Meet Laura Rizzotto From Latvia

This year 43 countries will be present at this years Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Lisbon in May. With around two weeks to go until all of Europe descends on Portugal's capital, Eurovoxx will introduce you to each country that will be participating.

Who is Laura Rizzotto?

Another very young singer, Laura hails all the way from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. However, she is half Latvian too. She is quite the accomplished artist being professional as a singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist. Laura is your typical, all rounder. 2010 is when she came bursting onto the music scene when she signed with record label Universal music Brazil. A year later released her first studio album entitled, "Made In Rio". Symbolising her roots and birth place. Her second album was released independently and followed in 2014. More recently she has released two further albums entitled, "Ruby" and "Amber".

Laura has also worked with Jennifer Lopez as a Portuguese vocal coach. The young artist has released 8 singles, from her 4 albums , all doing relatively well in the charts. The songs also include her Eurovision entry, "Funny Girl".

Check Out Laura Rizzotto's Eurovision Entry, "Funny Girl" here:

How Was Laura Chosen?

Again, Latvia chose to opt for its traditional national final, "Supernova 2018". This year saw three semi final songs consisting of seven artists. Only three from each semi would go straight to the final. The exception being Laura's heat that only saw two singers proceed to the grand final.

The grand final of "Supernova 2018" saw 8 singers perform their songs. Just as in the semi finals, the winner was found combining televotes, jury votes, internet votes, combined with Spotify streams. On the 24th February, Laura won the right to represent Latvia. She came first with the televotes, jury, and internet votes. However, she came third with the Spotify streams with 12% of the vote. Regardless of this, the combined result meant that she had won, and would be going to Lisbon.

Check Out Eurovoxx Interview With Laura Rizzotto:

Latvia At The Eurovision Song Contest:

Latvia first debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2000. It was one of the new nations that took part at the dawn of the new Millennium. For a beginner it did very well with, "Brainstorm" and their song, "My Star" reaching third place at its Eurovision debut. This year marks their 19th song at the contest.

It won just two years later when Marie N sang her "I Wanna" in 2001. This marked a surge in the Baltic success, and how well they were doing at the contest. However since then, Latvia's fortunes have changed with them only making top 10 on tow occasions. That was back in 2005, and 2015. Since the introduction of the semi finals back in 2004, the country has only qualified on 6 occasions. Can Laura make it a seventh.

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