The ESCplus team has talked to Tom Kalderauskis, participant of Supernova 2020, the Latvian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, with the song “Be my truth” to know a little more about his candidacy and the experience that he is currently living. You can read the full interview below.
How do you feel about your participation in Supernova 2020?
It was a huge surprise, I didn’t expect it at all. The song might not be the best choice for the concept of Eurovision, but is an enormous gain of experience and honour to be chosen as one of the top 26 songs! My dream has always been to go to Eurovision and maybe that’s the reason why my anxiety took over and my performance in the video is very unsteady. Anyway, I’m very glad to return to the world of Eurovision!
Can you tell us about the message of your song? Does it talk about any experience of your own life?
The song “Be My Truth” was co-written with a very close friend Liene Atvara, huge thanks to her. And thanks to Roberts Memmēns producing.
Its meaning is the perfect explanation of overthinking. How often do we imagine the opinions of others – that actually don’t exist – but arise from our complexes? We make them our reality. And then we try to find and identify ourselves in those “opinions” because of bad experiences in relationships. Find your own truth – it doesn’t have to be bad… but that depends on which thoughts we will submit ourselves!
How will the staging be at Supernova 2020? Can you reveal anything?
I still imagine this song fragile, with nothing extra! I’d love to add gospel type back vocals and brighter clothes.
How did you decide to submit a song to represent Latvia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020?
I’m on my way to realise my first EP and one of the songs will be “Be My Truth”. So I thought – why not? Song meets all the requirements and it doesn’t cost anything to try. It’s necessary to take risks!
If you finally win Supernova 2020, are you going to promote your song in the official pre-parties that take place in different European countries before Eurovision?
This year the competition is very high and as we all know the final 8 will be announced on Thursday. My chances are not too high, but even if I don’t make it this year, I won’t give up and try another year again! Okey.. I’ll let myself dream – if a miracle happens and I’ll be representing Latvia this year, I’ll definitely be interested in participating in as many Eurovision promotion festivals as possible.
Have you heard the rest of the songs of Supernova 2020? What do you think about them?
I listened to all 26 songs and I can say that I’m happy with each one of them. It is a great chance for all of us to shine even for a small bit. As my favourites I can name – Samanta Tīna, Elizabete Gaile, Edgars Kreilis and Miks Dukurs.
You can follow all the news of Toms Kalderauskis on his official Facebook profile. This is https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007436296000 .
Supernova 2020 will be organized by Latvijas Televīzija, the Latvian broadcasting organization best known internationally like LTV. This contest will represent its sixth edition since it was inaugurated in 2015. Since then, it has been used as the Latvian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. A total of twenty six candidates will be the participants of the contest, but only eight of them will be qualified for the Grand Final. This will be held on Saturday, February 8, 2020, and its winner will be the artist who will represent Latvia in Rotterdam during the broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 next May.