Not just a 'Funny Girl' — it's Laura Rizzotto for Latvia

Supernova 2018 was the fourth edition of the format which was first used to select Latvia's Eurovision entry in 2015. A total of 21 acts participated in the 2018 edition with eight appearing in the final which was broadcast live from Riga. The winner, Laura Rizzotto, was chosen through a combination of both public and jury votes.

About the winner

Laura Rizzotto was born on the 18th of July 1994 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). She is a Latvian-Brazilian singer, songwriter, pianist, and guitarist. After high school, she began attending Berklee College of Music in Boston and released her debut studio album Made in Rio in 2011.

In 2013, Rizzotto moved to Los Angeles to attend the California Institute of the Arts, graduating with a degree in musical arts. Afterwards, she moved to New York City and received a master's degree in music from Columbia University in 2017.

Rizzotto self-released the extended play RUBY in 2017. The extended play was the first of an intended series titled Precious Stones. The second installment AMBER will be released in 2018 as a tribute to her Latvian roots.

Supernova 2018

Supernova featured three semi-finals in 2018 and a total of eight acts participated in the final:

• Sudden Lights - Just Fine
• Ritvars - Who's Counting
• MADARA - Esamība
• Liene Greifane - Walk the Talk
• Lauris Valters - Lovers Bliss
• Edgars Kreilis - Younger Days
• Laura Rizzotto - Funny Girl
• Markus Riva - This Time

Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 

Latvia first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000 finishing third with its very first entry, My Star performed by Brainstorm. Only two years later the country won the Eurovision Song Contest with Marie N and the song I Wanna. The country returned to the top ten for the first time in a decade in 2015 with Aminata's Love Injected which finished sixth in Vienna. Aminata went on to write the Latvian entry in 2016, Heartbeat, performed by Justs which also reached the Grand Final.   

This year, Latvia will appear in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday 10th May.