Earlier this month, Latvia released its Supernova songs. And for the first time since 2014 – after a nine-year run – Markus Riva did not have a song appearing in the competition.
Now, Markus Riva has done his time in the Eurovision content mines. The man has given us bangers like Forever. He’s collaborated with Latvian icons like Aminata on songs like Impossible. I was in the audience for the finals of Supernova 2019, and got to see him perform You Make Me So Crazy, looking like Ken had accidentally wandered into The Matrix. It was mesmerizing.
After years of throwing these serves to Latvian voters, who instead seemed to indicate a preference for moody ballads that did not connect with Europe at large, I can understand why Markus Riva would choose to focus instead on his X Factor hosting, or his Instagram thirst posting.
But it turns out that this year, Markus Riva submitted a song to Supernova, and they turned it down. I’m not going to make fun of what was selected instead. Maybe there’s some deep connection with Latvian voters that I’m just not getting! But Latvia’s loss is a bigger fucking loss for all of us, because Lose Control, the song that Riva submitted, is perhaps his finest work to date:
How good is this song? When Markus Riva sings “Everyone is freaking out,” he is personally describing the experience I had listening to it. It’s so good that when I originally misheard the lyrics “groove your bones” as “cool your balls,” I did not find that in any way off-putting! It’s so good that when my Spotify Wrapped for this year comes out, Markus Riva will have to record a personal message thanking me for the number of times I have listened to this song.
I don’t know what the Supernova selection panel was thinking. I keep hoping there will be a wildcard, or a dropout, or Markus Riva will sneak into the studio wearing a Riga Beaver costume and throw it off dramatically to proclaim “I’ll take you to the crazy party!” Supernova certainly won’t be one without him.
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