Latvia 2021 • Samanta Tīna - "The Moon is Rising"

Right, so I wanted to let this sink in before I say something, so here goes: (I'll try to be as objective as I can in this case)

Let's start with the obvious: the vocals are as you would expect - they are up there. (obviously this is a music video, but we know she can definitely pull those vocals off live as well)

The video (visual performance) itself - I don't know, how much was planned and how much in the end is done, but I think the video, despite being quite simple, does deliver the message. There's no doubt about it. I really like that she has invited different type of women (including LGBTQ) there as well, because that just proves the message of her song - every woman is THE queen (not just the ones that look like models). You might question, why as the place to film the video was chosen an abandoned house (I guess it was the natural lighting?), but I guess that doesn't really matter. I mean it doesn't make the video worse in any way. Though I want to give props to the girls, because the video was filmed in that abandoned house when the temperature outside was -13°C (so inside it couldn't be warmer than -9°C). I guess that proves how tough women can be.

The song - it's the type of song that will always have lovers and haters. I like that there's a mix of genres. Maybe those wouldn't be the ones I would mix, but it's her vision and I don't think it's too bad. She likes doing things her way and you can clearly see that. The worst thing IMO about this song is that it kinda deflates towards the end (or maybe the start was just too powerful that the ending couldn't keep up?). I doubt they will fix/change anything in the song, so we just have to take it as it is - as a ready product. Though I do like the catchy part - the "Pa-ra-ra, pa-ra-ra, parade".
One thing I'm still wondering about is - how much impact did Aminata have in this song? Last year you could clearly tell that Aminata has left her footprints on the song, but this year it's kinda hard to tell. But maybe it's just me. Though from her documentary I know that she helped Samanta with her english pronounciacion. One thing though I really hope they will leave in the song (not just in MV, but live as well) is the middle part where they chant the "ta-da, ta-da, ta-da" without the music. I think that part could work very well as one to connect her with the audience (if there will be one) - how sick would that be that the audience chants it together with her.

Overall I can say that the song is not bad and the performance (in the MV) isn't either. It will definitely get noticed and Samanta will definitely get noticed - no doubt about that. I actually like that we are going a completely different route everyone else does. It's like we're going all in - take it or leave it. That's the kind of attitude we were missing for so many years. Let's see, what she does with the live performance, because she won't have all those dancers there. She said it will be Art Deco, which I think fits the Queen/Royal theme. So yeah - we'll see what surprises she still has for us.

P.S. So far I can't really decide, which of her songs I prefer, because they are so different. I guess it's still too early for that for me. There are things I think were better in "Still Breathing" and there are things that are better now. I'll just have to keep listening and getting used to the song.

I understand why people like this but I just find it irritating. Feels like it's 6 minutes long

I definitely like it my issue with it is that it starts in such a high place but it doesn't keep me there for the whole song (if that makes sense) Really curious to see it live tho, I know she can pull it off and she always elevates her songs with her energy

The petition needs to have 10000 signatures to be forwarded to our government for the final decision. In less than 2 days it already has over 1000 signatures, which might not seem much, but Latvia it is pretty decent number in such short time... so just under 9000 still needed...

It's hard to predict if this will reach 10000 or not, but so far the pace is quite high, so you never know... And if it gets to our government, you never know, what the result will be... usually I would say that our government would just deny such seemingly unimportant petitions, but there are gonna be local elections in early June... and when there's an election of sorts coming up, government is ready to do anything just to get someone's votes for them in those elections...

So looks like the drama has only just began...

You know, there is a saying that the best dish for one latvian is another latvian... well, this is how this saying looks in real life...

The person, who started this petition (a musician himself) posted the petition and his opinion on his FB wall and in the comments of it you can see that the nation is split... some say that he is very brave to do such thing by himself, others say that he should stop living in the past and look around how people live - that he could see people and scenes from Samanta's video in real life on the streets as well, but that hasn't been a reason for someone to start petitions...