool! She gives a confident third performance too and the vocal sounded stronger throughout them. The vocal mix sounds like there’s quite a bit of vocal backing too. Samanta is visibly doing all she can to elevate the song but the structure from the first minute onwards loses its impact and the golden backdrop pattern is a bit discombobulated.

Before Eurovision

Samanta Tina has had a long old journey to Eurovision! She’s competed at the Latvian selection nearly every year since 2012, with varying levels of success. However she’s had some absolute belters in “I Need A Hero” and “Stay”, and then finally was able to win Supernova last year with “Still Breathing” with a truly showstopping performance. Sadly, the cancellation meant Samanta’s hopes of her Eurovision dream were thrown into question. Fortunately, Latvian broadcaster LTV made the decision – on the same night as the 2020 final was supposed to be – to internally select their artist for the first time in the nations history. Samanta was given the ticket Rotterdam, with a song revealed earlier this year.

A five week documentary of the behind the scenes for Samanta led to the reveal of her song – “The Moon Is Rising”. It’s a female-empowerment trap banger which is going to give Samanta every possible opportunity to perform the hell out of it as we know she’s capable of! Check out the awesome music video here: