Latvia - Samanta Tīna - The Moon Is Rising

17 - 14 pts in semi 2

Samanta Tīna (Samanta Poļakova) respresented Latvia in the 2021 contest.

Her song, The Moon Is Rising was revealed on March 12. The digital single is out now.

The song is written by Samanta Tīna, Aminata Savadogo and Oskars Uhaņs. (see Songwriters below for more on that)

An acoustic version with Haralds Stenclavs (on piano) was released on May 5, available through your favorite digital stores and streamers.

Here's the official video

She won Latvian Supernova selection in 2020 with song Still Breathing and proceeds to Rotterdam 2021.

Acoustic version

Nobody has been trying to get to Eurovision as hard as Samanta Tīna.
2012 - I Want You Back (duet with Dāvids Kalandija, 2nd place in final)
2012 - For Father (7th in semi-final)
2013 - I Need A Hero (2nd place)
2014 - Stay (3rd place)
2016 - The Love Is Forever (finalist but Samanta withdrew)
2016 - We Live For Love (5th in quarter final)
2020 - Still Breathing (winner)

She also participated in the Lithuanian selection:
2013 - Hey Chiki Mama (Duet with Vudis, 4th in first round)
2017 - Tavo Oda (Your skin), (Duet with Tadas Rimgaila, 7th in first round)

She was the winner of X-Factor latvia in 2010 and was also a finalist in The Voice Lithuania in 2014.

The Songwriters

Originally the song was written at a Songwriting camp (it’s a thing these days) by Oskars Uhaņs with Arnis Račinskis and Alise Joste. When Samanta Tīna liked The Moon… for Eurovision Aminata Savadogo was roped in because she’s the #1 Latvian Eurovision songwriter at the moment. Samanta Tīna also got a songwriting credit but Račinskis and Joste seem to have lost theirs. 

Singer/Songwriter Aminata Savadogo is of course best know for her stunning performance in the 2015 Vienna contest. Here Love Injected ended a 6 year run of non finalists for Latvia and finished 6th. She released a new version of the song in 2020.

She also co-wrote Heartbeat (Justs' 2016 entry), last year's Still Breathing and several National Final songs in Latvia and Lithuania.

Versions

Still Breathing

The Moon Is Rising

- digital release 12-3, Rotterdam 2CD

The Moon Is Rising - Acoustic with Haralds Stenclavs

- digital release 5-5

The Moon Is Rising - karaoke

- karaoke on the official karaoke album (digital)

Links and sources

Samanta Tīna Facebook, 2020