Show #202

More guilty pleasures for you this week, including brand new music from Latvia’s Sudden Lights as front man Andrejs pops in to chat. Another Baltic group is chosen as your fan favourite too, whilst we travel to Bulgaria for a trip down Eurovision memory lane in the Triple Play. Plus we bring you up to speed with the stories of note in the Eurovision News…

This Weeks Highlights

Sudden Lights

Special Guest

Sudden Lights is a Latvian indie rock band consisting vocalist Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis, drummer Mārtiņš Matīss Zemītis, guitarist Kārlis Matīss Zitmanis, and bassist Kārlis Vārtiņš. In 2023, the group won Supernova with the song 'Aijā' and represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Roop

Fan Favourite

The Roop are a Lithuanian pop rock band consisting lead vocalist Vaidotas Valiukevičius, percussionist Robertas Baranauskas and guitarist Mantas Banišauskas. They were due to represent Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with their song 'On Fire' before the contest was cancelled. They then took part in 2021 with 'Discoteque', finishing in eighth place in the final.

Bulgaria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 14 times since making its debut at the 2005 contest in Kyiv. The country’s best result is a second-place finish for Kristian Kostov and the song “Beautiful Mess” at the 2017 contest also in Kyiv. Bulgaria has failed to qualify for the final in 9 out of 14 appearances at the contest, most narrowly in 2012, when Sofi Marinova lost out on the 10th qualifying place from the second semi-final in a tie-break with Norway. However, on three of the five occasions that they have reached the final, they have finished in the top five: placing fifth with Elitsa and Stoyan in 2007, fourth with Poli Genova in 2016 and second with Kristian Kostov in 2017. In Bulgaria’s two most recent final appearances, supergroup Equinox placed 14th in 2018 and Victoria placed 11th in 2021.

Poli Plamenova Genova is a Bulgarian singer, songwriter, actress, and television presenter. Genova began her career in 1991, at the age of four, as a member of the Bulgarian children’s ensemble Bon-Bon.

She later went on to represent Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song “Na inat”, which did not qualify for the final. She returned to Eurovision five years later in 2016, for the second time representing Bulgaria, with the song “If Love Was a Crime”. That brought Bulgaria to the final for the first time since 2007, placing fourth, which is Bulgaria’s second highest placing ever, behind her successor Kristian Kostov’s 2nd place the following year.

Outside of performing, Genova has also appeared as a coach or mentor on The Voice of Bulgaria and X Factor Bulgaria, voiced the Bulgarian version of Judy Hopps in the film Zootopia, and hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Sofia. She has two children.

Track List