Latvia has struggled in recent years at Eurovision, they haven’t been in the final since 2016, 8 long years. I can’t say that any of those songs from the last 8 years impressed me, but regardless of that, the fact that one country failed to make it to the finals for such a long time is devastating.
I think the time has finally come for Latvia not to stay in the semi-finals, but to secure a new result within the top 26. Latvia is represented this year by Dons with the song Hollow. A very intriguing ballad with a nice melody. However, it reminds me a bit of the song Take Me To Church which is not necessarily a bad thing. The song is good, it has a nice growth from the beginning to the end, and the backing vocals complement the chorus well so that the song sounds more powerful.
If we had a jury in the semi-finals, this song would go to the finals, so I’m not 100% sure if the televote will be enough to place Latvia in the finals. True, we don’t have many ballads in the competition so far, so that can give a certain advantage, but I think a very powerful stage performance will be needed. Also, I think it’s an advantage that Latvia is in the second part of the semi-final night, which is always better for getting televote.
I think that this song deserves to go to the final because it is of good quality and this year there probably won’t be many ballads, so we need such songs in the final (not too many of course). If this song had been presented by Norway or some other country that always makes it to the finals, we wouldn’t have thought about the placement, but unfortunately, Latvia is having a lot of trouble with the qualification and that’s why I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they finally succeed this year.
If Dons reach the finals, the jury will appreciate this song very much, it will surely be placed in the top 10, and as for the final result, it is difficult to judge, but surely the top 20 depending on the televote. Well done Latvia for this year’s selection and my score for the song Hollow is 7/10.