Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
| Eurovision Song Contest 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |
 Latvia
|
|||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Supernova 2016 | |||
| Selection date(s) |
Introduction shows: 24 January 2016 31 January 2016 Heats: 7 February 2016 14 February 2016 Semi-final: 21 February 2016 Final: 28 February 2016 |
|||
| Selected entrant | Justs | |||
| Selected song | "Heartbeat" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) | Aminata Savadogo | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (8th, 132 points) | |||
| Final result | 15th, 132 points | |||
| Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
|
||||
Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Heartbeat" written by Aminata Savadogo. The song was performed by Justs. Songwriter Aminata Savadogo represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Love Injected" where she placed sixth in the grand final of the competition. The Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) organised the national final Supernova 2016 in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2016 contest in , Sweden. Twenty songs were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of four shows: two heats, one semi-final and a final. In the heats and the semi-final, four entries were selected to advance from each show: two entries selected based on a public televote and two entries selected by a four-member jury panel. Four songs ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 28 February 2016 where a public vote exclusively selected "Heartbeat" performed by Justs as the winner.
Latvia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2016. Performing as the opening entry for the show in position 1, "Heartbeat" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. It was later revealed that Latvia placed eighth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 132 points. In the final, Latvia performed in position 20 and placed fifteenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 132 points.
Prior to the 2016 Contest, Latvia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixteen 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. In the 2015 contest, Latvia managed to qualify to the final with the song "Love Injected" performed by Aminata, which placed 6th in the final, scoring 186 points - giving them their best placing since 2005, and highest score ever.
...
Wikipedia