A lullaby from Latvia: Sudden Lights say the right words at the right time

Sudden Lights have got the Latvian public behind them. In February 2023, the indie band competed in the annual Supernova competition, hoping to win the spot as Latvia’s Eurovision 2023 entry. After starting as 1 of 14 entries, they made it to the grand final and gave a powerful performance alongside moody lighting and big guitar solos, finishing off with a moving final verse in their native Latvian. Ultimately, they won the crown in their home nation.

The Latvian quartet were right at home on the Eurovision stage during their first rehearsal on Sunday 30 April. They brought their instruments to the stage and with plenty of flashing lights and a huge crescendo of sound, we were wide awake for Sudden Lights’ performance.

The official Live Blog documented everything from the first rehearsal, noting: "Lead singer Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis’ melancholy lyrics sound great - there's a lovely moment of quiet stillness at the end that's giving us ALL the feels." 

Sudden Lights are one of the most streamed artists in Latvia, and have released three studio albums since they formed at music school in 2012. In that time, they’ve received a few gifts from fans, their weirdest of which was an old photo of their sound engineer. A better gift might be a can of cola, as the band say they would use one of their Aladdin’s lamp wishes to request an endless supply. Perhaps that’s where they get all their energy.

It’s no surprise that Sudden Lights’ playlist of top tunes is packed with indie classics. They’re often singing along to Crying Lightning by Arctic Monkeys and Porcelain by Red Hot Chili Peppers, but more recent tracks like Flowers by Miley Cyrus also feature on their list of favourite songs. The Strokes, Amy Winehouse, and The Beatles (gaining extra Liverpool points) are also huge inspirations.

Sudden Lights told The Official Eurovision Song Contest Podcast how they didn’t actually write Aijā specifically for Eurovision, but that it just felt right. “We somehow felt that it could have a really big meaning, and that we not only wanted to share it with our fans here in Latvia, but we also wanted to maybe try and get on the biggest stage possible in Europe.”

There’s more from Sudden Lights on Episode 6 of the Official Eurovision Song Contest Podcast.

You can learn more about Sudden Lights from Latvia right here.