The board of the Latvian broadcaster LTV has disqualified Saule from the semi-final of Supernova 2023.
The decision was made after it became known that the song with which Saule was selected to take part in the semi-final, “Finally Happy” was previously released on 19th of December 2021.
Both Supernova and Eurovision 2023 rules state that entries shouldn’t be publicly performed or released before 1st of September 2022. The song has already been removed from YouTube.
Given the fact that the preparations for the semi-final of Supernova (which is set to take place on 4th of February) are already in full swing Saule won’t be replaced with another contestant and a total of 14 acts will be competing in the semi-final.
LTV received a total of 125 entries out of which 121 arrived by the deadline. A total of 21 applications did not qualify for further evaluation because they did not meet the criteria. (Information were missing, performers weren’t Latvian citizens, or the proportion of foreign authors was higher than allowed in the competition). Out of the remaining 100 entries LTV selected 15 which were presented yesterday.
The hosts of Supernova 2023 will be Ketija Šēnberga and Lauris Reiniks and they will guide the audience throughout two shows, semi-final which is set to take place on 4th of February and a Grand Final scheduled for 11th of February.
In the final, a total of ten acts will be competing for a chance to represent Latvia at Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The results will be determined by the combined jury and audience vote. The shows will be available to watch on and will be available on LTV1 and REplay.lv
The line-up of the semi-final is as follows:
- 24. Avenija – You Said
- Adriana Miglane – Like I Wanna
- Alise Haijima – Tricky
- Arturs Hatti – Love Vibes
- Avéi – Let Me Go
- Inspo – Sway
- Justs – Strangers
- Katrine Miller – Beaten Down
- Luize – You To Hold Me
- Markus Riva – Forever
- Patrisha – Hush
- Raum – Fake Love
- Sudden Lights – Aija
- Toms Kalderauskis – When It All Falls
You can listen to the songs down below:
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What are your thoughts about Saule’s disqualification? Which song is your favourite to win Supernova 2023? Let us know in the comments below and at our social media @escbubble
