Latvia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Funny Girl" written and performed by Laura Rizzotto. The Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) organized the national final Supernova 2018 in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. 21 songs were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of four shows: three semi-finals and a final. In the semi-finals on 3, 10 and 17 February 2018, two entries were selected to advance from each show alongside two wildcards selected by LTV. Eight songs ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 24 February 2018 where a public televote and a four-member jury panel selected "Funny Girl" performed by Laura Rizzotto as the winner.

Latvia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2018. Performing during the show in position 14, "Funny Girl" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Latvia placed twelfth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 106 points.

Background

Prior to the 2018 contest, Latvia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eighteen times since its first entry in 2000. Latvia won the contest once in 2002 with the song "I Wanna" performed by Marie N. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Latvia was able to qualify to compete in the final between 2005 and 2008. Between 2009 and 2014, the nation had failed to qualify to the final for six consecutive years. After managing to qualify to the final in 2015 and 2016, Latvia failed to qualify in 2017 with the song "Line" performed by Triana Park.

The Latvian national broadcaster, Latvijas Televīzija (LTV), broadcasts the event within Latvia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Latvia has selected their entries for the Eurovision Song Contest through a national final. Since their debut in 2000 until 2012, LTV had organised the selection show Eirodziesma. In a response to the nation's failure to qualify to the final at Eurovision since 2008, between 2013 and 2014, the competition was rebranded and retooled as Dziesma. However, after failing to produce successful entries those two years, LTV developed the Supernova national final since 2015 which produced two out of three Latvian entries that managed to qualify the nation to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. In early December 2017, the broadcaster announced that they would organise Supernova 2018 in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2018 contest.

Before Eurovision Supernova 2018 Supernova 2018 was the fourth edition of Supernova, the music competition that selects Latvia's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition commenced on 3 February 2018 and concluded with a final on 24 February 2018. All shows in the competition took place at the Riga Film Studio in Riga, hosted by 2016 Latvian Eurovision entrant Justs Sirmais and Dagmāra Legante and broadcast on LTV1 as well as online via the streaming platform Replay.lv and the official Supernova website supernova.lsm.lv with commentary by Toms Grēviņš and Edgars Bāliņš.

Format The format of the competition consisted of four shows: three semi-finals and a final. LTV broadcast two introductory shows on 25 January and 1 February 2018 that covered the background preparation processes and auditions that occurred prior to the competition. The three semi-finals, held on 3, 10 and 17 February 2018, each featured seven competing entries from which two advanced to the final from each show. LTV also advanced two wildcard acts to the final from the remaining non-qualifying entries in the semi-finals. The final, held on 24 February 2018, selected the Latvian entry for Lisbon from the remaining eight entries.

Results during the semi-final and final shows were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and a public vote. In the semi-finals, both the jury and public vote assigned points from 1 to 7 based on ranking, with the first place receiving one point and last place receiving seven points. In the final, both the jury and public vote assigned points from 1 to 8 also based on ranking with the first place receiving one point and last place receiving eight points. Ties were decided in favour of the entries that received higher points from the public. Viewers were able to vote via telephone or via SMS. The online vote conducted through the official Supernova website allowed users to vote once per each accepted social network account: Draugiem.lv, Facebook and Twitter. Votes conducted through Spotify were based on unique listener counts, with each stream counting as one vote for each entry.

The jury participated in each show by providing feedback to the competing artists and selecting entries to advance in the competition. The panel consisted of:

Rūdolfs Budze–DJ Rudd – DJ and producer Jolanta Gulbe – jazz singer Jānis Lūsēns – composer

Competing entries Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 6 September 2017 and 15 October 2017. 63 valid entries out of 93 were submitted at the conclusion of the submission period. The submitted songs were listed online on the official Supernova website allowing users to either select the "Like" or "Dislike" option for each entry between 18 and 29 October 2017. 152,082 votes were received and local and international jury panels appointed by LTV evaluated the submitted songs and shortlisted 33 entries, taking the results of the online vote into consideration. Auditions in front of the local jury took place on 5 November 2017 at the Alfa Park in Riga and featured the 33 shortlisted entries. The local jury panel consisted of Ilze Jansone (Supernova producer), Toms Grēviņš (radio DJ and journalist) and two members of the jury panel during the live shows: Rūdolfs Budze–DJ Rudd and Jolanta Gulbe. The twenty-one selected performers and songs were determined on 9 November 2017 and all relevant parties were informed. The twenty-one competing artists and songs were announced on 6 December 2017.

Artist Song Songwriter(s) Agnese Stengrēvics "You Are My World"Helvijs Stengrēvics, Agnese Stengrēvics Dvines "More Than Meets the Eye"Andris Strazds, Dvines Ed Rallidae "What I Had with You"Aminata Savadogo Edgars Kreilis "Younger Days"Edgars Kreilis Hypnotic "Pray"Sabīne Geiba, Beatrise Heislere, Ruslans Kuksinovičs In My Head "Sunset"Evija Smagare, Armands Varslavāns Jenny May "Soledad"Maija Stuģe, Martin Karl Hägglund, Martin Björn Hanzén, Tim Erik Åström, Michael Javier Hernan Barraza Alfaro Katrīna Gupalo and the Black Birds "Intoxicating Caramel"Katrīna Gupalo Katrine Lukins "Running Red Lights"Katrine Lukins, Andris Lukins, Kaspars Ansons Kris and Oz "Morning Flight"Artūrs Osipovs, Kristīne Morina, Kristīne Sisējeva, Aleksandrs Solovjovs Laura Rizzotto "Funny Girl"Laura Rizzotto Lauris Valters "Lovers Bliss"Lauris Valters Liene Greifāne "Walk the Talk"Liene Greifāne, Ylva Persson, Linda Persson Madara "Esamība"Madara Fogelmane Markus Riva "This Time"Kaspars Ansons, Edgars Krastiņš, Quincy Thompson, Miķelis Ļaksa Mionia "You"Maija Līcīte Monta "1000 Roses"Monta Ķimene Rahu the Fool "Oh Longriver"Pēteris Narubins, Rahu the Fool Riga Reggae "Stop the War U2"Horens Stalbe, Vladimirs Eglītis, Mārtiņš Burkevics, Renarts Braufmanis Ritvars "Who's Counting?"Ritvars Vulis Sudden Lights "Just Fine"Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis, Kārlis Matīss Zitmanis

Shows

Semi-finals The three semi-finals took place on 3, 10 and 17 February 2018. In each semi-final seven acts competed and the top two entries qualified to the semi-final based on the combination of votes from a jury panel and the Latvian public. On 12 February 2018, LTV announced that the song "This Time" performed by Markus Riva, which was originally announced as a non-qualifier during the second semi-final, had been awarded a wildcard to qualify to the final due to a technical failure with the online vote that led to changes in placing. On 20 February 2018, the song "Just Fine" performed by Sudden Lights was announced to have been awarded a second wildcard to qualify to the final.

A guest juror was also featured in each semi-final: member of 2017 Latvian Eurovision entrant Triana Park Agnese Rakovska for the first semi-final, member of 2013 Latvian Eurovision entrant PeR Ralfs Eilands for the second semi-final and 2010 Latvian Eurovision entrant Aija Andrejeva for the third semi-final.

+ Semi-final 13 February 2018 Artist Song Juryrank Publicvoterank Place Result 1 Katrīna Gupalo and the Black Birds "Intoxicating Caramel" 5 4 5 2 Rahu the Fool "Oh Longriver" 6 7 6 3 Dvines "More Than Meets the Eye" 3 5 4 4 Agnese Stengrevics "You Are My World" 7 6 7 5 Sudden Lights "Just Fine" 4 1 3 Wildcard 6 Edgars Kreilis "Younger Days" 2 2 2 Advanced 7 Liene Greifāne "Walk the Talk" 1 3 1 Advanced

+ Semi-final 1 detailed public vote Song Public Vote Rank Internet Televote Spotifystreams 1 "Intoxicating Caramel" 222 357 24% 4 2 "Oh Longriver" 140 165 3% 7 3 "More Than Meets the Eye" 386 356 3% 5 4 "You Are My World" 260 168 16% 6 5 "Just Fine" 1,835 1,154 18% 1 6 "Younger Days" 755 550 31% 2 7 "Walk the Talk" 509 686 5% 3

+ Semi-final 210 February 2018 Artist Song Juryrank Publicvoterank Place Result 1 Hypnotic "Pray" 6 5 5 2 Madara "Esamība" 2 2 1 Advanced 3 Markus Riva "This Time" 3 1 2 Wildcard 4 In My Head "Sunset" 5 7 6 5 Ritvars "Who's Counting?" 1 4 3 Advanced 6 Monta "1000 Roses" 7 6 7 7 Riga Reggae "Stop the War U2" 4 3 4

+ Semi-final 2 detailed public vote SongPublic VoteRank Televote Spotifystreams 1 "Pray" 167 12% 5 2 "Esamība" 613 25% 2 3 "This Time" 685 18% 1 4 "Sunset" 117 11% 7 5 "Who's Counting?" 319 10% 4 6 "1000 Roses" 153 11% 6 7 "Stop the War U2" 423 13% 3

+ Semi-final 317 February 2018 Artist Song Juryrank Publicvoterank Place Result 1 Jenny May "Soledad" 7 6 7 2 Ed Rallidae "What I Had with You" 5 3 4 3 Katrine Lukins "Running Red Lights" 6 5 6 4 Lauris Valters "Lovers Bliss" 2 4 2 Advanced 5 Mionia "You" 3 7 5 6 Kris and Oz "Morning Flight" 4 2 3 7 Laura Rizzotto "Funny Girl" 1 1 1 Advanced

+ Semi-final 3detailed public vote Song Public VoteRank Internet Televote Spotifystreams 1 "Soledad" 227 211 12% 6 2 "What I Had with You" 323 211 17% 3 3 "Running Red Lights" 244 96 16% 5 4 "Lovers Bliss" 369 254 12% 4 5 "You" 141 145 14% 7 6 "Morning Flight" 463 316 14% 2 7 "Funny Girl" 2,536 1,234 15% 1

Final The final took place on 24 February 2018. Commercial Director of Universal Music Group Finland and the Baltics Petri Mannonen was a guest juror for the final. The eight entries that qualified from the semi-finals competed. The song with the highest number of votes based on the combination of votes from a jury panel and the Latvian public, "Funny Girl" performed by Laura Rizzotto, was declared the winner. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show featured guest performances by Dagmāra Legante, the band Instrumenti, 2000 Latvian Eurovision entrants Brainstorm, 2009 Latvian Eurovision entrant Intars Busulis, member of 2013 Latvian Eurovision entrant PeR Ralfs Eilands and 2016 Latvian Eurovision entrant Justs. + Final24 February 2018 Artist Song Juryrank Publicvoterank Place 1 Sudden Lights "Just Fine" 2 2 2 2 Ritvars "Who's Counting?" 4 6 4 3 Madara "Esamība" 3 4 3 4 Liene Greifane "Walk the Talk" 8 5 7 5 Lauris Valters "Lovers Bliss" 6 8 8 6 Edgars Kreilis "Younger Days" 5 7 6 7 Laura Rizzotto "Funny Girl" 1 1 1 8 Markus Riva "This Time" 7 3 5 Song Public Vote Rank Internet Televote Spotifystreams 1 "Just Fine" 2,357 1,563 28% 2 2 "Who's Counting?" 490 488 11% 6 3 "Esamība" 2,785 1,490 18% 4 4 "Walk the Talk" 800 398 7% 5 5 "Lovers Bliss" 366 285 5% 8 6 "Younger Days" 781 413 9% 7 7 "Funny Girl" 5,172 2,956 12% 1 8 "This Time" 2,839 2,321 10% 3

Ratings