Katrīna Gupalo: ‘I love to tell a story through my music’

By Eszter Parcsami On Feb 9, 2024

The Latvian national final, Supernova is just around the corner! If you follow Supernova for a longer time now, then Katrīna Gupalo will be familiar for you. The Latvian-Ukranian singer first competed in 2018, but was not successful to get to the final. This year she had another chance with ‘The cat’s song’, and got the possibility to get on the stage for the final of the Latvian selection this Saturday!

We had a chance to make an interview with her, read it below with love!

First of all, how would you introduce yourself for our readers, who don’t know you, who is Katrina Gupalo?

Latvian – Ukrainian singer, songwriter, pianist, and, sometimes – actress.

What do we need to know about your music, what is your inspiration? 

Probably, it’s easy to find out while listening “The Cat’s Song” that I love to tell a story through my music, love to mix different musical genres, love to be very active, emotional and playful on the stage, love theatre. My biggest inspirations in music are Lady Gaga, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Michael Jackson and… David Lynch.

Your song in Supernova 2024 is called “The Cat’s Song”, such an interesting title. Can you give us an insight about the song, what was the idea behind it? Was it written for Supernova on purpose?
This summer a cat named Dakota came into my life for the first time. It brought new, bright and very sweet colours into my everyday life, which I really wanted to share with my listeners. We live in quite scary times, when very tragic and painful events happen every day and none of us has a sense of security about the future. That’s why I wanted to give people in Latvia, Europe and all over the world something warm, sweet, light and carefree – like a kind of cat therapy. I am so thrilled that my goal has come true and the song about a cat makes almost everyone who listens to it smile, sing and dance along! The first demo recording of “The Cat’s Song” was made one night in a free and artistic atmosphere at a creative camp in Latgale, together with my friends – song’s producer Edgar Vilcāns and the co-authors Evija Smagare and Armands Varslavāns.

You already had one performance with your song in the semi final of Supernova, and you successfully qualified to the final. How did you feel when you got to know the results?

Oh, I was so happy that I could hug whole world!

How do you prepare for the final? 

We do have a lot of rehearsals with my talented choreographer Rudolfs Pauders and dancers, also I’m improving my vocal performance at the studio. There will be some changes on the final show, as I prefer to create a unique performance every time. It’s essential for me to develop performance, to find new colours, new emotions. Also, I’m trying to find some time to relax, chill with my friends and family, to be in a good mood and full of energy for my listeners and fans.

This is not your first time competing in Supernova, you already tried back in 2018. Your song was then “Intoxicating Caramel”, how would you compare it with “The cat’s song”?

“Intoxicating Caramel” was the second song I wrote in my life. In 2018 I didn’t know anything about songwriting, about show business, about music production etc. But we had so much fun! I still remember that everyone backstage sang “Iiiiintoxicating….”! Now we have the same situation with “Kitty Catty Kitty Cat” which is the big ear worm for everyone, and fun – yes, we have a lot of fun this year too. The main difference is experience. After 2018 I had hundreds of concerts and performances, and, I found extraordinary music producer Edgar Vilcans. By the way, he produced not only my song, but two more songs from this year’s Supernova – Alekss Silver and Sasha Sil.

Winning Supernova would mean you can represent Latvia in Eurovision. What would it mean to you if it happened?

To sing “The Cat’s Song” for millions of people all over the world, to share love, emotions and energy with them, that would mean the biggest happiness for me as an artist and as a human being.

Do you have a favourite Latvian or non-Latvian Eurovision entry from all time? Or maybe favourite Supernova song?

Yes, I do – Barbara Pravi with “Voila”! It was mind blowing! I still remembered my emotions during her performance, I listened her song all over again and cried… Pure art!

And for the last one, do you have a message for ESC Bubble readers and Latvia fans?

Enjoy Eurovision, enjoy life, love people, cats, dogs and our little, beautiful planet! And if I can make you smile for at least 2 minutes and 33 seconds, my mission is accomplished.

Thank you Katrīna, we wish you all the best!

You can watch ‘The Cat’s Song’ Supernova semifinal performance here:

Do you like Katrīna Gupalo’s song? You have other favourite in Supernova 2024? Let us know in the comments here or on our social media sites!

Katrīna Gupalo: ‘I love to tell a story through my music’

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